Maternal prenatal, postpartum, and concurrent stressors and temperament in3-year-olds: A person and variable analysis

The study was based on the assumption that stressors in the lives of pregna nt and parenting women are processes that affect prenatal, postpartum, and concurrent maternal hormones and emotions and that these processes affect c hild temperament. The hypotheses were tested in a group of 67 young mothers and their 3-year-old children. Mothers were clustered into groups based on longitudinal patterns of hormones and emotions at prenatal, postpartum, an d 3-year follow-up assessments. The analyses focused on relating maternal p atterns of hormones and emotions to the child's temperament at age 3 years. Temperament was assessed by questionnaire and observation of behavior duri ng a challenging situation. Illustrative findings included the following. V erbal aggression and nonverbal aggression were significantly higher in chil dren of mothers in the low prenatal hormone cluster than children of mother s in the high prenatal hormone cluster. Children of mothers in the postpart um low testosterone (T), estradiol (E-2), and androstenedione (Delta4-A) an d medium cortisol (Cort) cluster (mainly low hormone cluster) exhibited sig nificantly more physical aggression than children of mothers in the medium T and Delta4-A, high E-2 and low Cort cluster. Maternal patterns of hormone s, emotions, and parenting attitudes and practices were related to multiple aspects of temperament when the children were age 3 years. The findings su pport the important role of maternal biological and psychological processes in the development of child temperament.