Prenatal stress has been implicated in alterations of maternal hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis functioning, yet evidence linking psychosocial stressors to long-term cortisol biology remains inconsistent. Hair cortisol concentration (HCC) provides an integrated measure of cumulative glucocorticoid exposure, allowing investigation of whether diverse prenatal stressors shape maternal cortisol trajectories during pregnancy and postpartum. We analyzed data from a prospective…
