Abstract

PRIETO, Fátima; PORTELLANO, José A.  and  MARTINEZ-ORGADO, José A.. Antenatal maternal anxiety, infant psychological development, and HPA axis reactivity in 2-3 month old infants. Clínica y Salud [online]. 2019, vol.30, n.1, pp.23-33.  Epub Nov 02, 2020. ISSN 2174-0550.  https://dx.doi.org/10.5093/clysa2019a5.

Babies exposed to high levels of maternal anxiety during the prenatal period may develop a more reactive HPA (hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal) axis, which poses a vulnerability to psychopathology. In this prospective study, we investigated the relationships between antenatal maternal anxiety, infant psychological developmen,t and HPA axis reactivity in 2 to 3-month-old babies. We use data from forty-six mother-child dyads. The main analysis did not reveal significant relationships between the variables studied, but the variability pointed out that antenatal maternal anxiety could be associated with differential effects on the reactivity of the HPA axis according to the child’s psychological development. In addition, the results indicated that mothers with prenatal anxiety presented other psychopathological symptoms, such as interpersonal sensitivity (p < .001) and obsession-compulsion (p < .001). This is significant for future research and - at a clinical level - to promote psychological interventions during pregnancy.

Keywords : Pregnancy; Antenatal anxiety; HPA axis; Fetal programming; Infant development.

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