Testing the programming of temperament and psychopathology in two independent samples of children with prenatal substance exposure

Abstract

Prenatal programming models have rarely been applied to research on children with prenatal substance exposure, despite evidence suggesting that prenatal drug exposure is a form of stress that impacts neurodevelopmental outcomes and risk for psychopathology. Utilizing data from two longitudinal multisite studies comprising children prenatally exposed to substances as well as a nonexposed comparison group (Maternal Lifestyle Study, n = 1,388; Infant Development, Environment, and Lifestyle study, n = 412), we tested whether early phenotypic indicators of hypothesized programming effects, indexed by growth parameters at birth and infant temperament, served as a link between prenatal substance exposure and internalizing and externalizing behavior at age 5. Latent profile analysis indicated that individual differences in reactivity and regulation for infants prenatally exposed to substances was best characterized by four temperament profiles. These profiles were virtually identical across two independent samples, and demonstrated unique associations with adjustment difficulties nearly 5 years later. Results of path analysis using structural equation modeling also showed that increased prenatal substance exposure was linked to poorer growth parameters at birth, profiles of temperamental reactivity in infancy, and internalizing and externalizing behavior at age 5. This pathway was partially replicated across samples. This study was among the first to link known individual-level correlates of prenatal substance exposure into a specific pathway to childhood problem behavior. Implications for the developmental origins of a child’s susceptibility to psychopathology as a result of intrauterine substance exposure are discussed.

Perinatal complications are associated with social anxiety: Indirect effects through temperament

“…Moreover, our findings provide initial evidence that temperament may be one of the underlying developmental processes linking perinatal complications and anxiety. Our findings are in line with the broader literature suggesting that stressors occurring during the perinatal period of development can critically impact neural and behavioural development (Bock, Rether, Gröger, Xie, & Braun, ), particularly as expressed in reactive temperamental profiles (Lin, Ostlund, Conradt, Lagasse, & Lester, ). Thus, investigating structural and functional abnormalities in brain areas associated with the regulation and mediation of emotionality may provide a more direct link between early life stressors and the later emergence of behavioural problems and psychopathology.…”

Interaction of maternal choline levels and prenatal Marijuana's effects on the offspring

“…These early childhood behaviors, including self-regulation and problems with attention and social withdrawal, are recognized as a pre-disposing factor for psychosis, substance abuse, and depression (Rutter, Kim-Cohen, and Maughan, 2006; Pine and Fox, 2015; Kertz et al ., 2016; Olson et al ., 2017). Self-regulation has been shown to be a mediating factor between prenatal maternal substance abuse and the child's later psychopathology (Lin et al ., 2018). Lower IBQ-R Regulation is specifically associated with decreased reading readiness at age 4 years and decreased conscientiousness, organization, and increased distractibility at age 9 years (Gartstein et al ., 2016; Slobodskaya and Kozlova, 2016).…”

The centrality of temperament to the research domain criteria (RDoC): The earliest building blocks of psychopathology

“…Another commonly observed profile, which might be referred to as negative reactive, is similar to the inhibited/fearful profile with the exception that, rather than being exclusively defined by extreme fear, these children exhibit high levels of negative affect (e.g., anger, sadness) more broadly across contexts (Beekman et al, 2015;Janson & Mathiesen, 2008;Komsi et al, 2006;Lin, Ostlund, Conradt, & Lagasse, 2018;Ostlund et al, in press;Planalp & Goldsmith, 2020;Prokasky et al, 2017). Researchers have also consistently observed what might be considered a dysregulated/irritable profile, that characterizes young children who display high negative affect, particularly anger, paired with high activity levels (Beekman et al, 2015;Gartstein et al, 2017;Lin et al, 2018;Ostlund et al, in press;Prokasky et al, 2017;Sanson et al, 2009), reminiscent of trait irritability Wakschlag et al, 2018).…”