DURHAM, N.H. (AP) – University of New Hampshire researchers are looking into how babies are affected by stress during their mothers’ pregnancy.

Barbara White, an associate professor of occupational therapy, says they might find that stress alone affects how fetuses develop, much as smoking or alcohol do.

White says research on animals indicates that stress during pregnancy can lead to developmental problems. For instance, she said baby monkeys whose mothers were stressed out are clumsy, have poor social skills and fall out of trees.

She said early studies seem to show that too much stress can impair brain development and blood vessel development in the placenta, causing less nutrition to reach the fetus.

UNH is recruiting 30 women, ages 17 to 25, who are in their first or early second trimester of their first pregnancy and who are experiencing high levels of stress.