Maternal prenatal stress and infant emotional reactivity six months postpartum

- Maternal prenatal stress and mother-rated infant emotional reactivity were examined.
- Prenatal stress was measured by maternal symptoms during pregnancy.
- Infants of mothers with high prenatal stress had higher negative reactivity.
- Pregnancy-specific anxiety predicted infant negative reactivity.
- Pregnancy-specific anxiety predicted infant fearfulness and falling reactivity.

BackgroundMaternal prenatal stress has been related to infant negative affect. However, it is still unclear how different sources of maternal prenatal stress such as depressive, anxiety and pregnancy-specific anxiety symptoms are associated with reactivity outcomes. This study aimed to test the associations between different sources of maternal prenatal stress and the aspects of infant emotional reactivity at six months.MethodOur study population (n=282) was drawn from the FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study. Prenatal stress was measured by questionnaires on maternal depression, general anxiety and pregnancy-specific anxiety at three time points across pregnancy (gwk 14, 24, 34). Based on the symptom scores, the sample was divided into mothers with high stress during pregnancy (n=110) and mothers with low stress during pregnancy (n=172). Mother-reported infant emotional reactivity and its subscales were measured six months postpartum.ResultsAfter controlling for background variables and maternal postnatal symptoms, overall negative emotional reactivity (β=0.20, p<0.01), and its aspects fearfulness (β=0.15, p=.057) and falling reactivity (β=−0.22, p<0.01), were predicted by only pregnancy-specific anxiety. No significant predictors were found for infant positive reactivity after adjusting for confounders.LimitationsMother reports of both maternal symptoms and infant reactivity were used, which might increase the risk of reporting bias.ConclusionsThe findings suggest that mothers experiencing stress should be provided intervention during pregnancy, and that screening should have a particular focus on pregnancy-related worries.