| Background and study objective:Early in life, children’s temperament is the important psychological characteristic of personality. It penetrated the children’s development and social adaptation. Temperament is born with a baby. At the moment of birth, newborn has showed different temperament types.The initial study on influencing factors of children’s temperament was concentrated in environmental factors after the baby was born to, and generally used cross-sectional study. Today, many scholars at home and abroad are turning to the influence of pregnant factors on children’s temperament. Despite this a lot of analytical results are focused on physiological factors, few on prospective parental psychological factors. As the fetus grows up day by day, the pregnancy stress and anxiety of prospective parents are increased. The mental state has obviously changed, especially in the middle and late period of pregnancy. As important innate factors of children’s developing, environmental factors in the middle and late pregnancy have attracted the attention of researchers.The influence of maternal mental health on fetus and child’s development is beyond doubt. However, mother and fetus are exposing to the family system, parents’ psychological status may influence each other. In last few years, foreign researchers started to pay attention to the function of father to child’s developing, such as father’s degree of participation in family, the interaction of parents, father’s physical and mental condition, father and child’s interaction and so on. Other studies have shown, in the middle and late period of pregnancy, the father may form as a kind of stable fetal attachment,Using longitudinal design, this study surveyed expectant parents for their psychological state in the middle and late pregnancy, including five parts, i.e. the pregnancy stress, mental health scale for pregnancy, the anxiety and anxiety tendency, the degree of satisfaction in marriage. There are nine dimensions to measure temperament. They are activity level, rhythm, avoidance, adaptability, responsive strength, emotional essence, persistence, observant disperse, and response threshold. This study discussed the impacts of psychological factors of parents during pregnancy on the temperament of1-month-old infants. The research results will provide a theoretical basis for the practical work on mental health of mother and child. In the hygienic work of psychological intervention, we will give full play to public healthy network management. Considering each maternal family as a unit, we can advance the time of intervention starting from the middle and later period of pregnancy, and reduce the birth of children with problem temperament.Methods:This longitudinal study adopted the method of quantitative study in a group of tracks. In the form of voluntarily participate, we selected some parents who have full28weeks and single pregnancy in obstetric clinic of Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital, Putuo, Shanghai. There are334cases we have selected. They were invited to fill in a questionnaire of five parts, including the pregnancy stress scale, the state-trait anxiety scale, mental health scale during middle and late pregnancy and the marital satisfaction. We want to comprehend the mental health state of parents in the middle and late period of pregnancy and their interrelationship. Moreover, we traced the babies one month after birth. In the clinic of child health care, essential person raising the child was requested to fill in a questionnaire of the temperament of the1month old infant,(EITQ) to assess the temperament characteristics. Then, we used the software of SPSS17.0to input data, conduct correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis, in order to seek the possible relationship and significant level between the mental health state of parents in the middle and late period of pregnancy and the temperament of1month infants.Results:This study has collected back334copies of psychological questionnaires from prospective parents, and collected back210copies of temperament questionnaires for1month old children, during which, we missed contact with124cases,(among which,32cases were transferred to other hospitals for delivery, and92cases were unable to come back for postpartum check for various reasons.). After comparing the lost124cases and the follow-up210cases with full data, we got a conclusion that there were no significant differences between the lost group and the follow-up group, when we compared the age of parents (t=-1.969, p>0.05;t=-0.403, p>0.05), their education level (x2=2.264a, p>0.05; x2=1.589a, p>0.05) and their economic income conditions (x2=15.538a, p>0.05; x2=8.300a, p>0.05)After a comprehensive analysis of210cases about the nine dimensions of1month old infant temperament in different genders, we found that only the adaptations of the two existed significant difference (t=2.198, p=0.03.. No significant difference existed in all other dimensions.In the first five reasons of expectant mother’s pregnancy pressure are worrying about fetal safety of production, worrying about the health of fetus, worrying about the pain of production unbearable, worrying about weight control is not ideal, fearing of dystocia or the need to do the caesarean section. Different with mother’s, the father’s first five reasons of pregnancy pressure are worrying about his wife’s safety in production, worrying about his wife pain of production unbearable, worrying about fetal safety, worrying