Welcome to the 22nd WCP Congress Program Scheduling

Excessive stress is becoming a significant challenge to public health. Close to 40 years ago, the Office of the US Surgeon General declared that when stress reaches excessive proportions, psychological changes can be so dramatic as to have serious implications for both mental health and physical health. Women are exposed to a significant number of stressors in different forms just by virtue of their gender. Their immune system could be affected by psychosocial factors such as prenatal or early life stress in a long-lasting manner including transgenerational transmission of trauma. Moreover, maternal negative emotional states expose the offspring to prenatal stress and early life stress which have its repercussions extending into adulthood, notably on mental health. Maternal Stress during pregnancy and infancy, including negative life events or trauma, has been associated with increased risk of childhood behavioral and emotional problems. This indicates a strong role for psychosocial influence during those crucial periods of development. In this session, we will focus on women exposed to different forms of psychosocial stressors and its impact. We will discuss gender-based violence and its mental health impact in Latin America, the stressful impact of the COVID 19 pandemic on the mental health of pregnant women and young mothers and finally we will highlight the impact of maternal distress and how its adverse consequences are transmitted to the developing offspring.