Session sponsored by the Institute for Developmental Sciences at Columbia University Columbia University Department of Psychiatry
Chairs:
Manessa Riser, BS, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, Wayne State University, Detroit MI USA (Session Chair)
Lana Ruvolo Grasser, PhD, Assistant Professor, Wayne State University Department of Psychology and Ben L. Silberstein Institute for Brain Health, Session Co-Chair (not presenting)
Symposium Discussant: Yo Jackson, Ph.D. Associate Director, Child Maltreatment Solutions Network; Professor, Department of Psychology, Penn State University; Past President, Division 53, Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology
Presenters:
Lauren Richardson, Department of Psychology, Wayne State University, Detroit, United States
Manessa Riser, BS, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, Wayne State University, Detroit MI USA (Session Chair)
Chaela Nutor, Department of Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta, United States
Anna M. Zhou, Ph.D., Department of Psychiatry, Anschutz Medical Campus, University of Colorado; Department of Psychology, University of Denver, United Stages
Symposium Description
The intergenerational transmission of experience, emotions, and behaviors can significantly influence mental health outcomes. Trauma and adversity, in particular, can have far-reaching effects – altering parental practices, influencing neurobiological development, and affecting offspring resilience. Understanding these mechanisms is crucial for developing targeted interventions that interrupt cycles of trauma and foster well-being across generations. This symposium, sponsored by the ISDP Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee, will explore familial and community-level mechanisms through which both risk and resilience to psychopathology may be transmitted intergenerationally, using data from animal and human models.
First, Ms. Lauren Richardson will use a translational rodent model examining the effects of gestational buprenorphine–a common treatment for opioid use disorders–on maternal caregiving. Results reveal that exposure impairs maternal behaviors critical to offspring survival and development, highlighting disruptions to the maternal network that persist even when drug use ceases before birth. Building on the theme of maternal history and its intergenerational effects, Ms. Manessa Riser will present psychophysiological data from 39 mother-child dyads recruited from metro Detroit, demonstrating that maternal childhood abuse is linked to children’s heightened fear responses and impaired fear regulation. Importantly, parenting stress intensifies these effects, suggesting both a possible avenue for transmission of risk as well as a pathway for intervention. While parental experiences and psychopathology have previously been linked to individual differences in child outcomes, less work has explored the role of parental nutrition factors, such as vitamin D deficiency. Ms. Chaela Nutor will present longitudinal data from 207 Black mother-child dyads with the goal of tracking associations between maternal prenatal depression, prenatal vitamin D, and child’s autism spectrum disorder (ASD) traits at age 2. This research identified a critical role of balanced vitamin D levels during pregnancy, a modifiable target. Finally, Dr. Anna Zhou will explore how neighborhood opportunity influences emotional expression in toddlers during frustration tasks. Among 202 Early Head Start families from predominantly Latinx backgrounds, this study shows how neighborhood opportunity affects socioemotional development and psychopathology risk, calling for broader policy-related action to drive positive change.
The four studies will be summarized by Dr. Yo Jackson. Dr. Jackson brings expertise in intergenerational transmission of trauma and resilience. She will serve as discussant, integrating findings and discussing implications for clinical practice, community interventions, and policy aimed at breaking cycles of adversity.
List of Abstracts and Presenters:
DIMINISHED MATERNAL CARE BEHAVIOR MODERATES OFFSPRING OUTCOME: INSIGHTS FROM A TRANSLATIONAL RODENT MODEL OF OPIOID USE DISORDER
Lauren Richardson, Department of Psychology, Wayne State University, Detroit MI USA
Contributing authors: Abigail M. Myers, Chela M. Wallin, Jecenia Duran, Shane Perrine, Scott Bowen, Susanne Brummelte
Both trauma exposure and opioid use have been linked with impaired caregiving, contributing to problems for the offspring of mothers with such histories. The opioid epidemic has resulted in a drastic increase in opioid dependence during pregnancy. However, the consequences of exposure to buprenorphine (BUP), a commonly prescribed medication for opioid use disorders, during gestation on maternal behavior and fetal neurodevelopment are poorly understood. Using a translational rodent model our lab has shown that gestational exposure to BUP results in significant deficits in maternal care behavior as well as high infant mortality. In particular, BUP dams display reduced time on the nest, low-quality nests and increased latencies to retrieve pups back to the nest; these deficits are correlated with offspring survival rate and body weight. Importantly, these maternal care deficits and offspring outcomes were not altered by discontinuing BUP before parturition. In line with prior research, results suggest that gestational opioid exposure impairs the maternal brain network that is responsible for initiating sensitive and responsive parenting behavior, which in turn impacts offspring development. Better understanding the underlying mechanisms for impaired caregiving for those with trauma and substance use histories can help in developing effective treatment strategies for mother-child dyads.
