The Pandemial babies: effects of maternal stress on temperament of babies gestated and born during the pandemic

• Published in: Current psychology (New Brunswick, N.J.) N.J.), 2024-04, Vol.43 (16), p.14881-14893
• Main Authors: López-Morales, Hernán, Gelpi Trudo, Rosario, del-Valle, Macarena Verónica, Canet-Juric, Lorena, Biota, Magdalena, Andrés, María Laura, Urquijo, Sebastián
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Anxiety; Behavioral Science and Psychology; COVID-19; Pandemics; Psychology; Questionnaires; Social Sciences
• ISSN: 1046-1310; 1936-4733
• DOI: 10.1007/s12144-022-03976-1

The COVID-19 pandemic may configure an adverse prenatal context for early development. The aim of this study was to analyze the effects of pandemic-related negative experiences, prenatal anxiety and depression on the temperament of six-month-old babies. The sample consisted of 105 mother–child dyads. A longitudinal evaluation was carried out using pre- and postnatal online surveys. Mothers completed the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, the Beck Depression Inventory – II, the Pandemic Impact Questionnaire and the Infant Behavior Questionnaire Revised. Serial mediation models were tested, in which the pandemic-related negative experiences constituted the independent variable, the prenatal anxiety and depression were the mediators, and the children’s temperament dimensions were the dependent variables. Pandemic-related negative experiences were indirectly associated with the offspring’s negative affect and surgency through anxious symptomatology, which acted as a mediating variable. This was the first study to identify the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on temperament. Such an adverse context implies risks for child development. Public health policies aiming to evaluate socioemotional variables during early childhood become necessary to allow on-time interventions for lessening these risks.