Pregnant during the COVID-19 pandemic: Continuing a longitudinal study examining the impact of chronic prenatal stress on child biopsychosocial outcomes at ages 5 and 6

Maternal stress during pregnancy can negatively impact child stress, health and development. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the mental health and wellbeing of pregnant women and parents of young children. Early data from this project shows that parents experienced high levels of stress during pregnancy and the postpartum, which has had a negative impact on early child development. The proposed research seeks to understand how chronic prenatal stress, during the pandemic, alters child biopsychosocial development at ages 5 and 6. This research is a continuation of a longitudinal study that followed 304 pregnant women (from Ontario), beginning in the early phase of the pandemic. Participants were followed from pregnancy to 4 years old. The requested funds will support the continued assessment of these children at 5 and 6 years old. We will use various data collection methods (biological samples, observation, questionnaires) to examine four research questions: 1) Does chronic prenatal stress affect the development of child stress systems and socio-emotional development? 2) Does elevated postpartum stress increase risk to child biological and socio-emotional development? 3) Does parenting act as a mechanism linking prenatal stress to adverse child outcomes? and 4) Do these findings differ for male or female children? This research will shed light on how chronic prenatal and postpartum stress, during the COVID-19 pandemic, impacts child biopsychosocial development. This research has widespread health implications, given that chronic experiences of maternal stress can have a long-lasting impact on child health and development.