Prenatal Origins of Stress Regulation: Maternal Psychological Distress and Inflammation During Pregnancy Prospectively Predict Infant Behavioral Reactivity and Regulation
Prospective study reveals that prenatal maternal distress and inflammatory changes predict infant stress reactivity, suggesting in utero biology shapes early behavioral regulation.
Key Points
To examine how levels and longitudinal changes in maternal psychological distress and inflammatory markers during pregnancy predict infant behavioral stress regulation at 1 month of age.
Prospective longitudinal study of mother-infant dyads (n = 118) assessed across early, mid, and late pregnancy.
Maternal depressive and anxiety symptoms were tracked alongside plasma assays for pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-6 and TNF-⍺).
Infant behavioral reactivity and recovery were systematically coded during a standard heel stick blood draw at 1 month postpartum.
Greater increases in maternal depressive symptoms and IL-6 from early to late pregnancy prospectively predicted heightened infant behavioral reactivity and recovery during the heel stick procedure.
Higher cumulative levels of maternal IL-6 across pregnancy predicted lower overall infant behavioral arousal.
Prenatal anxiety symptoms did not directly predict infant behavioral regulation, but indirect associations emerged through elevated IL-6, while anxiety symptoms correlated positively with TNF-⍺.