Faculty Bibliography

Maternal-fetal attachment (MFA), a woman's relationship with and affiliative behaviors toward her unborn child, has been linked to near-term infant physical and developmental outcomes. However, further longitudinal research is needed to understand whether the impact of MFA extends past the earliest years of life. The current study explored relationships between MFA and child socioemotional competence and behavior problems at age 3 and whether parenting stress mediated the association between MFA and child outcomes. Data were collected from 221 primarily Black/African-American mothers who completed a scale of MFA during pregnancy. Mothers reported on parenting stress at infant age 7 months and reported on child socioemotional competence and problem behaviors at child age 3 years. In path analyses, MFA was directly associated with child socioemotional competence at age 3 years, but an indirect association between MFA and socioemotional competence via parenting stress was not significant. We also observed a significant indirect association between lower MFA and child internalizing behavior problems via parenting stress that was related to maternal dissatisfaction regarding interactions with her child. Findings suggest that assessing MFA may serve as a means to identify dyads who would benefit from support to promote individual health outcomes.

Inequitable urban environments are associated with toxic stress and altered neural social stress processing that threatens the development of self-regulation. Some children in these environments struggle with early onset externalizing problems that are associated with a variety of negative long-term outcomes. While previous research has linked parenting daily hassles to child externalizing problems, the role of frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA) as a potential modifier of this relationship has scarcely been explored. The present study examined mother-child dyads, most of whom were living in low socioeconomic status households in an urban environment and self-identified as members of racial minority groups. Analyses focused on frustration task electroencephalography (EEG) data from 67 children (mean age = 59.0 months, SD = 2.6). Mothers reported the frequency of their daily parenting hassles and their child's externalizing problems. Frustration task FAA moderated the relationship between parenting daily hassles and child externalizing problems, but resting FAA did not. More specifically, children with left frontal asymmetry had more externalizing problems as their mothers perceived more hassles in their parenting role, but parenting hassles and externalizing problems were not associated among children with right frontal asymmetry. These findings lend support to the motivational direction hypothesis and capability model of FAA. More generally, this study reveals how individual differences in lateralization of cortical activity in response to a stressor may confer differential susceptibility to child behavioral problems with approach motivation (i.e., left frontal asymmetry) predicting externalizing problems under conditions of parental stress.

Maternal stress can shape long-term child neurodevelopment beginning in utero. One mechanism by which stress is transmitted from mothers to their offspring is via alterations in maternal cortisol, which can cross the placenta and bind to glucocorticoid receptor-rich regions in the fetal brain, such as the hippocampus. Although prior studies have demonstrated associations between maternal prenatal stress and cortisol levels with child brain development, we lack information about the extent to which these associations originate prior to birth and prior to confounding postnatal influences. Pregnant mothers (n = 77) completed questionnaires about current perceived stress, depressive symptoms, and anxiety symptoms, provided three to four salivary cortisol samples, and completed a fetal resting-state functional MRI scan during their second or third trimester of pregnancy (mean gestational age = 32.8 weeks). Voxelwise seed-based connectivity analyses revealed that higher prenatal self-reported distress and higher maternal cortisol levels corresponded to dissociable differences in fetal hippocampal functional connectivity. Specifically, self-reported distress was correlated with increased positive functional coupling between the hippocampus and right posterior parietal association cortex, while higher maternal cortisol was associated with stronger positive hippocampal coupling with the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and left medial prefrontal cortex. Moreover, the association between maternal distress, but not maternal cortisol, on fetal hippocampal connectivity was moderated by fetal sex. These results suggest that prenatal stress and peripheral cortisol levels may shape fetal hippocampal development through unique mechanisms.

Increasing reports of long-term symptoms following COVID-19 infection, even among mild cases, necessitate systematic investigation into the prevalence and type of lasting illness. Notably, there is limited data regarding the influence of social determinants of health, like perceived discrimination and economic stress, that may exacerbate COVID-19 health risks. Here, 1,584 recovered COVID-19 patients that experienced mild to severe forms of disease provided detailed medical and psychosocial information. Path analyses examined hypothesized associations between discrimination, illness severity, and lasting symptoms. Secondary analyses evaluated sex differences, timing of infection, and impact of prior mental health problems. Post hoc logistic regressions tested social determinants hypothesized to predict neurological, cognitive, or mood symptoms. 70.6% of patients reported presence of one or more lasting symptom after recovery. 19.4% and 25.1% of patients reported lasting mood or cognitive/memory problems. Perceived discrimination predicted increased illness severity and increased lasting symptom count, even when adjusting for sociodemographic factors and mental/physical health comorbidities. This effect was specific to stress related to discrimination, not to general stress levels. Further, patient perceptions regarding quality of medical care influenced these relationships. Finally, illness early in the pandemic is associated with more severe illness and more frequent lasting complaints. Lasting symptoms after recovery from COVID-19 are highly prevalent and neural systems are significantly impacted. Importantly, psychosocial factors (perceived discrimination and perceived SES) can exacerbate individual health risk. This study provides actionable directions for improved health outcomes by establishing that sociodemographic risk and medical care influence near and long-ranging health outcomes. All data from this study have been made publicly available.

