By Phin Upham
Mothers who are exposed to social stress are more likely to experience postpartum depression and might even pass the depression on to their offspring, e Science News reports.
According to a new study conducted on rats by researchers at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University found that the lactating mother rats that were exposed to daily stress showed depressed maternal care, impaired lactation, and increased anxiety. The study also exposed the daily stress to the pups of these rats. According to the article, the second-generation females also showed the same level of depressed maternal care, impaired lactation, and increased anxiety when they had pups.
“The chronic social stress model used in this study provides insight into how social stress affects both human and animal behavior in the areas of maternal care, anxiety and lactation, and provides a wealth of observations,” Lindsay M. Carini, the study’s lead author, told the paper.
Read more: http://esciencenews.com/
About the Author: Phin Upham is an investor at a family office/ hedgefund, where he focuses on special situation illiquid investing. Before this position, Phin Upham was working at Morgan Stanley in the Media & Technology group. You may contact Phin on his Phin Upham website or LinkedIn page.