Witnessing their mother's acute and prolonged stress affects executive functioning in children

This study explored whether mothers' everyday stress affects children's executive functioning. 76 mother-child dyads participated; mothers were assigned to a stress-inducing or stress-free condition. Children observed their mothers and were tested for cognitive flexibility and working memory. Linear mixed models showed that children's acute stress response impaired cognitive flexibility. Maternal stress (acute and past-month) better predicted children's cognitive performance than children's own stress. No impact on working memory was found. Maternal past-month stress interacted with the acute stress condition, suggesting adaptive mechanisms in children. Findings highlight maternal stress's significant impact on children's executive functioning.

Eileen Lashani, Isabella G. Larsen, Philipp Kanske, Jenny Rosendahl, Jost U. Blasberg, Veronika Engert