- Researchers wanted to learn more about the coronavirus pandemic’s impacts on stress levels during pregnancy and infant negative emotions.
- They analyzed data from expectant mothers who completed four assessments a day, both before childbirth and once the babies reached three months old.
- There were no differences in stress patterns before and during the pandemic, but fluctuating stress were associated with higher negative emotions in infants.
Fluctuating stress among pregnant individuals is associated with higher negative emotions among babies, according to research recently published in Infancy, a peer-reviewed journal.
Researchers in the U.S. and Canada wanted to better understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on prenatal stress patterns, so they analyzed data from expectant mothers who completed four assessments a day both before childbirth and once the babies reached three months old.
The researchers asked questions such as “Over the past hour, did you feel you could not control important things?” and scored the maternal stress levels. They looked at three patterns of stress: baseline levels, stress levels over a 14-week period, and how much these stress levels changed or fluctuated.
Once the babies were born and reached three months old, they also asked the mothers questions about how often babies showed distress, including crying and fussing.
The team discovered that babies born to mothers with fluctuating stress levels during pregnancy showed more negative emotions. Though, they did not find differences in stress patterns before and during the pandemic.
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Previous research has shown that the coronavirus has led to increased stress for people, including pregnant women, so the team was shocked to see that stress levels didn’t change much before and after the pandemic, said Leigha MacNeill, the study’s lead author and a research assistant professor in the department of medical social sciences at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine.
What sets this research apart, she said, is that often in pregnancy, stress is measured at one or two time points. But stress levels fluctuate.
“Maybe today, I’m good. The next day, I’m not, especially in the pandemic, when there’s a lot of uncertainty,” said Leigha MacNeill, the study’s lead author and a research assistant professor in the department of medical social sciences at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine.
“We really tried to get a more comprehensive picture of what stress looks like,” she told USA TODAY.
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Limitations of the study
The researchers noted the study has its limitations, including its sample size. There were 72 participants in the team’s sample, each enrolled between August 2019 and May 2021, before and during the pandemic.
The group was made up of a largely white, middle-to-upper-class sample: 72.22% White, 12.5% Hispanic or Latina, 9.72% Asian, 9.72% Black, 6.94% more than one race/other and 1.39% unknown.
The majority were also highly educated and they were mostly partnered, so representation was somewhat limited, said MacNeill, from Northwestern University.
Future studies may reveal differences because the pandemic has “disproportionately affected different groups of people,” she said. The study needs to be replicated in a larger and more representative sample, she said.
Another limitation is that researchers didn’t have daily assessments of the mothers’ stress once the babies were born, only during pregnancy.
“We could not control for stress lability/fluctuations in the postpartum period,” said MacNeill. “So right now we cannot say that stress during pregnancy caused higher levels of negative emotion in babies – just that there was a positive association between fluctuations in prenatal stress and infant negative emotions.”
Her hope is that future studies look at mothers’ stress fluctuations both before and after childbirth.
What has previous research shown?
Despite that the team didn’t find any differences between stress levels before and after the pandemic, research has shown that pandemics like the coronavirus have increased stress in pregnant women, MacNeill said.
Previous studies have also shown links between stress during pregnancy and infant emotions. One published in 2009 showed a correlation between pregnancy-specific anxiety in mothers and higher levels of fearfulness and sadness in their babies. Another, published in 2018, found a connection between prenatal maternal hardships – like food insecurity, bills and neighborhood stress – and lower regulatory capacity scores among babies at 10 months old.
Minimizing stress during pregnancy
To cope with health crises like COVID and even the Zika virus, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recommends that pregnant individuals:
- Take a break from hearing or reading about news and media coverage. Pick a few trusted sources and times during the week to look for information updates and then refrain from focusing on media coverage.
- Find activities that bring joy.
- Eat a healthy, well-balanced diet, get regular exercise, or try yoga or meditation to ease stress.
- Try online tools to help with stress management, like Breathe2Relax.
- Reach out to family and friends.
The organization also offered tips for healthcare providers, including:
- Show empathy and acknowledge concerns and worries.
- Reassure patients that it is normal to have concerns during pregnancy. However, if their worries are significant and affecting their daily life, patients may benefit from seeking support from a mental health professional.
- Have a conversation about the concerns and worries.
- Correct any misinformation and provide references to legitimate sources of information.
- Provide a mental health referral, if needed.
While MacNeill isn’t a clinician or interventionist, she said her team’s results further highlight calls for better support among pregnant individuals and their families.
It’s one thing to tell pregnant individuals “Be less stressed,” but it’s not particularly helpful for everyone, nor do they always want to hear that, she said.
“There need to be greater supports kind of built into our healthcare system and into policy that are, at the systemic level, supporting pregnant individuals and their families,” she said.
She also noted that stress is normal, especially during pregnancy. Eliminating stress altogether likely isn’t something that can be done, but there’s help to give pregnant individuals the support they need.
“I think it’s really not about telling individuals ‘Don’t be stressed,’ but rather making sure that we are creating a supportive environment for the pregnant person and their family.”
Saleen Martin is a reporter on USA TODAY’s NOW team. She is from Norfolk, Virginia – the 757 – and loves all things horror, witches, Christmas, and food. Follow her on Twitter at @Saleen_Martin or email her at sdmartin@usatoday.com.