Prenatal Distress and Neurobehavior in Infancy and Early Childhood: Testing Putative Biological Mechanisms

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Abstract

Recent years have seen increasing appreciation for the role of prenatal conditions in shaping children’s developmental trajectories. One of the most commonly studied prenatal risk factors is maternal distress. While prenatal distress is a robust predictor of child neurodevelopmental and mental health outcomes (van den Bergh, 2017), the mechanisms underlying these associations are unclear. Several biological mechanisms have been hypothesized, including inflammatory, neural, and epigenetic processes. The proposed symposium is comprised of three papers that empirically test these putative biological mechanisms. Strengths of these papers include their prospective, longitudinal designs, inclusion of children at different developmental time periods, and racially and ethnically diverse samples. Additionally, all three papers operationalize prenatal distress similarly, as some combination of maternal perceived stress, stressful life events, and psychopathology experienced during pregnancy.

Paper #1 explores prenatal distress, neonatal white and gray matter volumes, and infant sleep, a novel endophenotype that has received little attention in the prenatal literature. Paper #2 tests the associations among prenatal distress, infant neural noise (a component of electroencephalogram (EEG) activity), and infant behavior problems. Paper #3 considers elevated maternal inflammation as a mechanism linking prenatal distress to infant negative affect and downstream ADHD symptoms. Of the three putative mechanisms tested, only inflammation was found to significantly mediate the relationship between prenatal distress and child outcomes. Together, this group of papers suggests that additional research is needed to rigorously evaluate purported biological mechanisms that may be responsible for the harmful impact of prenatal distress on infant and child neurodevelopment.

Sub Unit

• Biological Processes: Psychophysiology

Chair

• Marie Camerota, Brown University

Individual Presentations

• Maternal Prenatal Distress, Neonatal Brain Volume, and Infant Sleep - Presenting Author: Marie Camerota, Brown University; Non-Presenting Author: Sarah J Short, University of Wisconsin - Madison; Non-Presenting Author: Rebecca Stephens, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Non-Presenting Author: Cathi Propper, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

• Linking prenatal maternal distress and infant neural noise to problem behavior in toddlerhood - Presenting Author: Brendan Dale Ostlund, Pennsylvania State University, University Park; Non-Presenting Author: Lee Raby, University of Utah; Non-Presenting Author: Lauren Williams, University of California, San Diego; Non-Presenting Author: Sheila E Crowell, University of Utah; Non-Presenting Author: Liz Conradt, Duke University; Non-Presenting Author: Trafton Drew, University of Utah

• Maternal Prenatal Distress and Child ADHD: Biological and Developmental Mechanisms of Risk - Presenting Author: Hanna C Gustafsson, Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU); Non-Presenting Author: Jennifer Loftis, Oregon Health & Science University; Non-Presenting Author: Elinor L. Sullivan, Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU); Non-Presenting Author: Joel T Nigg, Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU)