But what about things that aren’t so tangible or easy to identify and avoid?

A growing body of evidence shows that maternal trauma can also impact a child’s health. University of Florida Emerging Pathogens Institute member Connie Mulligan, a professor at the UF College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Anthropology Department, studies how violence and stress in mothers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) affect their newborn’s health.

In this ongoing work, she has already found that mothers who have experienced psychosocial stress are more likely to have infants with lower birthweights and a less diverse gut microbiome — two conditions that come with a higher risk of disease, inhibited cognitive development, and fetal mortality.