The strongest evidence for an adverse effect of PMA exposure is in somatic and psychological outcomes ; the evidence for an effect of PMA on child development is inconclusive .
Several decades of research have focused on the impact of exposure to postnatal depression on children , while anxiety has been largely overlooked .
Estimates of the prevalence of postnatal maternal anxiety ( PMA ) range from 3 % to 43 % , suggesting PMA may be an important risk factor for adverse outcomes in children .
This review summarizes what is known about the effects of  PMA exposure on children and makes recommendations for future research .
Maternal anxiety: a 5-year review of an intervention study.
Primiparous women were divided into groups according to their post-partum trait anxiety scores .  Professional or non-professional support for the first 12 months was offered to two subgroups of high trait anxiety subjects . At the 5-year follow-up the high-anxiety mothers ( n = 57 ) manifested more psychological and social pathology than moderate- and low-anxiety mothers ( n = 43 ) , and their children also showed signs of poorer adaptation . There was evidence of improved outcome for mothers in the professional intervention group , but not for their children . Child psychopathology was predicted best by maternal psychosocial variables , and to a lesser extent by child temperament variables . The relation of infant attachment and temperament measures to subsequent psychopathology is discussed
The strongest evidence for an adverse effect of PMA exposure is in somatic and psychological outcomes ; the evidence for an effect of PMA on child development is inconclusive .
Several decades of research have focused on the impact of exposure to postnatal depression on children , while anxiety has been largely overlooked .
Estimates of the prevalence of postnatal maternal anxiety ( PMA ) range from 3 % to 43 % , suggesting PMA may be an important risk factor for adverse outcomes in children .
This review summarizes what is known about the effects of  PMA exposure on children and makes recommendations for future research .