Cognitive household labor: gender disparities and consequences for maternal mental health and wellbeing.

PURPOSE: Although the division of unpaid household labor has been studied as a driver of global gender inequity, the cognitive dimension of household labor-planning, anticipating, and delegating household tasks-has received less empirical investigation. Cognitive household labor represents a form of invisible and often unacknowledged domestic work that has been challenging to measure. METHODS: Within 322 mothers of young children, we assessed the division of both cognitive ("planning") and physical ("execution") household labor within 30 common household tasks using a self-report measure. RESULTS: We found that while mothers did more of the overall domestic labor than their partners, the division of cognitive labor was particularly gendered, such that women's share of cognitive labor was more disproportionate than physical household labor. We found that cognitive labor was associated with women's depression, stress, burnout, overall mental health, and relationship functioning. CONCLUSIONS: This study is one of the first to investigate cognitive labor quantitatively, and the first to investigate cognitive and physical dimensions within the same household tasks. Understanding how cognitive labor affects mothers' mental wellbeing has important implications for both practice and policy.

White matter microstructure organization across the transition to fatherhood.

The transition to parenthood remains an understudied window of potential neuroplasticity in the adult brain. White matter microstructural (WMM) organization, which reflects structural connectivity in the brain, has shown plasticity across the lifespan. No studies have examined how WMM organization changes from the prenatal to postpartum period in men becoming fathers. This study investigates WMM organization in men transitioning to first-time fatherhood. We performed diffusion-weighted imaging to identify differences in WMM organization, as indexed by fractional anisotropy (FA). We also investigated whether FA changes were associated with fathers' postpartum mental health. Associations between mental health and WMM organization have not been rarely examined in parents, who may be vulnerable to mental health problems. Fathers exhibited reduced FA at the whole-brain level, especially in the cingulum, a tract associated with emotional regulation. Fathers also displayed reduced FA in the corpus callosum, especially in the forceps minor, which is implicated in cognitive functioning. Postpartum depressive symptoms were linked with increases and decreases in FA, but FA was not correlated with perceived or parenting stress. Findings provide novel insight into fathers' WMM organization during the transition to parenthood and suggest postpartum depression may be linked with fathers' neuroplasticity during the transition to parenthood.

Early life adversity is associated with greater similarity in neural representations of ambiguous and threatening stimuli.

Exposure to early life adversity (ELA) is hypothesized to sensitize threat-responsive neural circuitry. This may lead individuals to overestimate threat in the face of ambiguity, a cognitive-behavioral phenotype linked to poor mental health. The tendency to process ambiguity as threatening may stem from difficulty distinguishing between ambiguous and threatening stimuli. However, it is unknown how exposure to ELA relates to neural representations of ambiguous and threatening stimuli, or how processing of ambiguity following ELA relates to psychosocial functioning. The current fMRI study examined multivariate representations of threatening and ambiguous social cues in 41 emerging adults (aged 18 to 19 years). Using representational similarity analysis, we assessed neural representations of ambiguous and threatening images within affective neural circuitry and tested whether similarity in these representations varied by ELA exposure. Greater exposure to ELA was associated with greater similarity in neural representations of ambiguous and threatening images. Moreover, individual differences in processing ambiguity related to global functioning, an association that varied as a function of ELA. By evidencing reduced neural differentiation between ambiguous and threatening cues in ELA-exposed emerging adults and linking behavioral responses to ambiguity to psychosocial wellbeing, these findings have important implications for future intervention work in at-risk, ELA-exposed populations.

Neural correlates of inhibitory control in the context of infant cry and paternal postpartum mental health.