about that the fetus is sound, worrying about love with dystocia or need to do the caesarean section. There is significant difference(t=-2.252, p<0.05) between the mother’s pregnancy stress level (73.22±17.07), and the father’s (70.23±17.16)In contrast to the middle and late pregnancy psychological factors of prospective parents we know that the mother’s mental health status (27.87±8.82) and the father’s (26.04±8.36) have significant difference (t=-2.762, p=0.0006). But the pregnancy anxiety, anxiety tendency and marital satisfaction of prospective parents have no significant difference(t=-1.578, p=0.115; t=-0.844, p=0.339; t=-0.336, p=0.739).Correlation analysis between infant temperament and pregnant mother’s mental health revealed that the greater the mothers’pressure in the middle and late pregnancy, the baby is more inclined to adapt slowly (r=0.143, p<0.05). If mothers’ overall mental health status in the middle and late pregnancy is poor, then, I month infants adopt more activities (r=0.186, p<0.05), slower adapt (r=0.212, p<0.05), more negative emotion (r=0.231, p<0.05) and attention is easy to disperse (r=0.246, p<0.05). According to this research we know that mothers’anxiety in the pregnant state and infant temperament traits of nine dimensions have no significant difference. At the same time, mothers’anxiety tendency only related to observant disperse (r=0.151, p<0.05). In addition, the mothers feel more satisfied in the middle and late pregnancy, their babies will inclined to less activity (r=-0.188, p<0.05), weak adaptability (r=-0.180, p<0.05) and negative emotion (r=-0.137, p<0.05) more and more.Correlation analysis between infant temperament and pregnant fathers mental health revealed that fathers’pressure and overall mental health status have no significant difference with infant temperament traits of nine dimensions. But if the fathers feel more anxiety in the middle and late pregnancy, their babies will incline to less activity (r=-0.166, p<0.05), weak adaptability (r=-0.175, p<0.05), poor persistence (r=-0.146, p<0.05), difficult to form the rule (r=-0.198, p<0.05), negative emotion (r=-0.250, p<0.05) and disperse attention (r=-0.139, p<0.05) more and more. The more fathers prone to anxiety, the easier babies generate response (r=-0.162, p<0.05). At the same time, if the fathers feel more satisfied in the middle and late pregnancy, their babies will incline to less activity (r=-0.162, p<0.05), weak adaptability (r=-0.231, p<0.05), easily retreat (r=-0.137, p<0.05) and generate response (r=-0.151, p<0.05) more and more.After control of the confounding factors, such as age of prospective parents, gestational week, family income, whether there is a disease of newborn, neonatal birth weight, we made the multiple linear regression analysis. We regarded nine dimensions of infant temperament as the dependent variable, and looked on parental psychological factors as independent variable. The results found that there have significant correlation between the fathers anxiety and part dimensions of infant temperament, such as activity level (β=-0.152, p<0.05), rhythm (β=-0.192, p<0.05). adaptability(β=-0.155,p<0.05)and emotional essence(β=-0.256,p<0.01). To mother, overall mental health status has significantly correlation with activity level (β=0.221, p<0.01) adaptability (β=0.208,p<0.01), emotional essence (β=0.257, p<0.01) and observant disperse (β=0.236, p<0.01)Conclusion:First, the result of this study showed that depending on the gender of the baby for1month in nine dimensions of temperament, only adaptations existed significant difference. This result is same as previous studies. Compared with previous studies, there is only one reason different with this study of the first ten reasons of mother’s pregnancy pressure. This may be related with regional differences. Father’s first ten reasons of pregnancy pressure are different with mother’s reasons. They don’t worry about the change of prospective mother’s figure. Such findings may weaken the corresponding worry of prospective mothers. The mother’s stress in the middle and late pregnancy and the frequency of mental health symptoms are significantly higher than that of the father’s. But the parent’s anxiety and anxiety tendency during this particular period of, as well as marital harmony degree have no difference with each other.Second, this study discussed the relationship between psychological factors of parents during pregnancy and the temperament’s dimension on1month infants. This study found that prospective parents’ anxiety, anxiety tendency and the pregnancy stress had the greatest influence to infant temperament, and respectively affect the baby’s adaptability, activity level, emotional essence, observant disperse and so on, while both parents’ marital satisfaction which representing the family harmony degree would also affect the activity level and adaptability.Although temperament is a reflection of innate character, in all of the decisive factors to the temperament characteristics, psychological state of parents is an important factor in the middle and late pregnancy. So in the practical work of maternal and child mental health care, we should give full attention about the psychological status of mothers and fathers. Take the family as the unit. For the purpose of reducing birth the children with problem temperament, and promoting the healthy development of children, we will give full play to public healthy network management. |
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