The Emotional Vaccine: Maternal Caregiving in Infancy Shaped Future Preschoolers' Internalizing Symptoms During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The present study assessed both concurrent and early influences of the maternal caregiving environment to examine unique contributions of each to variation in children's emotional responses to COVID-19 pandemic. Preschoolers (3–5 years; M = 4.12, SD = 0.49) previously assessed in infancy, several years prior to pandemic outbreak, were re-assessed during pandemic-related nationwide lockdown (N = 200; 50% female; 63.5% secular Jews; 2016; 2021). Maternal stress during lockdown significantly moderated (β = 0.13, p < 0.05) and mediated (β = 0.08, p < 0.05) concurrent associations between preschoolers' dose of exposure (DOE) to COVID-19 psychosocial stressors and symptoms. Furthermore, maternal sensitive care observed in infancy significantly moderated future associations between preschoolers' DOE and symptoms (β = −0.16, p < 0.05). Longitudinal protective effects of infant care remained significant after controlling for caregiver stress and behavior during the lockdown.