Disgust sensitivity in early pregnancy as a response to high pathogen risk

Abstract

We tested the hypothesis that disgust sensitivity would be higher during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to the pre-pandemic period in pregnant women. In this between-subject study with a longitudinal trend design, we administered the Disgust Scale-Revised to 200 pregnant women before the pandemic and to 350 pregnant women during the pandemic.

Keywords

• disgust sensitivity
• pregnancy
• COVID-19
• behavioral immune system
• compensatory prophylaxis hypothesis
• age
• nausea and vomiting in pregnancy