BACKGROUND: Inhibitory control, a form of self-regulation, may support sensitive parenting, but has been understudied in new fathers despite their pronounced risk for stress and mental health challenges. METHODS: This study probed the neural correlates of inhibitory control and its associations to first-time fathers' postpartum mental health, focusing on depressive symptoms, state anxiety, and perceived stress. Six months after their child's birth, 38 fathers self-reported on their mood, anxiety, and stress, and performed a Go/No-Go fMRI task while listening to three sets of sounds (infant cry, pink noise, and silence). RESULTS: Fathers' behavioral inhibition accuracy was consistent across the sound conditions, but their patterns of neural activation varied. Compared to the pink noise condition, fathers showed heightened engagement in prefrontal regulatory regions when self-regulating during the infant cry and silent conditions. When examining correct trials only, results in visual motor area and primary somatosensory cortex emerged only for infant cry and not for pink noise and silence. Moreover, fathers reporting higher levels of postpartum depression, state anxiety, and perceived stress showed greater activation in prefrontal regions when inhibiting during infant cry or silence. CONCLUSION: This study is the first to underscore the complex interplay between the neural mechanisms related to inhibitory control and postpartum mental health and stress across varied auditory context, laying the groundwork for future research.

A data-driven typology of emotion regulation profiles.

Typologies serve to organize knowledge and advance theory for many scientific disciplines, including more recently in the social and behavioral sciences. To date, however, no typology exists to categorize an individual's use of emotion regulation strategies. This is surprising given that emotion regulation skills are used daily and that deficits in this area are robustly linked with mental health symptoms. Here, we attempted to identify and validate a working typology of emotion regulation across six samples (collectively comprised of 1,492 participants from multiple populations) by using a combination of computational techniques, psychometric models, and growth curve modeling. We uncovered evidence for three types of regulators: a type that infrequently uses emotion regulation strategies (Lo), a type that uses them frequently but indiscriminately (Hi), and a third type that selectively uses some (cognitive reappraisal and situation selection), but not other (expressive suppression), emotion regulation strategies frequently (Mix). Results showed that membership in the Hi and Mix types is associated with better mental health, with the Mix type being the most adaptive of the three. These differences were stable over time and across different samples. These results carry important implications for both our basic understanding of emotion regulation behavior and for informing future interventions aimed at improving mental health. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Neural representations of ambiguous affective stimuli and resilience to anxiety in emerging adults.

The tendency to interpret ambiguous stimuli as threatening has been associated with a range of anxiety disorders. Responses to ambiguity may be particularly relevant to mental health during the transition from adolescence to adulthood ("emerging adulthood"), when individuals encounter unfamiliar challenges and navigate novel social situations. However, it remains unclear whether neural representations of ambiguity relate to risk for anxiety. The present study sought to examine whether multivariate representations of ambiguity - and their similarity to representations of threat - relate to appraisals of ambiguity or anxiety in a sample of emerging adults. Participants (N = 41) viewed threatening (angry), nonthreatening (happy), and ambiguous (surprised) facial stimuli while undergoing fMRI. Outside of the scanner, participants were presented with the same stimuli and categorized the ambiguous faces as positive or negative. Using representational similarity analyses (RSA), we investigated whether the degree of pattern similarity in responses to ambiguous, nonthreatening, and threatening faces within the amygdala related to appraisals of ambiguous stimuli and anxiety symptomatology. We found that individuals who evidenced greater similarity (i.e., less differentiation) in neural representations of ambiguous and nonthreatening faces within the left amygdala reported lower concurrent anxiety. Additionally, trial-level pattern similarity predicted subsequent appraisals of ambiguous stimuli. These findings provide insight into how neural representations of ambiguity relate to risk or resilience for the development of anxiety.

Fathers' subjective childbirth stress predicts depressive symptoms at six months postpartum.

