Do you believe temperament begins in the womb?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There have been studies about this, and from what I have read, the impacts to the fetus are only in extreme cases like the Irish famine or the Holocaust.

Here's an article: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6127768/

[Anonymous]

Let’s start by making sure we all know what we are talking about when we talk about temperament. Anxiety is not in that catalog. Temperament includes activity level, approach/withdrawal behavior, rhythmicity (not physical or musical, but the child’s preference for a fixed rhythm to time), etc:

https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/the_nine_traits_of_temperament

Yes, I think it’s primarily innate. But when you mention stress during pregnancy, OP, you are getting into a different question—whether maternal cortisol and other stress hormone levels influence infant brain development, if so how, and if so is this situation bad enough FOR YOU to be in the category studied?

[Anonymous]

I was stressed and anxious during pregnancy and my kid is anxious and a worrier. But I think it’s genetic not specifically/solely because of prenatal conditions (I have anxiety which I experienced in a heightened way during pregnancy w all the unknowns and fragility of pregnancy and parenthood and my child also has anxiety).

[Anonymous]

Yes it begins in the womb but not necessarily affected that much by the mother’s emotional state.

[Anonymous]

My most active babies in utero had adhd

[Anonymous]

Yes I believe temperament is mostly genetic but it's not about the womb, stressors on the mom during pregnancy etc except in severe cases.

[Anonymous]

I believe it is partly genetic, but not related to the womb. I have fraternal twins, one is extremely chill and laidback, the other is high energy and anxious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I believe genetics is almost solely responsible for temperament. Womb conditions don’t effect temperament.
- mom of triplets, with two identical and one fraternal

This. I think my kids were born with their temperaments, and they are nothing like one another.

[Anonymous]

I have twins so they had the exact same experience in my womb and are very different people. So no, I don't think the experience they had in utero changes their temperaments at all, I think it is genetic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, it’s about 80% genetic and 20% upbringing/early life.

totally agree

[Anonymous]

I had a great pregnancy and was active but calm. DD was very busy, loved to roll around all night and keep me awake, and was breech the entire time. Our midwife jokingly warned us that breech kids beat to their own drum, and I’m going to say that 4 years later, DD is everything is was in the womb. Poor sleeper, great kicker, very busy and yes, loves to go against the rules, and beats to her own drum.

[Anonymous]

My oldest was very active in the womb, she was a pretty mellow baby but has morphed into a very energetic kid.

My youngest was very chilled out in the womb, is also a very chill baby. We shall see what kind of personality he has as a kid

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've been pregnant under stressful conditions twice and the two kids are nothing alike! One is high-energy and needs. The other is super chill.

+1

[Anonymous]

I hear you, OP. I found out I was pregnant right after Trump was elected and while I was excited (planned pregnancy), I also had an enormous amount of guilt because I felt like I was inflicting a broken world on my child. I had an incredibly rocky pregnancy (HG, multiple hospital stays, a tumor scare at the 20 week scan, severe sciatica, plus advanced maternal age) and was kind of a basketcase. I remember anxiously googling "effect of anxiety on fetus" more than once! And when you are a FTM, everything is heightened.

But happy endings: my DD is is joyful and resilient. Like all kids, she has her moments of stress, but she recovers easily. And she has an amazing sense of humor, which I think counter balances any worrying habits she might be inheriting from me (via either nurture or nature). I have seen hints of fear in her since the pandemic started, but I think that's normal and wouldn't describe it as anxiety -- there are things to be afraid of right now, and she has to learn how to process that emotion and channel it useful ways.

So, anecdotal, but if I wouldn't worry if I were you (actually, I would, of course, but it's not necessary). Congratulations and good luck with everything!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, it’s about 80% genetic and 20% upbringing/early life.

Assertions like this crack me up. So strange to give your totally biased opinion in such a mathematically precise way.

It is very hard to solve the nature versus nurture debate because it is so hard to control for variables. Twin studies show us that genetics clearly has an impact, but they are necessarily limited (only so many twins wind up raised in different environments).

We also simply don't observe nature as well as we think we do. We can measure obvious things like socioeconomic status, divorce, and geography. And we can measure things like presence of drugs and alcohol and diet, though even that can become challenging because you often have to deal with self-reporting issues.

But when it comes to parent personality, discipline style, etc., we only have blunt instruments. Respondent surveys, for instance. Even some of the best studies of parenting style and outcomes rely on observing parents in clinical settings, which can alter participant behavior.

Point is: no one really knows. It's definitely a combination of nature and nurture, but we really don't know which factor is dominant. And it might vary by person!