Maternal Self-Efficacy Reduces the Impact of Prenatal Stress on Infant’s Crying Behavior

Objective To determine whether prenatal stress is associated with behavioral and emotional regulation problems (crying/fussing) in infants, after controlling for confounding factors. Furthermore, the study investigated the stress-buffering effect of maternal self-efficacy. Study design Data were col...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of pediatrics 2012-07, Vol.161 (1), p.104-109
Main Authors: Bolten, Margarete I., PhD, Fink, Nadine S., PhD, Stadler, Christina, PhD
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
anxiety
Biological and medical sciences
Crying
Female
General aspects
health care workers
Humans
Infant
Infant Behavior
infants
maternal effect
Medical sciences
Mother-Child Relations
mothers
Mothers - psychology
Pediatrics
Pregnancy
Pregnancy Complications - psychology
pregnant women
Prospective Studies
questionnaires
regression analysis
Self Efficacy
special education
Stress, Psychological - psychology
variance
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Summary:Objective To determine whether prenatal stress is associated with behavioral and emotional regulation problems (crying/fussing) in infants, after controlling for confounding factors. Furthermore, the study investigated the stress-buffering effect of maternal self-efficacy. Study design Data were collected in 120 pregnant women (29 ± 3.2 weeks gestation) and their infants at 6 weeks of age. Expecting mothers completed a structured interview and self-report questionnaires on prenatal stress and self-efficacy. Crying/fussing data were obtained with a validated parental diary. Results After controlling for confounding variables, multiple regression analyses show that prenatal stress and self-efficacy accounted for 20% of the variance of infant’s fussing and crying behavior. Results suggest a mediating role of self-efficacy. Babies of mothers reporting high levels of prenatal stress cried less when their mother had high levels of self-efficacy compared with mothers with low self-efficacy. In addition, mothers of infants with excessive crying reported more symptoms of stress, depression, and anxiety in pregnancy. Conclusion To foster the development of well-adapted parent-infant relationships and potentially to reduce infant crying in the early postpartum phase, health care professionals need special education about the effects of prenatal stress and interventions that promote self-efficacy.
ISSN:0022-3476
1097-6833
DOI:10.1016/j.jpeds.2011.12.044