BACKGROUND: Childbirth is a seminal experience in parents' lives. However, little research has investigated the link between fathers' birth experiences and their postpartum mental health. We hypothesized that a more subjectively stressful birth will predict greater self-reported depressive symptoms in fathers at six months postpartum. We also investigated the association between mode of delivery and paternal subjective stress. METHODS: Seventy-seven heterosexual fathers expecting their first child and cohabiting with their pregnant partners participated in the study. Depressive symptoms were assessed in pregnancy and again at six months postpartum. Subjective birth stress was measured within the first few days of the birth, and birth charts were collected to examine mode of delivery. RESULTS: Fathers' ratings of subjective birth stress significantly predicted postpartum depressive symptoms at six months postpartum. Subjective birth stress ratings varied significantly for fathers whose partners delivered via emergency cesarean section compared to those whose partners gave birth via both medicated and the unmedicated vaginal delivery. LIMITATIONS: The study was limited by its small community (non-clinical) sample, which was restricted to heterosexual, cohabitating couples. Additionally, births were mostly uncomplicated and only 14 mothers underwent emergency cesarean section. CONCLUSION: These findings highlight that the days immediately following childbirth are a window of opportunity for early intervention in new fathers at risk for postpartum depression.

Prenatal prolactin predicts postnatal parenting attitudes and brain structure remodeling in first-time fathers.

Despite the important contributions that fathers make to parenting, the neurobiological underpinnings of men's adaptation to parenthood are still not well understood. The current study focuses on prolactin, a hormone that has been extensively linked with reproduction, lactation, and parental behavior in mothers. There is preliminary evidence that prolactin may also reflect the transition to sensitive fatherhood. We sampled prolactin in 91 first-time expectant fathers who participated in a laboratory visit along with their pregnant partners. Fathers' prolactin levels were correlated with their partners' prolactin levels. Men's prolactin levels during their partner's pregnancy were associated with their self-reported antenatal bonding to the unborn infant. Prenatal prolactin levels in fathers also predicted more positive attitudes toward fatherhood at three months postpartum, including lower parenting stress, greater enjoyment of the infant, and a more attunement-oriented parenting style. Within a smaller sample of 32 men who participated in MRI scanning before and after their child's birth, prenatal prolactin also predicted greater reductions in grey matter volume in the left posterior cingulate, left insula, and left nucleus accumbens. In conclusion, men's prenatal prolactin may reflect their perceptions of fatherhood and changes to their perinatal brain structure.

Emotion Regulation Strategies and Beliefs About Emotions Predict Psychosocial Outcomes in Response to Multiple Stressors.

Emotion regulation (ER) strategies and beliefs about emotions (implicit theories of emotions; ITE) may shape psychosocial outcomes during turbulent times, including the transition to adulthood and college while encountering stressors. The normative stressors associated with these transitions were compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic, providing a novel opportunity to examine how emerging adults (EAs) cope with sustained stressors. Stress exposures can heighten existing individual differences and serve as "turning points" that predict psychosocial trajectories. This pre-registered study (https://osf.io/k8mes) of 101 EAs (18-19 years old) examined whether ITE (believing emotions can change or not; incremental vs. entity beliefs) and ER strategy usage (cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression usage) predicted changes in anxiety symptomatology and feelings of loneliness across five longitudinal assessments (across a 6-month period) before and during the initial months of the COVID-19 pandemic. On average, EAs' anxiety decreased after the pandemic outbreak but returned to baseline over time, while loneliness remained relatively unchanged across time. ITE explained variance in anxiety across time over and above reappraisal use. Conversely, reappraisal use explained variance in loneliness over and above ITE. For both anxiety and loneliness, suppression use resulted in maladaptive psychosocial outcomes across time. Thus, interventions that target ER strategies and ITE may ameliorate risk and promote resilience in EAs who experience increased instability. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s42761-023-00187-0.

Value-based neural representations predict social decision preferences.

