The Intergenerational Transmission of Stress: Investigating Mediators and Moderators of the Association between Maternal Adverse Childhood Experiences and Child Development
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Objective: The intergenerational transmission of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) has been observed, however the biological mechanisms underlying these associations have yet to be elucidated. Given the dearth of research examining prenatal biological mechanisms, the overall objective of this dissertation was to understand the role of the maternal hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis during pregnancy in transducing the effects of maternal ACEs to child developmental outcomes. A subsequent aim was to evaluate social support as a moderator that may buffer the intergenerational transmission of stress. Methods: Data were from 356 pregnant women and their children enrolled in the longitudinal Alberta Pregnancy Outcomes and Nutrition (APrON) study. Maternal HPA axis function was assessed via self-collected salivary cortisol samples collected over multiple days in early (6-22 weeks) and late (27-37 weeks) pregnancy. Maternal ACEs, mental health, and social support were assessed via self-report measures. At 6 months of age, infant HPA axis reactivity was assessed via salivary cortisol samples at baseline and 20 minutes after a standardized laboratory stressor. At 4 years, child behaviour problems were assessed via a standardized maternal report. Results: Maternal ACEs were associated with higher morning cortisol levels and a flattened diurnal slope, consistent with a pattern of cortisol hypersecretion. Maternal HPA axis alterations mediated the association between maternal ACEs and infant HPA axis reactivity to stress at 6 months. These mediated effects were moderated by social support indicating that social support may be a factor that buffers the intergenerational transmission of stress. Maternal ACEs were associated with higher child internalizing problems at 4 years of age, and there were multiple mediators of this association including maternal HPA axis function, prenatal depression, and gestational age at birth. Unexpectedly, the HPA axis pathway predicted lower child internalizing problems and may represent a biological resiliency pathway in an otherwise healthy low sociodemographic risk sample. Conclusions: These studies provide the first evidence that prenatal maternal HPA axis function is a biological mediator of the association between maternal ACEs and child outcomes, and offers some insights into potential avenues for preventing the intergenerational transmission of stress.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.001 | 0.004 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".