Prenatal nutrition may significantly impact brain aging. Results from the Dutch Famine Birth Cohort indicated that prenatal undernutrition is negatively associated with cognition, brain volumes, perfusion and structural brain aging in late life, predominantly in men. This study investigates the association between prenatal undernutrition and late-life functional brain network connectivity. In an exploratory resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging study of 112 participants from the Dutch Famine Birth Cohort, we investigated whether the within- and between-network functional connectivity of the default mode network, salience network and central executive network differ at age 68 in men (N = 49) and women (N = 63) either exposed or unexposed to undernutrition in early gestation. Additionally, we explored sex-specific effects. Compared to unexposed participants, exposed participants revealed multiple clusters of different functional connectivity within and between the three networks studied. Sex-specific analyses suggested a pattern of network desegregation fitting with brain aging in men and a more diffuse pattern of group differences in women. This study demonstrates that associations between prenatal undernutrition and brain network functional connectivity extend late into life.

The impact of COVID-19-related stress on perinatal women is of heightened public health concern given the established intergenerational impact of maternal stress-exposure on infants and fetuses. There is urgent need to characterize the coping styles associated with adverse psychosocial outcomes in perinatal women during the COVID-19 pandemic to help mitigate the potential for lasting sequelae on both mothers and infants. This study uses a data-driven approach to identify the patterns of behavioral coping strategies that associate with maternal psychosocial distress during the COVID-19 pandemic in a large multicenter sample of pregnant women (N = 2876) and postpartum women (N = 1536). Data was collected from 9 states across the United States from March to October 2020. Women reported behaviors they were engaging in to manage pandemic-related stress, symptoms of depression, anxiety and global psychological distress, as well as changes in energy levels, sleep quality and stress levels. Using latent profile analysis, we identified four behavioral phenotypes of coping strategies. Critically, phenotypes with high levels of passive coping strategies (increased screen time, social media, and intake of comfort foods) were associated with elevated symptoms of depression, anxiety, and global psychological distress, as well as worsening stress and energy levels, relative to other coping phenotypes. In contrast, phenotypes with high levels of active coping strategies (social support, and self-care) were associated with greater resiliency relative to other phenotypes. The identification of these widespread coping phenotypes reveals novel behavioral patterns associated with risk and resiliency to pandemic-related stress in perinatal women. These findings may contribute to early identification of women at risk for poor long-term outcomes and indicate malleable targets for interventions aimed at mitigating lasting sequelae on women and children during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Infant and toddler MRI enables unprecedented insight into the developing brain. However, consensus about optimal data collection practices is lacking, which slows growth of the field and impedes replication efforts. The goal of this study was to collect systematic data across a large number of infant/toddler research laboratories to better understand preferred practices. Survey data addressed MRI acquisition strategies, scan success rates, visit preparations, scanning protocols, accommodations for families, study design, and policies regarding incidental findings. Respondents had on average 8 years' experience in early life neuroimaging and represented more than fifty research laboratories. Areas of consensus across labs included higher success rates among newborns compared to older infants or toddlers, high rates of data loss across age groups, endorsement of multiple layers of hearing protection, and age-specific scan preparation and participant accommodation. Researchers remain divided on decisions in longitudinal study design and practices regarding incidental findings. This study summarizes practices honed over years of work by a large collection of scientists, which may serve as an important resource for those new to the field. The ability to reference data about best practices facilitates future harmonization, data sharing, and reproducibility, all of which advance this important frontier in developmental science.

First-person accounts of COVID-19 illness and treatment can complement and enrich data derived from electronic medical or public health records. With patient-reported data, it is uniquely possible to ascertain in-depth contextual information as well as behavioral and emotional responses to illness. The Novel Coronavirus Illness Patient Report (NCIPR) dataset includes complete survey responses from 1,584 confirmed COVID-19 patients ages 18 to 98. NCIPR survey questions address symptoms, medical complications, home and hospital treatments, lasting effects, anxiety about illness, employment impacts, quarantine behaviors, vaccine-related behaviors and effects, and illness of other family/household members. Additional questions address financial security, perceived discrimination, pandemic impacts (relationship, social, stress, sleep), health history, and coping strategies. Detailed patient reports of illness, environment, and psychosocial impact, proximal to timing of infection and considerate of demographic variation, is meaningful for understanding pandemic-related public health from the perspective of those that contracted the disease.