This database includes the raw data linked with the paper “Depression and anxiety in pregnant women during the COVID-19 outbreak in Italy: The role of emotional stress and social support”, published on Frontiers in Psychiatry, doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2021.716488. This publication is part of the longitudinal and multi-centric “Measuring the outcomes of maternal COVID-19-related prenatal exposure (MOM-COPE)” research project. In this paper we report on cross-sectional data on the effects of antenatal pandemic-related emotional stress and perceived social support on the symptoms of depression and anxiety of mothers who were pregnant during the initial COVID-19 outbreak in northern Italy. Procedures The exposure to the SARS-Cov-2 virus and the maternal pandemic-related emotional stress were assessed using the ad-hoc questionnaires attached (file name: 21-09-01_momcope_t1_adhoc.pdf). The prenatal social support was assessed using the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, MSPSS (Zimet, Dahlem, Zimet, & Farley, 1988). Symptoms of anxiety were assessed with the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, STAI-Y (Spielberger, 1983). Symptoms of depression were assessed with the Beck Depression Inventory, BDI-II (Beck, Steer, & Carbin, 1988). Analytical plan Exposed and non-exposed participants were compared for the study variables by means of independent-sample t-tests. Separate Spearman bivariate correlation coefficients were computed to assess the association between prenatal pandemic-related emotional stress and social support and both symptoms of depression and anxiety (continuous score). Separate binary logistic regressions were used to estimate the effect of pandemic-related emotional stress and social support on the dichotomous BDI-II and STAI-Y scores. Findings in brief The findings revealed that depressive and anxious symptomatology was above clinical concern respectively in 26% and 32% of the respondents. Continuous scores and risk for severe depression and anxiety were positively associated with prenatal pandemic-related emotional stress and negatively linked with perceived social support during pregnancy

Funding: Ministry of Health (5 x 1000, 2017); Roche Foundation for the independent research 2020