Browsing by Author "DeMaster, Dana M."
Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
- Results Per Page
- Sort Options
Item Impact of Prenatal Stress on Neurobiological Markers of Stress Reactivity and Psychopathology Risk in Early Childhood(2023-08) Lipschutz, Rebecca Sara; Bick, Johanna R.; Sharp, Carla; DeMaster, Dana M.; Yoshida, HanakoExposure to prenatal stress increases children’s risk for developing mental health problems and this risk persists into adulthood. Underlying neurobiological mechanisms of how prenatal stress confers risk for development of psychopathology are not well understood. Prior human and animal research suggests prenatal stress alters developmental systems that support stress and emotion regulation in offspring, which may underlie vulnerability to psychopathology. To contribute to understanding, this study examines the impact of prenatal stress on postnatal offspring biobehavioral outcomes. In a quasi-experimental design, we examined prospective associations between prenatal maternal stress (subjective distress and disaster-related objective hardship), physiological stress reactivity, and parent-reported behavioral risk once offspring reached toddlerhood. Dyads (n = 47) completed follow-up assessments to collect autonomic nervous system reactivity (respiratory sinus arrythmia, RSA; heart rate, HR) during a maternal separation task and behavioral measures. Increased subjective prenatal stress and child HR reactivity were associated with increased child behavior problems at 24 months. Objective prenatal stress was not related to any outcomes examined in the study. Findings suggest that subjective prenatal stress is an important predictor of offspring behavioral risk and further research is needed to explore relations with stress reactivity. This work addresses limitations of prior research by leveraging an existing prospective, longitudinal, study of women exposed to an independent stressor during pregnancy (Hurricane Harvey) and incorporated multiple indices of the autonomic nervous system.Item Parenting Influences on Frontal Lobe Gray Matter and Preterm Toddlers’ Problem-Solving Skills(2024-02-06) Muñoz, Josselyn S.; Giles, Megan E.; Vaughn, Kelly A.; Wang, Ying; Landry, Susan H.; Bick, Johanna R.; DeMaster, Dana M.Children born preterm often face challenges with self-regulation during toddlerhood. This study examined the relationship between prematurity, supportive parent behaviors, frontal lobe gray matter volume (GMV), and emotion regulation (ER) among toddlers during a parent-assisted, increasingly complex problem-solving task, validated for this age range. Data were collected from preterm toddlers (n = 57) ages 15–30 months corrected for prematurity and their primary caregivers. MRI data were collected during toddlers’ natural sleep. The sample contained three gestational groups: 22–27 weeks (extremely preterm; EPT), 28–33 weeks (very preterm; VPT), and 34–36 weeks (late preterm; LPT). Older toddlers became more compliant as the Tool Task increased in difficulty, but this pattern varied by gestational group. Engagement was highest for LPT toddlers, for older toddlers, and for the easiest task condition. Parents did not differentiate their support depending on task difficulty or their child’s age or gestational group. Older children had greater frontal lobe GMV, and for EPT toddlers only, more parent support was related to larger right frontal lobe GMV. We found that parent support had the greatest impact on high birth risk (≤27 gestational weeks) toddler brain development, thus early parent interventions may normalize preterm child neurodevelopment and have lasting impacts.