Synonyms
Definition
The period of development extending from conception to delivery. The influence of this environment on the developing fetus can lead to permanent alterations in psychological and physiological outcomes.
Introduction
The flow of resources between parent and offspring is unidirectional. Across species, parents are the arbiter of resources – mothers determine the amount of resources (i.e., calories) allocated to offspring from the moment of conception. Conventionally, psychological research has focused on environmental influences during infancy and early childhood as critical determinants of a child’s later mental and physical health outcomes. However, converging evidence from a variety of disciplines – e.g., biology, anthropology, medicine, and epidemiology – has found that environmental input received by a developing fetus during the period extending from conception to infancy (i.e., the prenatal environment) can have permanent imprints on an...
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References
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Corpuz, R. (2016). Prenatal Environment, The. In: Weekes-Shackelford, V., Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1902-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1902-1
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