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

LÓPEZ-MORALES, HERNÁN; CANET-JURIC, LORENA; URQUIJO, SEBASTIÁN; DEL-VALLE, MACARENA VERÓNICA; ANDRÉS, MARÍA LAURA; GELPI-TRUDO, ROSARIO; BIOTA, MAGDALENA

Current Psychology

Springer

Lugar: New York; Año: 2022 p. 1 - 13

1046-1310

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.