School of Public Health, Wuhan University, No.115 Dong Hu Road, Wuhan, 430071, Hubei, People's Republic of China.
Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2024 Jun;33(6):1895-1905. doi: 10.1007/s00787-023-02292-8. Epub 2023 Sep 5.
There is increasing evidence that prenatal stress elevates the risk of children's social-emotional development, but the mechanisms underlying this association are unclear. Home environment provides learning opportunities and stimulation required for children's early development and can be influenced by prenatal maternal stress. This study aimed to examine whether home environment can mediate the association between prenatal stress during the pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and their offspring's social-emotional problems thereafter. A pilot sample was derived from 2020 to 2021 Maternal and Child Health Cohort study (N = 82) with the pregnant women recruited during the COVID-19 lockdown period in 2020. Prenatal stress was assessed using the Perceived Stress Scale. Home environment was measured using the Child Home Nurture Environment Scales. Mother-reported toddler social-emotional problems were assessed at 12 months of age. The mediation model was used for data analysis. The mean scores of social-emotional problems, which include externalizing, internalizing, dysregulation, and competence, were 10.98 (5.08), 14.72 (6.49), 15.15 (6.31), and 36.73 (10.26), respectively. Prenatal stress, home environment, and social-emotional problems were significantly related (P < 0.05). Home environment significantly mediated the association between prenatal stress and social-emotional problems with the indirect effect [95% CI] of 0.06 [0.01, 0.14] for externalizing behaviors, 0.10 [0.00, 0.24] for internalizing behaviors, - 0.15 [- 0.31, - 0.01] for competence, 0.08 [0.01, 0.17] and 0.08 [0.01, 0.21] for dysregulation. These findings suggest that prenatal stress may affect offspring's social-emotional problems through the home environment. Screening for prenatal stress and promoting supportive home environment may be potential strategies for social-emotional problems interventions in children.
越来越多的证据表明，产前压力会增加儿童社会情感发展的风险，但这种关联的机制尚不清楚。家庭环境为儿童早期发展提供了所需的学习机会和刺激，并且可以受到产前母亲压力的影响。本研究旨在检验家庭环境是否可以调节 2019 年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行期间的产前压力与随后子女的社会情感问题之间的关联。一个试点样本来自 2020 年至 2021 年母婴健康队列研究（N=82），其中孕妇是在 2020 年 COVID-19 封锁期间招募的。使用感知压力量表评估产前压力。使用儿童家庭养育环境量表测量家庭环境。母亲报告的幼儿社会情感问题在 12 个月时进行评估。使用中介模型进行数据分析。社会情感问题的平均得分为 10.98（5.08）、14.72（6.49）、15.15（6.31）和 36.73（10.26），分别包括外化、内化、失调和能力。产前压力、家庭环境和社会情感问题显著相关（P<0.05）。家庭环境显著调节了产前压力与社会情感问题之间的关联，外化行为的间接效应[95%置信区间]为 0.06[0.01，0.14]，内化行为为 0.10[0.00，0.24]，能力为-0.15[-0.31，-0.01]，失调为 0.08[0.01，0.17]和 0.08[0.01，0.21]。这些发现表明，产前压力可能通过家庭环境影响子女的社会情感问题。对产前压力进行筛查并促进支持性家庭环境可能是儿童社会情感问题干预的潜在策略。
