TY - JOUR Y1 - 2025/12// AV - public VL - 16 TI - The role of prenatal stress and maternal trauma responses in predicting children?s mental health during war // El papel del estrés prenatal y las respuestas maternas al trauma en la predicción de la salud mental infantil durante la guerra N1 - Copyright © 2025 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent. IS - 1 SN - 2000-8066 PB - Informa UK Limited UR - https://doi.org/10.1080/20008066.2025.2468542 ID - discovery10205527 N2 - Background: The negative effects of prenatal stress on children?s development and the buffering effects of maternal behaviour are well documented. However, specific maternal responses to trauma, particularly among families experiencing cumulative stressors during pregnancy and early childhood, remain less understood. // Objective: This study investigated the interplay between prenatal stress in the context of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and consequent maternal trauma responses and children?s difficulties in the context of war-related trauma. // Methods: We recruited 318 pregnant women in Israel during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic (Time 1). Prenatal depression, anxiety, and COVID-related stress symptoms were assessed. When children were approximately 3.5 years old (SD?=?0.02), the mothers were asked to report on parental responses related to the ongoing war and their child?s emotional and behavioural difficulties (Time 2). Structural equation modelling was used to examine how maternal trauma responses mediate the association between prenatal stress-related mental health symptoms and children?s difficulties during war. // Results: Maternal prenatal depressive, anxious, and COVID-19-related stress symptoms predicted maladaptive maternal trauma responses during the war, which in turn were associated with increased emotional and behavioural problems in their children. Among the specific maternal trauma-related responses examined, cognitive avoidance and overprotectiveness were the only behavioural responses during the war significantly associated with children?s difficulties. // Conclusions: Our study highlights the impact of pandemic-related prenatal stress on maternal responses and children's difficulties during war, emphasizing the importance of identifying at-risk families as well as developing targeted interventions that mitigate negative parenting responses, particularly avoidance and overprotection. KW - Prenatal stress; COVID-19; maternal behaviour; child mental health; war; trauma // Guerra; trauma; estrés prenatal; comportamiento materno; COVID-19; salud mental infantil A1 - Yirmiya, Karen A1 - Klein, Amit A1 - Atzil, Shir A1 - Yakirevich-Amir, Noa A1 - Bina, Rena A1 - Reuveni, Inbal JF - European Journal of Psychotraumatology ER -