Social decision-making is omnipresent in everyday life, carrying the potential for both positive and negative consequences for the decision-maker and those closest to them. While evidence suggests that decision-makers use value-based heuristics to guide choice behavior, very little is known about how decision-makers' representations of other agents influence social choice behavior. We used multivariate pattern expression analyses on fMRI data to understand how value-based processes shape neural representations of those affected by one's social decisions and whether value-based encoding is associated with social decision preferences. We found that stronger value-based encoding of a given close other (e.g. parent) relative to a second close other (e.g. friend) was associated with a greater propensity to favor the former during subsequent social decision-making. These results are the first to our knowledge to explicitly show that value-based processes affect decision behavior via representations of close others.

Changes in left hippocampal volume in first-time fathers: Associations with oxytocin, testosterone, and adaptation to parenthood.

The parenting brain may undergo remodeling that supports the adjustment to new parenthood. Prior work on human mothers has found gray matter volume decreases from preconception to early postpartum in multiple structures, including the left hippocampus, which was the only structure to show gray matter volume recovery at 2 years postpartum. This is consistent with evidence from animal models that the hippocampus is unusually plastic across reproductive transitions. However, no studies have focused specifically on hippocampal volume changes in human fathers. Among 38 men who were scanned by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) before and after having their first child, individual differences in left hippocampal volume changes were associated with men's prenatal oxytocin, postpartum testosterone, and postpartum adaptation to parenthood. Across the whole sample, hippocampal volumes did not change significantly from prenatal to postpartum. However, men who showed larger increases in left hippocampal volume from prenatal to postpartum reported stronger parent-child bonding and affectionate attachment and lower parenting stress. Fathers with higher levels of prenatal oxytocin showed larger left hippocampal volume increases across the transition to parenthood. In turn, greater increases in left hippocampal volume predicted lower postpartum testosterone after adjusting for prenatal testosterone. These findings did not extend to the right hippocampus. In conclusion, remodeling of the left hippocampus across the transition to new fatherhood may reflect adaptation to parenthood in human males.

Sensory processing challenges as a novel link between early caregiving experiences and mental health.

Early caregiving adversity (ECA) is associated with elevated psychological symptomatology. While neurobehavioral ECA research has focused on socioemotional and cognitive development, ECA may also increase risk for "low-level" sensory processing challenges. However, no prior work has compared how diverse ECA exposures differentially relate to sensory processing, or, critically, how this might influence psychological outcomes. We examined sensory processing challenges in 183 8-17-year-old youth with and without histories of institutional (orphanage) or foster caregiving, with a particular focus on sensory over-responsivity (SOR), a pattern of intensified responses to sensory stimuli that may negatively impact mental health. We further tested whether sensory processing challenges are linked to elevated internalizing and externalizing symptoms common in ECA-exposed youth. Relative to nonadopted comparison youth, both groups of ECA-exposed youth had elevated sensory processing challenges, including SOR, and also had heightened internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Additionally, we found significant indirect effects of ECA on internalizing and externalizing symptoms through both general sensory processing challenges and SOR, covarying for age and sex assigned at birth. These findings suggest multiple forms of ECA confer risk for sensory processing challenges that may contribute to mental health outcomes, and motivate continuing examination of these symptoms, with possible long-term implications for screening and treatment following ECA.

Parent and Friend Relationship Quality and Links to Trajectories of Loneliness During the First Year of College.

Beginning college involves changes that can increase one's vulnerability to loneliness and associated negative outcomes. Parent and friend relationships are potential protective factors against loneliness given their positive association with adjustment. The present longitudinal study, with data collection at baseline, 1 month, and 2 months later, assessed the comparative effects of self-reported parent and friend relationship quality on loneliness in first-year college students (N = 101; 80 female, Mage = 18.36). At baseline, parent and friend relationship quality were negatively associated with loneliness. Longitudinal data revealed that friend relationship quality interacted with time, such that its effects on loneliness attenuated over the course of 2 months. By contrast, parent relationship quality continued to predict lower loneliness 2 months post-baseline. These results highlight the importance of close relationships and suggest that targeting relationship quality could be effective in helping youth transition to college.

Early caregiving adversity differentially shapes behavioral sensitivity to reward and risk during decision-making.

