Disentangling Associations Among Maternal Lifetime and Prenatal Stress, Psychological Functioning During Pregnancy, Maternal Race/Ethnicity, and Infant Negative Affectivity at Age 6 Months: A Mixtures Approach

Abstract

Purpose: Maternal stress and psychological dysfunction in pregnancy are independently linked with fetal neurodevelopment. Stress encompasses environmental stressors and psychological and physiological responses. Stressors and psychopathology co-occur with patterns differing by race/ethnicity. We aimed to extend environmental mixtures methodology to elucidate prenatal stress associations with infant negative affectivity (NA) in a racially/ethnically mixed cohort. Methods: Participants were mother/infant dyads ( n =445) in a prospective pregnancy cohort study in two urban US settings in 2011–2018. During pregnancy, women completed the Life Stressor Checklist-Revised, Crisis in Family Systems-Revised, Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) Checklist-Civilian version; the Infant Behavior Questionnaire-Revised assessed NA in 6-month olds. Using weighted quantile sum (WQS) regression, we developed a weighted maternal stress index encompassing lifetime and current life events and symptoms of depression and PTSD. Stress-by-race/ethnicity interactions allowed differential contributions of individual stress domains by maternal race/ethnicity. Results: Mothers were majority black (44%) or Hispanic (37%). Stress questionnaire and infant NA scores were similar by race/ethnicity. The WQS prenatal stress score was positively associated with infant NA ( β : 0.40 [95% confidence interval 0.16–0.64]). PTSD was the strongest contributor to the WQS score in Hispanic women (59%), whereas in black women, lifetime stress and depressive symptoms accounted for 38% and 35%, respectively, of the association with NA. Conclusions: Extending environmental mixtures methodology to stress research may disentangle complex associations among lifetime and current stressful life events and psychological symptomatology and their contributions to early childhood neurobehavioral outcomes. Consideration of effect modification by race/ethnicity may inform understanding of differing vulnerability across racial/ethnic groups.

The Insight into Obstetric Care near the Front Line in Kharkiv

“…The disorders of the female reproductive system are known both in civilian and military women [ 20 - 25 ]. The increased level of mental disorders is involved in abnormal fetal neurodevelopment [ 26 ]. The hypothesis of fetal programming was based on the negative impact of fetal growth restriction on its health in the future lifetime [ 27 ].…”

Functional changes in neural mechanisms underlying post-traumatic stress disorder in World Trade Center responders

“…WQS is a data driven, mixtures-based ensemble modeling strategy that tests for associations between the combined effect of multiple, correlated variables and an outcome of interest. While developed as a chemical mixtures-based strategy, prior studies demonstrate the utility of WQS for modeling social and behavioral exposures, as well as for the assessment of integrated measures of functional connectivity [ 48 , 49 ]. Here, we include four dimensional scales of PTSD symptoms as predictors: re-experiencing, avoidance, hyperarousal, and negative thoughts.…”

Associations between a metal mixture and infant negative affectivity: Effect modification by prenatal cortisol and infant sex

“…The current study focused on the IBQ‐R global factor of Negative Affectivity, which comprises four sub‐domains—Fear, Sadness, Distress to Limitations, and Falling Reactivity/Rate of Recovery from Distress (hereafter Falling Reactivity). As previously described (Campbell et al, 2020; Cowell et al, 2021), the 16‐item Fear scale assesses inhibited approach to novel objects or other stimuli, as well as distress in social situations that involve novelty or uncertainty; higher scores indicate greater fearfulness. The 14‐item Sadness scale assesses general low mood and activity related to personal suffering, object loss, or inability to perform a desired action; higher scores indicate a greater propensity to Sadness.…”