Does maternal anxiety affect neonatal behaviour differently in boys and girls?

Carmen Hernández-Martínez; Victoria Arija; Joaquín Escribano; Josefa Canals

doi:10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2010.03.001

Does maternal anxiety affect neonatal behaviour differently in boys and girls?

Early Hum Dev. 2010 Apr;86(4):209-11. doi: 10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2010.03.001. Epub 2010 Mar 26.

Authors

Carmen Hernández-Martínez¹, Victoria Arija, Joaquín Escribano, Josefa Canals

Affiliation

¹ Research Center for the Behavioural Assessment, Department of Psychology, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona, Spain. carmen.hernandez@urv.cat <carmen.hernandez@urv.cat>

PMID: 20347237
DOI: 10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2010.03.001

Abstract

The aim of this work is to study whether maternal anxiety is related to different neonatal behaviour in boys and girls. In boys (n=128), maternal anxiety is related to lower state organization and to increased autonomic stability. Girls' (n=131) behaviour is not related to maternal anxiety.

MeSH terms

Adult
Anxiety*
Female
Humans
Infant Behavior*
Infant, Newborn / psychology*
Male
Mothers / psychology*
Sex Factors*