The relation between prenatal stress and infant negative emotionality: Buffering effects of maternal predictability
Stress exposure during pregnancy can program infants to adverse mental health outcomes later in life. Placental corticotrophin-releasing hormone (CRH), a stress responsive hormone regulated by the placenta, can be measured as an indicator of stress exposure during pregnancy. Placental CRH plays a central role in the regulation of fetal development and is linked to higher negative emotionality both in infancy and at 5 years of age. High negative emotionality in infancy is associated with internalizing problems in early childhood and adolescence and thus, is an important predictor of risk for subsequent psychopathology. Promotive parent-child relationships, such as sensitive parenting, supports positive development in response to adversity by breaking the link between prenatal stress and poorer child mental health.
Özlü Aran, MS, a sixth-year developmental psychology doctoral student at the University of Denver, hypothesizes that adverse developmental outcomes can be prevented via predictable and warm relationships with caregivers. She is using an MRI grant to study whether the association between higher levels of placental CRH due to stress and greater negative emotionality in infancy can be buffered through maternal predictability.
She hypothesizes that faster placental CRH trajectories will lead to higher infant negative emotionality among 6-month-old infants, and higher predictability of maternal behavior during mother-child interactions will buffer against the effects of prenatal stress on high infant negative emotionality. Therefore, infants whose mothers had elevated placental CRH during pregnancy and provide predictable behavior during interactions will have lower scores of negative emotionality.
The research questions in this study are:
Do more rapid increases in the stress hormone placental CRH over pregnancy predict greater infant negative emotionality in response to a stressor?
Is predictability of maternal behavior associated with lower infant negative emotionality in response to a stressor?
Does predictability of maternal behavior ameliorate the consequences of exposure to prenatal stress hormone on infant negative emotionality?
This study will be the first to test whether the association between higher levels of stress responsive placental CRH and greater negative emotionality in infancy can be buffered through maternal predictability.
If the researcher finds that predictability of visual, auditory, and tactile stimulation buffer against the adverse effects of prenatal stress on infants, predictability can be a promising target for interventions to improve mother-child relationships as well as child socioemotional outcomes. Training parents to respond consistently to their infants through sensory input by creating a predictable environment can be an effective way to promote mother-child interactions over the course of development.