THE ROLE OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC ON PRENATAL INTERNALIZING SYMPTOMS AND INFANT TEMPERAMENT

Jennifer A. Mattera

doi:10.7273/000007066

Since the novel coronavirus began in December 2019, it has resulted in unprecedented changes for millions of Americans such as greater financial burden and reduced contact with loved ones. For pregnant women, the pandemic has also created additional stressors such as uncertainty regarding prenatal care and the long-term consequences of perinatal infection. Although a growing body of literature suggests pregnant women during the COVID-19 pandemic have experienced greater internalizing symptoms, few studies have examined whether these findings persist during later waves of the pandemic when less stringent restrictions were in place. Moreover, despite known links between prenatal stress and socioemotional functioning during infancy, little information is available regarding these associations during the pandemic. The current study addressed these gaps in the literature by first comparing prenatal internalizing symptoms and infant temperament collected after the first wave of the pandemic to equivalent measures in a pre-pandemic comparison sample. Second, the influence of prenatal depression and anxiety symptoms on infant temperament was assessed prior to and during the pandemic. Finally, associations between prenatal pandemic-related stress and infant temperament were examined. Secondary analyses were performed with existing data from two studies conducted at Washington State University examining the effects of maternal wellbeing during the third trimester of pregnancy on infant temperament at two months postpartum. One sample was collected prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, while women in the second sample were enrolled between January and December 2021. During the third trimester, pregnant women completed measures of depression, general anxiety, and pregnancy-specific anxiety. Women pregnant during the COVID-19 pandemic were also administered a measure of pandemic-related stress. At two months postpartum, mothers completed a survey measuring their infants’ temperament. Women who were pregnant during the COVID-19 pandemic endorsed higher pregnancy-specific anxiety and prenatal depression relative to the pre-pandemic sample. They also reported greater negative emotionality as well as lower positive affectivity and regulatory capacity in their infants at two months postpartum. Associations between prenatal internalizing symptoms and infant temperament did not differ prior to and during the pandemic. Prenatal infection stress directly predicted infant negative affect. Both prenatal infection and preparedness stress indirectly related to infant negative emotionality through perinatal depression symptoms. These results have implications for prenatal mental health screening procedures during the pandemic as well as the development of early intervention programs for infants born to mothers during this novel event.

THE ROLE OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC ON PRENATAL INTERNALIZING SYMPTOMS AND INFANT TEMPERAMENT

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