2-007 - Adversity in Early Care Environments: New Directions and Challenges in Applying Translational Research to Intervention

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Early adversity alters the epigenome, priming the system for responding in a way that is adaptive to the conditions of an early adverse environment. Such adaptations prime the system to continue to respond to social challenges with difficulty, even when the adversity has abated. This symposium includes research drawn from rodent, primate, and human samples and elucidates both the persistence of phenotypic alternations born from adversity in early care environments and the malleable, dynamic nature of these postnatal programs under conditions of cross-fostering and early intervention. Four papers will be presented. The first paper examines the mechanisms and sensitive periods involved in the intergenerational transmission of variations of maternal care in the rodent. The second paper examines the sustained effects of ordinary variations in maternal care in infancy on social behavior across childhood and provides evidence to support that postnatal programming can be modified by early intervention in human samples. The third paper uses a translational macaque model to elucidate the mechanisms underlying the differences in social behavior, emotion, and stress regulation seen in animals exposed to maltreatment in infancy. The final paper examines the role of attachment security in the development of callous-unemotional traits seen in boys with a history of institutional care. This interdisciplinary research spans across species and converges to elucidate pathways involved in changing trajectories of risk by enhancing the quality of early care environments; and presents new questions to be addressed regarding both sensitive periods and developing effective interventions for at-risk infants and children.

Sub Unit

• Biology and Neuroscience

Chairs

• Amie Hane, Williams College

• Nathan Fox, 3. Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland

Individual Presentations

• Transmission of Maternal Behavior across Generations: Neural Mechanisms and Sensitive Periods - Presenting Author: Frances A. Champagne, Columbia University

• Phenotypic Plasticity and Early Care Environments: Sustained Effects of Postnatal Programming and Reversibility in Human Samples - Presenting Author: Amie Hane, Williams College; Nathan Fox, 3. Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland; Michael Myers, Columbia University; Martha Welch, Columbia University

• Developmental Impact of Adverse Caregiving on Socioemotional Behavior and Neurocircuitry in Nonhuman Primates - Presenting Author: Mar Sanchez, Emory University; Elyse Morin, Emory University; Brittany Howell, Emory University; A. Kazama, Emory University; Kai M. McCormack, Spelman College; Dora G. Guzman, Emory University; Eric Earl, Oregon Health and Science University; Eric Feczko, Oregon Health and Science University; Martin Styner, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill; Damien Fair, Oregon Health and Science University

• Attachment Security Mediates the Association between Caregiver Responsiveness to Distress and Callous-Unemotional Traits - Presenting Author: Kathryn L. Humphreys, Stanford University; Nathan Fox, 3. Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland; Charles A. Nelson, Harvard Medical School; Charles Zeanah, Tulane University