Maternal prenatal psychological distress and temperament in 1–4 month old infants – A study in a non-western population

• A study of the relationship between maternal prenatal distress and infant temperament.
• One of the very few studies examining this relationship in a non-western population.
• Prenatal psychological distress not associated with infant difficult temperament.
• Infants with higher intensity scores had significantly higher salivary cortisol.

In this longitudinal study, conducted in women attending antenatal visits at the obstetrics and gynecology clinic of a general hospital in Bangalore, India, we aimed to assess the relationship between prenatal distress in mothers, and maternal report of infant temperament at four months. 100 mothers with normal full term deliveries completed the General Health Questionnaire-28 item version (GHQ) in the third trimester and postnatally. Salivary cortisol and temperament (using the Early Infancy Temperament Questionnaire – EITQ) were assessed in their infants aged 1–4 months. In this study, maternal prenatal psychological distress was not significantly associated with maternal report of difficult temperament in infants. Infants of mothers who were a negative screen for psychological distress (GHQ < 7), n = 85 had higher scores on the adaptability and approach dimensions of temperament. Infant salivary cortisol was significantly higher in infants with higher intensity scores. These results introduce the possibility of cultural differences in the relationship between prenatal distress in the mother and infant temperament. These could be factors linked to child rearing practices or to the measures employed to study infant temperament. These findings derive from a small sample with few mothers with psychological distress, and need replication in a larger sample.