Prenatal Distress Links Maternal Early Life Adversity to Infant Stress Functioning in the Next Generation

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Cassandra L Hendrix, New York University Langone Health; April L Brown, Emory University; Brooke G McKenna, Emory University; Anne Dunlop, Emory University; Elizabeth J Corwin, Columbia University; Patricia Brennan, Emory University
• Language: English
• Date: 2022-02-01
• Publisher: AMER PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOC
• Publication Version: Author Accepted Manuscript (After Peer Review)
• Copyright Statement: © 2022 American Psychological Association
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/abn0000688
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: JOURNAL OF PSYCHOPATHOLOGY AND CLINICAL SCIENCE
• Volume: 131
• Issue: 2
• Start Page: 117
• End Page: 129
• Grant/Funding Information: This study was supported in part by the National Institutes of Health National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities [R01MD009746 to PAB and EJC], National Institute of Nursing Research [R01NR014800 to EJC and ALD], and National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences [R24ES029490 to ALD].; Authors CLH and BGM were supported by the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (DGE-1444932) during the completion of this work. Author CLH was also supported by the American Association of University Women American Dissertation Fellowship.
• Keywords: Social Sciences; Life Sciences & Biomedicine; RACIAL-DISCRIMINATION; Psychology; pregnancy; Psychology, Multidisciplinary; AFRICAN-AMERICAN; CORTISOL; Science & Technology; INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE; WOMEN; MENTAL-HEALTH; infants; DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS; stress; cortisol; Psychology, Clinical; BIRTH-WEIGHT; Psychiatry; HOUSEHOLD DYSFUNCTION; CHILDHOOD EXPERIENCES; childhood adversity

Abstract

Maternal stress in pregnancy exerts powerful programming effects into the next generation. Yet it remains unclear whether and how adversity from other times in the woman’s life influences her prenatal stress and her offspring’s stress functioning. In a sample of 217 Black American mother-infant dyads, we examined whether different types of maternal stress were differentially related to her infant’s stress functioning within the first few months after birth. We prospectively assessed maternal distress (perceived stress, depression, and anxiety) early and late in pregnancy, infant behavioral adaption in the context of a mild stressor at 2 weeks of age, and infant diurnal cortisol at 3–6 months of age. We additionally collected retrospective reports of maternal experiences of lifetime discrimination and childhood adversity. Maternal distress experienced late, but not early, in pregnancy predicted lower infant attention in the context of a stressor. Moreover, lifetime experiences of discrimination indirectly impacted infant attention by increasing maternal distress late in pregnancy. These effects were specific to infant behavioral adaptation and were not related to infant diurnal cortisol levels. However, infant diurnal cortisol levels were associated with maternal experiences of discrimination from prior to pregnancy and adversity from the mother’s childhood even after controlling for prenatal distress. Our results underscore the cascading nature of stress across mothers’ lifespan and across generations.