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Updated: Sep 26, 2025

Using a Murine Model of Psychosocial Stress in Pregnancy as a Translationally Relevant Paradigm for Psychiatric Disorders in Mothers and Infants
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Using a Murine Model of Psychosocial Stress in Pregnancy as a Translationally Relevant Paradigm for Psychiatric Disorders in Mothers and Infants

Published on: June 13, 2021

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Negative emotionality as a candidate mediating mechanism linking prenatal maternal mood problems and offspring

Cathryn Gordon Green1,2, Eszter Szekely1,2, Vanessa Babineau1,2

  • 1Department of Educational Psychology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Development and Psychopathology
|April 20, 2022
PubMed

Insights

Prenatal maternal stress can predict child internalizing problems. Child negative emotionality (NE) partially mediates this link, particularly for pregnancy-specific anxiety, highlighting developmental pathways.

Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Maternal Mental Health
  • Child Psychopathology

Background:

  • Prenatal maternal affective symptoms are linked to offspring internalizing problems.
  • Understanding the mechanisms connecting maternal prenatal psychopathology and child outcomes is crucial for early intervention.
  • Negative emotionality (NE) is a potential mediator in this developmental pathway.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate negative emotionality (NE) as a mediator linking prenatal maternal affective symptoms to offspring internalizing problems.
  • To examine the distinct roles of general maternal psychopathology and specific symptom presentations (e.g., pregnancy-specific anxiety) in predicting child outcomes.
  • To explore the developmental trajectory of internalizing problems in early childhood.

Main Methods:

  • Confirmatory Bifactor Analysis (CFA) was used to model prenatal maternal psychopathology (depression, anxiety) and child internalizing symptoms.
  • Maternal self-report measures assessed prenatal symptoms; child NE was rated at 18 and 36 months.
  • Multi-informant data (father, mother, child, interview) were used to assess child internalizing psychopathology.

Main Results:

  • A general maternal affective psychopathology factor and a pregnancy-specific anxiety factor significantly predicted child internalizing factors.
  • Child NE mediated the relationship between pregnancy-specific anxiety and child internalizing factors.
  • General maternal psychopathology and child NE did not fully account for the link between all prenatal maternal affective symptoms and child internalizing problems.

Conclusions:

  • Prenatal maternal affective symptoms, particularly pregnancy-specific anxiety, predict early-emerging child internalizing problems.
  • Child negative emotionality plays a mediating role, especially in the context of maternal pregnancy-specific anxiety.
  • Understanding specific maternal symptom presentations and child temperament is key to elucidating developmental pathways.

Keywords:
developmental pathwaysinternalizing problemsnegative emotionalitypregnancy-specific anxietyprenatal depressionprenatal programming

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