Background Although substantial research exists on the debilitating effects of maternal depression on child development, little is known about Latina mothers with depression and their young children within the broader context of sociocultural and economic stressors. Objectives What is the relationship between maternal depression in Latina mothers and their children's socioemotional outcomes through early developmental windows (0-5 years)? Methods We searched electronic databases PubMed, CINAHL, and PsycINFO in this systematic review, pre-registered via PROSPERO (CRD42019128686). Based on predetermined criteria, we identified 56 studies and included 15 in the final sample. After extracting data, we assessed study quality with the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Quality Assessment Tool for Observational Cohort and Cross-Sectional Studies. Results We found inverse correlations between maternal depression and child socioemotional outcomes; furthermore, we found evidence of a moderating and mediating role of maternal depression between contextual stressors and child outcomes. Children of U.S.-born Latina mothers had poorer developmental outcomes than children of foreign-born Latina mothers across socioemotional domains and throughout early developmental windows. Conclusions Future research must examine underlying mechanisms for the potential Latino paradox in young Latino children's socioemotional outcomes. Policies should support mental health of Latina mothers as early as the prenatal period.

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As the master regulator in utero, the placenta is core to the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) hypothesis but is historically understudied. To identify placental gene-trait associations (GTAs) across the life course, we perform distal mediator-enriched transcriptome-wide association studies (TWAS) for 40 traits, integrating placental multi-omics from the Extremely Low Gestational Age Newborn Study. At $$P \; < \; 2.5\times {10}^{-6}$$ P < 2.5 × 10 − 6 , we detect 248 GTAs, mostly for neonatal and metabolic traits, across 176 genes, enriched for cell growth and immunological pathways. In aggregate, genetic effects mediated by placental expression significantly explain 4 early-life traits but no later-in-life traits. 89 GTAs show significant mediation through distal genetic variants, identifying hypotheses for distal regulation of GTAs. Investigation of one hypothesis in human placenta-derived choriocarcinoma cells reveal that knockdown of mediator gene EPS15 upregulates predicted targets SPATA13 and FAM214A, both associated with waist-hip ratio in TWAS, and multiple genes involved in metabolic pathways. These results suggest profound health impacts of placental genomic regulation in developmental programming across the life course.

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Although immigrant mothers from some Latinx subgroups initially achieve healthy birth outcomes despite lower socioeconomic status, this advantage deteriorates across generations in the United States. Interpersonal discrimination and acculturative stress may interact with economic hardship to predict an intergenerational cascade of emotional and biological vulnerabilities, particularly perinatal depression. Network analyses may elucidate not only how and which psychosocial experiences relate to depressive symptoms, but which symptom-to-symptom relationships emerge. This study aims to understand (1) how economic, acculturative, and discrimination stressors relate to prenatal depression and low birth weight and(2) how Latinas may respond to and cope with stressors by exploring symptom-symptom and symptom-experience relationships. A sample of 151 pregnant Latinas (predominantly foreign-born and Mexican and Central American descent) completed the EPDS and psychosocial questionnaires (discrimination, acculturation, acculturative stress, economic hardship) during pregnancy (24-32 weeks). Birth weights were recorded from postpartum medical records. We created network models using the Extended Bayesian Information Criterion Graphical Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator to estimate the relationship between variables. Discrimination exposure connected psychosocial stressors to depressive symptoms, particularly worry, crying, sadness, and self-blame. Discrimination also revealed a connection between acculturation and low birth weight.Furthermore, younger age of migration and greater acculturation levels were correlated to greater discrimination stress and low birth weights. Perinatal research in Latinas must account not only for measures of cultural adaptation but recognize how developmental exposures across the life span, including discrimination, may be associated with adverse health trajectories for a mother and her child.