Lise Meitner Group

The link between urbanization and mental health is multifaceted and draws considerable attention from researchers and professionals worldwide. The Research Topic “Cities and Mental Health” dives into this theme, illuminating the influences of urban living on mental health and some possible causal pathways.

1 INTRODUCTION Whether and how personality characteristics change across the adult life span has been debated for decades (Bleidorn et al., 2020; Costa et al., 2018; Roberts & DelVecchio, 2000; Roberts et al., 2006).

Introduction During the gestational period, the fetal brain undergoes enormous maturational processes, making it highly susceptible to environmental factors. Maternal stress during pregnancy, as one of these environmental factors, has been linked to long-lasting alterations in offspring behavior and brain structure (for reviews see Franke et al., 2020; van den Bergh et al., 2020).