Observational studyPloS one2023
Maternal pandemic-related stress during pregnancy associates with infants' socio-cognitive development at 12 months: A longitudinal multi-centric study.
Observational study in PloS one, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 16 citations in OpenAlex.
- Infrared Thermal Imaging (ITI), a Non-invasive Window Into Early Emotion Regulation: A Systematic Review.Developmental psychobiology · 2025Pooled it
- COVID-19 and Global Perinatal Health: Lessons Learned on Maternal-Neonatal Outcomes, Infant Feeding Practices, and Health Care Economics across Income Settings.American journal of perinatology · 2026Article
- How nature nurtures: prenatal exposure to green space buffers the effects of maternal stress on neonatal BDNF methylation.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Article
- Disrupted beginnings: Neurodevelopmental outcomes of COVID-19 lockdowns in early childhood (Review).Experimental and therapeutic medicine · 2026Review
- Neurobehavioral Profiles in Low-Risk Infants: Associations With Prenatal Maternal Biobehavior and Birth Characteristics.Developmental psychobiology · 2025Article
- Pinpointing the timing of prenatal stress associated with infant biobehavioral reactivity.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2025Article
- Maternal Mental Health in Pregnancy and Its Impact on Children's Cognitive Development at 18 Months, during the COVID-19 Pandemic (CONCEPTION Study).Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Article
- Prenatal exposure to environmental air pollution and psychosocial stress jointly contribute to the epigenetic regulation of the serotonin transporter gene in newborns.Molecular psychiatry · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
14 authors at 8 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundPrenatal maternal stress is a key risk factor for infants' development. Previous research has highlighted consequences for infants' socio-emotional and cognitive outcomes, but less is known for what regards socio-cognitive development. In this study, we report on the effects of maternal prenatal stress related to the COVID-19 pandemic on 12-month-old infants' behavioral markers of socio-cognitive development.
methodsNinety infants and their mothers provided complete longitudinal data from birth to 12 months. At birth, mothers reported on pandemic-related stress during pregnancy. At infants' 12-month-age, a remote mother-infant interaction was videotaped: after an initial 2-min face-to-face episode, the experimenter remotely played a series of four auditory stimuli (2 human and 2 non-human sounds). The auditory stimuli sequence was counterbalanced among participants and each sound was repeated three times every 10 seconds (Exposure, 30 seconds) while mothers were instructed not to interact with their infants and to display a neutral still-face expression. Infants' orienting, communication, and pointing toward the auditory source was coded micro-analytically and a socio-cognitive score (SCS) was obtained by means of a principal component analysis.
resultsInfants equally oriented to human and non-human auditory stimuli. All infants oriented toward the sound during the Exposure episode, 80% exhibited any communication directed to the auditory source, and 48% showed at least one pointing toward the sound. Mothers who reported greater prenatal pandemic-related stress had infants with higher probability of showing no communication, t = 2.14 (p = .035), or pointing, t = 1.93 (p = .057). A significant and negative linear association was found between maternal prenatal pandemic-related stress and infants' SCS at 12 months, R2 = .07 (p = .010), while adjusting for potential confounders.
conclusionsThis study suggests that prenatal maternal stress during the COVID-19 pandemic might have increased the risk of an altered socio-cognitive development in infants as assessed through an observational paradigm at 12 months. Special preventive attention should be devoted to infants born during the pandemic.
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