FROM PAST TO PRESENT: THE INFLUENCE OF MATERNAL CHILDHOOD ABUSE AND PARENTING STRESS ON CHILDREN’S FEAR RESPONSES
Manessa Riser, BS, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, Wayne State University, Detroit MI USA
Contributing authors: Charis Wiltshire, Sattvik Basarkod, Shaurel Valbrun, John France, Tanja Jovanovic
Maternal childhood abuse (MCA) affects child development by influencing emotional regulation and stress reactivity. Fear-potentiated startle (FPS), a heightened response to fear-conditioned stimuli, reflects threat sensitivity and maladaptive fear processing, while fear load, or sustained hypervigilance, indicates difficulties in fear extinction – both are linked to psychopathology. Our study examined whether MCA history correlates with children’s fear processing, hypothesizing that MCA would be associated with increased FPS and impaired fear inhibition during extinction. Data were collected from 39 (22 female) nine-year-olds and their mothers in Metro Detroit. MCA was assessed using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) and parenting stress were measured with the Parenting Questionnaire (PQ). Child’s lifetime trauma exposure was measured with the Trauma Events Screening Inventory (TESI). Children completed a FPS paradigm, with eyeblink data recorded during acquisition and extinction learning. MCA (emotional) related to increased FPS (r = 0.53, p = 0.01) and fear load (r = 0.68, p < 0.001). MCA (physical) was also linked to higher fear load (r = 0.47, p = 0.04). Parenting stress amplified the effects of both emotional and physical abuse on fear load. The interaction between emotional abuse and stress (B = 2.24, p < 0.001) and physical abuse and stress (B = 2.88, p = 0.004) were significant, with stronger effects at higher stress levels. MCA is linked to increased FPS and heightened fear load in children, with parenting stress as a moderator. These findings highlight the need to consider both maternal trauma history and current stress in understanding children’s fear responses and potential psychopathology risk.
EXAMINING ASSOCIATIONS AMONG MATERNAL PRENATAL DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS, VITAMIN D LEVELS, AND CHILD AUTISM TRAITS IN BLACK AMERICAN FAMILIES
Chaela Nutor, Department of Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta GA, USA
Contributing authors: Patricia A. Brennan, Erin Ferranti, Elizabeth Corwin, Anne L. Dunlop
Both maternal prenatal depression and lower vitamin D levels have independently been associated with increased risk for child autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This prospective, longitudinal study investigated these relationships in an under-researched Black population (N=207) using continuous, validated measures of maternal prenatal depressive symptoms and child ASD traits. Maternal vitamin D serum levels and self-reported depressive symptoms were assessed at two prenatal timepoints. Three continuous measures of child ASD traits were collected at age 2, one based on clinician observation. Using multivariable linear regression, we found that maternal prenatal depressive symptoms were positively associated with ASD traits measured by the Child Behavior Checklist. We found a quadratic association between prenatal vitamin D in late pregnancy and ASD traits such that children of mothers with vitamin D levels near our sample’s median had less ASD traits on the clinically administered Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, relative to children of mothers with lower or higher levels of vitamin D. We did not find evidence that vitamin D has a protective effect in the relationship between prenatal maternal depressive symptoms and child ASD traits. This work has important implications for intervention as both maternal prenatal depressive symptoms and vitamin D levels are modifiable.
CONTEXTUAL INFLUENCES ON CHILDREN’S EXPRESSIVE ANGER AND SADNESS IN REGULATING FRUSTRATION IN AN EARLY HEAD START SAMPLE
Anna M. Zhou, Ph.D., Department of Psychiatry, Anschutz Medical Campus, University of Colorado; Department of Psychology, University of Denver, CO USA
Contributing authors: Sarah G. Curci, Allie Stansell, Elex R. Simbeck, Andrew B. McGee, Sarah E. Watamura
As regulatory systems mature in early childhood, children become adept at managing frustration-related anger and sadness, which relate to psychopathology risk (Cole et al., 2011). While contextual factors influence biobehavioral self-regulation (Blair & Ku, 2022), few studies explore these relations with regulating frustration. We examined whether neighborhood opportunity, family income, and parent psychopathology were linked to children’s expressed anger and sadness during frustration in 202 Early Head Start families (60% below the poverty line). Children (53% male; Mage = 24 months) were primarily Latinx and White/Caucasian (69%), followed by non-Latinx/White/Caucasian (10%), non-Latinx/minority race (9%), non-Latinx/multiracial (7%), Latinx/multiracial (3%), and Latinx/minority race (2%). Census tract-level neighborhood opportunity was assessed using the Child Opportunity Index (Acevedo-Garcia et al., 2024). Parents self-reported symptoms on the GAD-7 (Spitzer et al., 2006) and CES-D (Radloff, 1977). Trained coders rated children’s expressed affect during the Lab-TAB frustration task (Gagne et al., 2011). Structural equation modeling indicated higher neighborhood opportunity was associated with less expressed sadness (β=-.25, p=.006), while family income was linked to more expressed anger (β=.21, p=.037). Older children expressed less anger (β=-.18, p=.044) and sadness (β=-.29, p=.002). Parent psychopathology was not associated with child affect. Children in higher-opportunity neighborhoods expressed less sadness when frustrated, suggesting environmental resources may be protective for families experiencing adversity. More sadness may reflect withdrawal and low effort towards goals, while anger may be more functional. These results highlight the importance of contextual and familial influences on socioemotional development and psychopathology risk, especially in diverse families experiencing significant adversity.