An examination of behavioural and emotional problems in children exposed prenatally to the 27F Chilean earthquake: Findings from the ELPI cohort

María Francisca Morales Larrazabal*, Lisa-Christine Girard, Vilas Sawrikar, Angus MacBeth

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Purpose: Associations between prenatal earthquake exposure and children’s mental health remain unclear. Moreover, there is a paucity of research using quasi-experimental statistical techniques to diminish potential selection bias. Thus, this study aimed to explore the impact of prenatal exposure to the Chilean earthquake of 2010 on children’s behavioural and emotional problems between 1 ½ and 3 years old using propensity score matching.
Methods: Participants included 1,549 families from the Encuesta Longitudinal de la Primera Infancia cohort in Chile. Maternal reports using the Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL) were used to assess behavioural and emotional problems between 1 ½ and 3 years old. Information on prenatal earthquake exposure was collected via maternal report. The Kernel matching estimator was used to compare the average treatment effects of children who were exposed to the earthquake compared to those who were not.
Results: Five of the seven CBCL outcomes were statistically significant after matching and adjustment for multiple testing, suggesting greater difficulties for exposed children which included emotional reactivity, anxious/depressed, sleep problems, attention problems, and aggression (mean difference of 0.69, 0.87, 0.73, 0.85, 3.51, respectively). The magnitude of the effect was small to medium.
Conclusions: Findings contribute to the potential causal inferences between prenatal earthquake exposure and increased behavioural and emotional problems in early childhood. Results suggest that in utero experiences may have long-term consequences for infants’ well-being, supporting the need for specific interventions in pregnancy after natural disasters.
Original languageEnglish
JournalSocial Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 17 Feb 2023

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

  • prenatal stress
  • natural disasters
  • early childhood
  • behavioural and emotional problems
  • propensity score matching.

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