Poster #60 - Executive Functions of Mothers in the Prenatal Period: Association with Objective and Subjective Stress

• In Event: Poster Session 14

Abstract

Context. Executive functions (EF) are defined as a series of processes that allow an individual to intentionally regulate his thinking and his actions to achieve a precise goal (Miyake et al., 2000). Many studies have been able to demonstrate the importance of these executive components and how it can impact a person’s well-being. Henrard (2021) showed that difficulties with reasoning, planification and organisation are associated with behavioral and attentional difficulties. In regard to the multiple adaptations required by the expectant mothers during pregnancy, it is possible to consider that they present more EF difficulties. However, to our knowledge, no studies have examined parental EFs during the prenatal period. Beyond describing the cognitive abilities during pregnancy, an examination of specific associated factors is important to properly support women during pregnancy. Therefore, two objectives are presented: 1) Describe the EFs of expectant mothers during pregnancy and 2) Examine the association between objective and subjective stress and the mothers’ EFs during pregnancy.
Method. A total of 318 mothers reported on sociodemographic variables (age, education, family income). They completed the Life Events scale (Abidin, 2012) to assess objective exposure to stress and the Psychological Stress Measure (Lemyre & Tessier, 1988) to assess subjective stress during pregnancy. Expectant mothers’ Efs were assessed by the Behavioral rating inventory of executive functions (BRIEF-A; Roth et al., 2005). Scores were transformed in T-scores, where higher scores indicate greater EFs. The proportion of clinical scores (T ≥ 70) was also computed.
Results. Participants’ mean age was 29,61 years old [21-40], 65% of the sample had a university degree, most of the sample has a family income of more than 100 000$/year and 58% of the sample already had other children. The main results concerning the mothers’ EFs show a high prevalence of clinical scores (from 2.5% to 7.9%) for all the scales excepting flexibility and inhibition, where a prevalence of 2% is expected in the general population. Also, both subjective and objective stress measures were associated with higher scores of EFs, where subjective stress correlated with all the scales of the BRIEF (r ranging from 0.16 to 0.41), while objective exposure to stressful events correlated mostly with the Initiate and Metacognition scales of the BRIEF (r ranging from 0.11 to 0.19). In the present sample, mothers with higher education and higher family income had fewer EF difficulties.
Discussion. Pregnant women in this sample seem to present a higher prevalence of clinical EF difficulties. Different processes happening during pregnancy (e.g., hormonal processes, birth preparation and health concerns) as well as the COVID-19 pandemic context in which the data were collected, could partially explain this higher prevalence. The association between stress and EFs also support the hypothesis that pregnancy can be a stressful period that has the potential to influence the EFs of pregnant women. Future research will be needed to examine the mechanisms involved in the link between maternal stress and the EFs of mothers.

Authors

• Gabrielle Fréchette-Boilard, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (UQTR)
  Presenting Author

• Jessica Pearson, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (UQTR)

• Claire Baudry, Université du Québec Á  Trois Rivières

• Amel Zouari, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (UQTR)