Examining the implications of contextual stress and maternal sensitivity for infants' cortisol responses to the still face paradigm.

Infants' hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis responses to acute stressors are theorized to be shaped by parents' sensitive responsiveness to infants' cues. The strength and direction of the association between maternal sensitivity and infants' HPA responses may depend on the context in which maternal sensitivity is observed and on broader environmental sources of stress and support. In this preregistered study, we used data from 105 mothers and their 7-month-old infants to examine whether two empirically identified forms of contextual stress-poor maternal psychosocial wellbeing and family socioeconomic hardship-moderate the association between maternal sensitivity and infants' cortisol responses to the Still-Face Paradigm (SFP). Results indicated that maternal sensitivity during the free play and family socioeconomic hardship interacted to predict infants' cortisol responses to the SFP. Specifically, maternal sensitivity during this non-distressing interaction was negatively associated with cortisol responses only among infants whose mothers were experiencing relatively high socioeconomic hardship. Exploratory analyses revealed that poor maternal psychosocial wellbeing was positively associated with overall infant cortisol production during the SFP. Altogether, these findings suggest that experiences within early parent-infant attachment relationships and sources of contextual stress work together to shape infant HPA axis activity.

Pregnant women's autonomic responses to an infant cry predict young infants' behavioral avoidance during the still-face paradigm.

Research suggests that women's autonomic nervous system responses to infant cries capture processes that affect their parenting behaviors. The aim of this study was to build on prior work by testing whether pregnant women's autonomic responses to an unfamiliar infant crying also predict their infants' emerging regulation abilities. Participants included 97 women in their third trimester of pregnancy, located in the United States. Most participants identified as White/non-Hispanic (48%) or Hispanic (30%), their mean age was approximately 30 years, and the modal family income was $40,000-$79,999. Pregnant women's respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) and skin conductance levels (SCL)-which are thought to capture emotional engagement and behavioral inhibition, respectively-were measured while the women watched a relaxing video and a video of an unfamiliar infant crying. Approximately 7 months later, women and their infants completed the still-face paradigm (SFP). Infants' avoidance and resistance behaviors during the SFP reunions were rated. Pregnant women's RSA and SCL responses to the infant cry video uniquely predicted infants' avoidance (but not resistance) during the SFP. Infants displayed higher levels of avoidance when their mothers exhibited lower levels of RSA reactivity or when their mothers exhibited higher levels of SCL activity in response to the infant cry video. Maternal sensitivity during mother-infant free-play interactions did not mediate the associations between pregnant women's autonomic responses to the cry video and infants' avoidant behavior during the SFP. Discussion focuses on potential mechanisms underlying associations between pregnant women's autonomic responses to infant distress and infants' socioemotional development. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Examining implications of the developmental timing of maternal trauma for prenatal and newborn outcomes.

Separate literatures have demonstrated that mothers' experiences with trauma during childhood or pregnancy are associated with maternal prenatal health risks, adverse childbirth outcomes, and offspring internalizing and externalizing disorders. These literatures largely align with the intergenerational transmission or fetal programming frameworks, respectively. However, few studies have tested the effects of maternal childhood and prenatal trauma simultaneously on mothers' and infants' health outcomes, and no studies have examined these effects on newborn neurobehavioral outcomes. Thus, in the present study, we examined how the developmental timing of pregnant women's traumatic life experiences associated with their physical health and psychopathology (Aim 1) as well as their newborns' birth and neurodevelopmental outcomes (Aim 2; for pre-registered aims and hypotheses, see https://osf.io/ygnre/?view_only=cbe17d0ac7f24af5a4d3e37e24eebead). One hundred and fifty-two 3rd trimester pregnant women (Mage = 29 years; 17.1% Hispanic/Latina) completed measures of trauma history and psychopathology. Then, 24-48 h after birth, trained clinicians conducted newborn neurobehavioral exams (n = 118 newborns; 52.6% female). Results indicated that lifetime traumatic experiences associated with multiple prenatal maternal health outcomes, including depression, anxiety, emotion dysregulation, and pregnancy complications. Pregnant women's experiences with childhood trauma, but not adulthood or prenatal trauma, predicted higher neurobehavioral attention scores among female newborns. Our discussion highlights the importance of considering the developmental timing of maternal trauma on perinatal outcomes and contextualizes our findings within the intergenerational transmission and fetal programming literatures. DATA AVAILABILITY: Data pertaining to R01MH119070 (MPIs Crowell & Conradt) and that support these findings are uploaded to the NIMH repository.

Developmental foundations of physiological dynamics among mother-infant dyads: The role of newborn neurobehavior.

This study tested whether newborn attention and arousal provide a foundation for the dynamics of respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) in mother-infant dyads. Participants were 106 mothers (Mage  = 29.54) and their 7-month-old infants (55 males and 58 White and non-Hispanic). Newborn attention and arousal were measured shortly after birth using the NICU Network Neurobehavioral Scale. Higher newborn arousal predicted a slower return of infant RSA to baseline. Additionally, greater newborn attention predicted mothers' slower return to baseline RSA following the still-face paradigm, and this effect only held for mothers whose infants had lower newborn arousal. These findings suggest that newborn neurobehavior, measured within days of birth, may contribute to later mother-infant physiological processes while recovering from stress.