Perinatal maternal anxiety and the quality of mother-child interactions in IUGR dyads

Human development begins during pregnancy within the womb, where fetal programming occurs, shaping individual differences in health outcomes and diseases throughout life. Adverse experiences in pregnancy can have permanent effects on programming due to fetal adaptations aimed at survival, as in the case of intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR). IUGR is a complex obstetric problem defined by the inability of the fetus to reach its biologically determined growth potential in utero due to nutritional abnormalities, which makes the individual vulnerable to adverse outcomes in different areas of development. In the theoretical part, I defined the IUGR condition outlining its possible causes and consequences, focusing on social-emotional and behavioral development, illustrated the construct of perinatal maternal anxiety and the effects it can have on mother and child, and finally outlined the concept of the quality of dyadic interactions, dwelling on the construct of emotional availability. In the research part, instead, I devised four hypotheses: the first involves a comparison between IUGR mothers and those with physiological pregnancies regarding maternal perinatal anxiety, as measured through the STAI-Y-S during pregnancy and at 4 months post-partum. The second and third hypotheses aim to compare IUGR and non-IUGR mothers and children, respectively, on the quality of dyadic exchanges, measured through the EAS scales at 4 months. Finally, the fourth hypothesis aims to explore whether, respectively, IUGR condition and maternal anxiety are predictive of the scores obtained in the EAS scales.