Emotion Dysregulation Across Generations: Mother-Infant Dynamics and Risk Transmission

• In Event: 2-173 - Dynamic Approaches to Parent-Child Interactions from Infancy to Adolescence

Integrative Statement

Evidence suggests that the origins of psychopathology can be traced to early development, including exposure to maternal distress in utero and during the first months of life. These early exposures can have a lasting effect on child health and development, but mechanisms linking maternal and child risk are poorly understood. One promising line of inquiry suggests that intergenerational transmission of emotion dysregulation—a transdiagnostic risk factor for psychopathology—may begin in utero, through physiological programming of fetal biological systems. These processes continue through disrupted co-regulation dynamics in which mothers and infants jointly struggle to down-regulate physiologically to stress. In the present study, we recruited pregnant women with a range of scores on the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS; Gratz & Roemer, 2004), where higher scores indicate greater dysregulation. We followed women and their infants to 7-months post-partum, where we conducted a dyadic psychophysiological assessment. Using a dynamic systems approach, we hypothesized that more dysregulated mothers would show signs of greater physiological dysregulation during baseline, the still-face paradigm, and recovery at 7m. We also hypothesized that dysregulated women would show distinct physiological flexibility/stability and mother-infant dyadic coupling patterns.

Method: Participants were enrolled in an ongoing study on intergenerational transmission of emotion dysregulation (target N = 162 mothers and babies). To date, 144 mother-baby dyads are enrolled and n = 66 have completed the 7m assessment. DERS scores were collected at both time points. At 7m, mothers and babies completed the still-face paradigm. Heart rate (HR) and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) were measured in mothers and infants, with higher HR and lower RSA indicating greater physiological dysregulation. Analyses were conducted using a dynamic systems approach to examine differences in physiological set-points, stability/flexibility within and between dyad members, and coupling between mothers and infants.

Results: For all mothers, RSA decreased from baseline to still-face (t = -2.163) and mothers with higher DERS scores had lower RSA across all three phases of the task (t = -2.431). Infant HR had a destabilizing effect on mother HR, independent of DERS scores (t = -1.962), but mother HR changes did not have a destabilizing effect on child HR (t = 0.412).

Discussion: Emotion dysregulation is associated with stress and psychological problems among pregnant women and is a developmental precursor to child psychopathology. There are few studies examining intergenerational transmission of risk from mother to child. Our results suggest that maternal physiological dysregulation may be one mechanism underlying early vulnerability for child psychopathology. Results will be interpreted within a dynamic systems framework with appreciation for complex developmental processes underlying risk transmission.

Authors

• Sheila Crowell, University of Utah
  Presenting Author

• Jonathan Butner, University of Utah
  Non-Presenting Author

• Dylan Neff, University of Utah Department of Psychology
  Non-Presenting Author

• Sarah Terrell, University of Utah
  Non-Presenting Author

• Parisa Kaliush, University of Utah
  Non-Presenting Author

• Robert Dennis Vlisides-Henry, University of Utah
  Non-Presenting Author

• Mindy Brown, University of Utah
  Non-Presenting Author

• Elisabeth Conradt, University of Utah
  Non-Presenting Author