Poster #21 - The Role of Chronic Physiological Stress & Mother-Infant Interaction in Executive Function Development in Early Childhood

• In Event: 3-053 - Poster Session 10
  In Poster Session: PS 10 Section - Biological Processes: Psychophysiology

Integrative Statement

Background: Poor executive functions (EF) during childhood are associated with adverse psychological and behavioral outcomes later in life. Deficits in childhood EF development have been linked to specific biological and environmental factors such as physiological stress response (Bick & Nelson, 2016), parenting (Bigelow et al., 2010), and poverty (Blair & Raver, 2016). Further, mothers’ elevated levels of the stress hormone cortisol can alter aspects of bio-behavioral development of young children (Blair et al., 2008). However, little is known about how these biological and environmental variables during infancy would predict later EF outcomes in preschoolers. The current study aimed to analyze infant and maternal chronic physiological stress levels, mother-infant interactions, and socioeconomic status as predictors of preschool EF performance.

Methods: The sample consisted of 42 mothers (M age =36.5 years, SD=4.3) and their children (20 female), first assessed at 12-months-old (M = 12.1 months, SD = 0.7), and then at 3.5-years-old (M age = 42.2 months, SD = 1.6). At the 12-month laboratory visit, mother-infant interactions were recorded during a 6-minute free play session, and positive engagement synchrony and joint attention were assessed following the micro-coding system of Feldman and colleagues (Feldman et al., 2011). Also at 12 months, to examine cumulative biological stress exposure, hair samples were collected from both the mother and infant and assayed for cortisol concentration. Also, mothers reported on their income level. At the 3.5-year visit, child EF was assessed using Bear/Dragon and Day/Night Stroop (Kochanska et al., 1996; Lagattuta et al., 2011).

Results: For EF, a composite score was created by combining the two correlated EF measures (r=.45, p< .01). Maternal hair cortisol, indexing chronic physiological stress, was negatively associated with children’s EF scores (r=-.39, p< .05). On the other hand, infant hair cortisol at 12-months-old was not associated with EF performance at 3.5-years-old. Socioeconomic status in the first year of life and dyadic relationship quality at 12-months-old also were not associated with child EF at 3.5-years-old.

Discussion: Maternal chronic biological stress exposure, as indexed by maternal hair cortisol, was revealed as a significant predictor in EF development in preschoolers. Higher levels of maternal hair cortisol in infancy were associated with lower EF performance when children were assessed 2.5 years later, at age 3.5 years. Maternal biological stress could be a biomarker of a chronically stressful home environment, which is associated with deficits in prefrontal cortex development (Taylor et al., 2006). Chronic stress may also impact parenting quality through reducing parental psychological resources (Jackson et al., 2000). Infant chronic physiological stress levels, mother-infant interactions, and SES during infancy were not related to EF performance in the early preschool years, when EF is just emerging. Associations with these environmental risks might be more pronounced at later ages when EF is typically more established, and thus deficits might be more evident. Results provide initial evidence that maternal hair cortisol might be practically important for identifying very early in life children who would benefit from preventive intervention, given that it longitudinally predicted EF outcomes in preschool children.

Authors

• Saliha B. Selman, Boston University
  Presenting Author

• Charu Tara Tuladhar, Boston University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Katie Kao, Boston University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Amanda Tarullo, Boston University
  Non-Presenting Author