The impact of maternal disgust sensitivity from pregnancy until three years postpartum on the early development of disgust sensitivity in the child

Šárka Kaňková^1*Ashkan Latifi¹Daniela Dlouhá¹Jana Benešová¹Jana Ullmann¹Pavel Calda²

• ¹Department of Philosophy and History of Science, Division of Biology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Praha, Czechia
• ²Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, General University Hospital and First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, Prague, Czechia

Introduction: Disgust plays a key role in pathogen avoidance. In children, it starts to develop alongside cognition, emotion processing, and social skills around the third year. This study examined whether maternal disgust sensitivity predicts disgust sensitivity in three-year-old children and whether this relationship is affected by parity and maternal psychological factors. Methods: Data were collected from 163 women (60% primiparae) who repeatedly – in the first trimester of pregnancy and then six weeks, one year, and three years postpartum – completed questionnaires on disgust sensitivity, state anxiety, positive and negative affectivity, and perceived stress. At three years postpartum, mothers also completed the Child Disgust Scale. Results: Path models showed that maternal disgust sensitivity at each time point significantly predicted maternal disgust sensitivity at the next point, and maternal disgust sensitivity three years postpartum significantly predicted children's disgust sensitivity. Higher disgust was also reported in children of multiparous mothers. Moreover, perceived stress and negative affectivity in the first trimester positively predicted first-trimester maternal disgust sensitivity. Discussion: This suggests that children's disgust sensitivity may be shaped by maternal disgust sensitivity and maternal psychological factors in early pregnancy may play a secondary role in this process. Older siblings may also play a role by serving as models.