Cognitive systems that track, update, and utilize information about reward (consequences) and risk (uncertainty) are critical for adaptive decision-making as well as everyday functioning and well-being. However, it remains unclear how individual differences in reward and risk sensitivity are independently shaped by environmental influences and give rise to decision-making. Here, we investigated the impact of early life experience-a potent sculptor of development-on behavioral sensitivity to reward and risk. We administered a widely used decision-making paradigm to 55 adolescents and young adults who were exposed to early deprivation in the form of early institutional (orphanage) care (a type of early life adversity) and 81 comparison individuals who were reared by their biological parents and did not experience institutional care. Leveraging random coefficient regression and computational models, we observed that previously institutionalized individuals displayed general reward hyposensitivity, contributing to a decreased propensity to make decisions that stood to earn relatively large rewards relative to comparison individuals. By contrast, group differences in risk sensitivity were selectively observed on loss, but not gain, trials. These results are the first to independently and explicitly link early experiences to reward and risk sensitivity during decision-making. As such, they lay the groundwork for therapeutic efforts to identify and treat adversity-exposed individuals at risk for psychiatric disorders characterized by aberrant decision-making processes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Revisiting the Neural Architecture of Adolescent Decision-Making: Univariate and Multivariate Evidence for System-Based Models.

Understanding adolescent decision-making is significant for informing basic models of neurodevelopment as well as for the domains of public health and criminal justice. System-based theories posit that adolescent decision-making is guided by activity amongst reward and control processes. While successful at explaining behavior, system-based theories have received inconsistent support at the neural level, perhaps because of methodological limitations. Here, we used two complementary approaches to overcome said limitations and rigorously evaluate system-based models. Using decision-level modeling of fMRI data from a risk-taking task in a sample of 2000+ decisions across 51 human adolescents (25 females, mean age = 15.00 years), we find support for system-based theories of decision-making. Neural activity in lateral prefrontal cortex and a multivariate pattern of cognitive control both predicted a reduced likelihood of risk-taking, whereas increased activity in the nucleus accumbens predicted a greater likelihood of risk-taking. Interactions between decision-level brain activity and age were not observed. These results garner support for system-based accounts of adolescent decision-making behavior.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT:Adolescent decision-making behavior is of great import for basic science, and carries equally consequential implications for public health and criminal justice. While dominant psychological theories seeking to explain adolescent decision-making have found empirical support, their neuroscientific implementations have received inconsistent support. This may be partly due to statistical approaches employed by prior neuroimaging studies of system-based theories. We used brain modeling-an approach that predicts behavior from brain activity-of univariate and multivariate neural activity metrics to better understand how neural components of psychological systems guide decision behavior in adolescents. We found broad support for system-based theories such that neural systems involved in cognitive control predicted a reduced likelihood to make risky decisions, whereas value-based systems predicted greater risk-taking propensity.

Emotion regulation strategy usage explains links between institutional caregiving and elevated internalizing symptoms.

Early adversity, including institutional orphanage care, is associated with the development of internalizing disorders. Previous research suggests that institutionalization can disrupt emotion regulation processes, which contribute to internalizing symptoms. However, no prior work has investigated how early orphanage care shapes emotion regulation strategy usage (e.g., cognitive reappraisal, expressive suppression) and whether the said strategy usage contributes to internalizing symptoms. This study probed emotion regulation strategy usage and internalizing symptoms in a sample of 36 previously institutionalized and 58 comparison youth. As hypothesized, previously institutionalized youth exhibited higher rates of internalizing symptoms than comparison youth, and more frequent use of suppression partially accounted for the relationship between early institutional care and elevated internalizing symptoms. Contrary to our initial hypotheses, reappraisal use did not buffer previously institutionalized or comparison youth against internalizing symptoms. Our findings highlight the potential utility of targeting emotion regulation strategy usage in adversity-exposed youth in future intervention work.