The effects of maternal childhood adversities in the development and quality of mother infant interaction at 14 months

• Grant number: 24/07961-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: June 01, 2024
• End date: November 30, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Psychology - Human Development Psychology
• Agreement: National Institutes of Health (NIH)
• Principal Investigator: Andrea Parolin Jackowski
• Grantee: Mariana Previde Ribeiro
• Host Institution: Escola Paulista de Medicina (EPM). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus São Paulo. São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 19/21612-0 - Maternal adversity, inflammation, and neurodevelopment: how intergenerational processes perpetuate disadvantage in a low-resource setting, AP.TEM

Abstract

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are characterized by stressful situations that include physical or emotional neglect, physical and emotional abuse, maltreatment, parental mental illness, food insecurity, among others. Adverse experiences experienced by the mother can be transmitted to the next generation, the so-called intergenerational transmission of trauma. This transmission can occur during the prenatal period through placental changes during pregnancy or postnatally, through indirect mechanisms, such as inadequate parenting practices and maternal mental illness. One aspect that has a great influence on the development of offspring is the quality of mother-infant interaction. A positive quality of mother-infant interaction is associated with a range of beneficial outcomes for children, including improved linguistic, cognitive, motor and social development. It is known that exposure to ACEs has a profound impact on the infant's development, characterized by impaired functioning in cognitive, social and emotional aspects from the first months of life. Maternal ACEs can also be detrimental to the quality of mother-infant interaction, directly or indirectly, for example, mediated by depression. Furthermore, a meta-analysis showed that there is a small but significant direct effect of ACEs on the quality of mother-infant interaction. Another review, the most recent, found that 90% of studies indicate that there is a negative association between maternal ACEs and maternal behavior (affection, emotional availability, sensitivity, communication and bonding). This study aims to evaluate the impact of exposure to adverse events in maternal childhood and maternal depression on the quality of mother-infant interaction and on the infant's global development at 14 months of life. (AU)