Abstract
Maternal pre-pregnancy weight has been related with young singletons' cognitive and behavioral development, but it is not clear if it has an effect on temperament. We used a twin cohort to evaluate the association between maternal pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI) and infants' temperament. The mothers of 834 twins answered questions regarding their pre-pregnancy BMI and their 0- to 18-month-old children's temperament using the Revised Infant Behavior Questionnaire. Three temperamental dimensions were examined: activity level, distress to limitation and duration of orienting. The relationship between maternal pre-pregnancy BMI and each temperamental component was investigated by means of multilevel mixed-effects linear regression analysis. We found no clear evidence of an association of maternal pre-pregnancy BMI with twins' temperament. The development of temperament is influenced by a large number of factors, probably different from those influencing children's emotional and behavioral development.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | PII S2040174418001101 |
| Pages (from-to) | 522-528 |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| Journal | Journal of developmental origins of health and disease |
| Volume | 10 |
| Issue number | 5 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Oct 2019 |
Keywords
- twins
- pre-pregnancy weight
- infant temperament
- intrauterine environment
- DEFICIT HYPERACTIVITY DISORDER
- BODY-MASS INDEX
- INFANT TEMPERAMENT
- PROBLEM BEHAVIOR
- CHILD COGNITION
- ACTIVITY LEVEL
- PREGNANCY
- ATTENTION
- SYMPTOMS
- AGE