Psychological measures of prenatal stress as predictors of infant temperament.
OBJECTIVE
To examine, in a prospective study, whether maternal stress during pregnancy is related to infant temperament.


METHODS
Self-report data on various aspects of prenatal stress were collected from nulliparous women in early pregnancy. Infant temperament was measured at 3 and 8 months by direct observation and by parent report.


RESULTS
Complete data were available for 170 term-born infants. Pregnancy-specific anxiety explained 3.3% of the variance of attention regulation at 3 months. Perceived stress and pregnancy anxiety taken together explained 5% of the variance of attention regulation at 8 months. Perceived stress accounted for 8.2% of the variance of difficult behavior of the 3-month-old infant. All results were adjusted for covariates.


CONCLUSIONS
Increased maternal prenatal stress seems to be associated with temperamental variation of young infants and may be a risk factor for psychopathology later in life.
Huizink
Anja C
AC
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Utrecht University Medical Centre, Rudolf Magnus Institute for Neuroscience, The Netherlands. AC.Huizink.Emgo@med.vu.nl
de Medina
Pascale G Robles
PG
Mulder
Eduard J H
EJ
Visser
Gerard H A
GH
Buitelaar
Jan K
JK
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009426:Netherlands; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000523:psychology*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D002666:Psychology, Child; D012044:Regression Analysis; D013315:Stress, Psychological; D013694:Temperament