The Effect of Maternal Perinatal Anxiety on Emergent Infant Language Development

• In Event: Poster Session 04
  In Poster Session: PS 04 Topic - Language, Communication

Abstract

Studies examining the prevalence of anxiety in pregnant women have estimated that 1 in 5 women will meet diagnostic criteria for at least one anxiety disorder during the perinatal period (Fawcett et al., 2019). Maternal anxiety during pregnancy has been linked to detrimental fetal development and birth outcomes which put children at an increased risk of cognitive and language delays later in life (Alder, Fink, Bitzer, Hösli, & Holzgreve, 2007; Fily, Pierrat, Delporte, Breart, & Truffert 2006; Grote et al., 2010; Ibanez et al., 2015.) Several studies have attempted to gain a concrete understanding of the specific developmental effects of maternal mental health on children, though results have been mixed. Many of these studies have focused more on depression than anxiety, whereas others concluded negligible associations between maternal anxiety and infant cognitive development in homogenous samples of children at least 12 months of age (Gete, Calderon-Margalit, Grotto, & Ornoy 2019; Keim et al., 2011). The present study aims to understand the effect of maternal anxiety, assessed longitudinally, on infant emergent language development at 6 months of age, across a socioeconomically and racially diverse sample. Participants included women within the greater New York City area who were administered the Beck Anxiety Inventory prenatally and at 1-months and 6-months postpartum. Mothers self-reported somatic symptoms of anxiety across 21 different items (Beck et al., 1988). Their children (N= 65) were assessed at the 6-month time point for auditory comprehension and expressive communication skills via the Preschool Language Scales (5th edition). Standard scores were calculated for both auditory comprehension and expressive communication, in addition to an overall standard score based on the combined auditory and expressive measures, and finally a standardized total language score. Analyses found that higher maternal anxiety scores 6-months postpartum were associated with higher child standard scores on the auditory comprehension measure of the Preschool Language Scales (r=0.253, p=0.042). However, when examining change in maternal anxiety from the prenatal time point to 6-months postpartum, a greater increase in anxiety over time was associated with worse scores on all of the preschool language subscales (Auditory Comprehension: r= -0274, p=0.027; Expressive Communication: r= -0.268, p=0.031; Standard Score: r= -0.301, p=0.015; Total Language Standard Score: r= -0.303, p=0.014). These results suggest that longitudinal change in maternal anxiety may be a more accurate predictor of emergent infant language skills than a single postpartum measure of maternal anxiety in isolation. This supports prior work suggesting that factors affecting pregnancy and the early post-natal period are especially predictive of infant health and development (Ibanez et al., 2015; Van Den Bergh, 2011). These findings also substantiate the need for further work investigating prenatal and early postpartum anxiety levels in expanded sample sizes of expecting mothers, as well as the subsequent assessment of emergent measures in child cognitive development longitudinally.

Authors

• Olivia Paige Colón, Teachers College
  Presenting Author

• Sonya V. Troller-Renfree, Teachers College, Columbia University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Kimberly G Noble, Teachers College, Columbia University
  Non-Presenting Author