TY - JOUR
T1 - Maternal sensitivity and infant autonomic and endocrine stress responses
AU - Bosquet Enlow, Michelle
AU - King, Lucy
AU - Schreier, Hannah M.C.
AU - Howard, Jamie M.
AU - Rosenfield, David
AU - Ritz, Thomas
AU - Wright, Rosalind J.
N1 - Funding Information:
The research was supported by grants from the National Institute of Mental Health ( K08MH074588 ; Bosquet Enlow), the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences ( R01ES010932 ; Wright) and the National Heart, Lung & Blood Institute ( R01HL080674 ; Wright). During the preparation of this manuscript, the authors were supported by K08MH074588 and the Program for Behavioral Science in the Department of Psychiatry at Boston Children's Hospital (Bosquet Enlow); R01HL095606 (Bosquet Enlow and Wright); and R01DA027533 (Rosenfield). None of the funding agencies had any role in the study design, the collection, analysis or interpretation of data, the writing of the manuscript, or the decision to submit the manuscript for publication. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not represent the official views of any granting agency.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2014 Elsevier Ltd.
PY - 2014
Y1 - 2014
N2 - Background: Early environmental exposures may help shape the development of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, influencing vulnerability for health problems across the lifespan. Little is known about the role of maternal sensitivity in influencing the development of the ANS in early life. Aims: To examine associations among maternal sensitivity and infant behavioral distress and ANS and HPA axis reactivity to the Repeated Still-Face Paradigm (SFP-R), a dyadic stress task. Study design: Observational repeated measures study. Subjects: Thirty-five urban, sociodemographically diverse mothers and their 6-month-old infants. Outcome measures: Changes in infant affective distress, heart rate, respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), and T-wave amplitude (TWA) across episodes of the SFP-R were assessed. A measure of cortisol output (area under the curve) in the hour following cessation of the SFP-R was also obtained. Results: Greater maternal insensitivity was associated with greater infant sympathetic activation (TWA) during periods of stress and tended to be associated with greater cortisol output following the SFP-R. There was also evidence for greater affective distress and less parasympathetic activation (RSA) during the SFP-R among infants of predominantly insensitive mothers. Conclusions: Caregiving quality in early life may influence the responsiveness of the sympathetic and parasympathetic branches of the ANS as well as the HPA axis. Consideration of the ANS and HPA axis systems together provides a fuller representation of adaptive versus maladaptive stress responses. The findings highlight the importance of supporting high quality caregiving in the early years of life, which is likely to promote later health.
AB - Background: Early environmental exposures may help shape the development of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, influencing vulnerability for health problems across the lifespan. Little is known about the role of maternal sensitivity in influencing the development of the ANS in early life. Aims: To examine associations among maternal sensitivity and infant behavioral distress and ANS and HPA axis reactivity to the Repeated Still-Face Paradigm (SFP-R), a dyadic stress task. Study design: Observational repeated measures study. Subjects: Thirty-five urban, sociodemographically diverse mothers and their 6-month-old infants. Outcome measures: Changes in infant affective distress, heart rate, respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), and T-wave amplitude (TWA) across episodes of the SFP-R were assessed. A measure of cortisol output (area under the curve) in the hour following cessation of the SFP-R was also obtained. Results: Greater maternal insensitivity was associated with greater infant sympathetic activation (TWA) during periods of stress and tended to be associated with greater cortisol output following the SFP-R. There was also evidence for greater affective distress and less parasympathetic activation (RSA) during the SFP-R among infants of predominantly insensitive mothers. Conclusions: Caregiving quality in early life may influence the responsiveness of the sympathetic and parasympathetic branches of the ANS as well as the HPA axis. Consideration of the ANS and HPA axis systems together provides a fuller representation of adaptive versus maladaptive stress responses. The findings highlight the importance of supporting high quality caregiving in the early years of life, which is likely to promote later health.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2014.04.007
DO - 10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2014.04.007
M3 - Article
C2 - 24794304
AN - SCOPUS:84925222140
SN - 0378-3782
VL - 90
SP - 377
EP - 385
JO - Early Human Development
JF - Early Human Development
IS - 7
ER -