TY - JOUR
T1 - The pernicious role of stress on intergenerational continuity of psychopathology
AU - Leve, Leslie D.
AU - Oro, Veronica
AU - Natsuaki, Misaki N.
AU - Harold, Gordon T.
AU - Neiderhiser, Jenae M.
AU - Ganiban, Jody M.
AU - Shaw, Daniel S.
AU - Degarmo, David S.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press.
PY - 2024
Y1 - 2024
N2 - Development and Psychopathology has been a premier resource for understanding stressful childhood experiences and the intergenerational continuity of psychopathology. Building on that tradition, we examined the unique and joint influences of maternal stress on children's effortful control (age 7) and externalizing behavior (age 11) as transmitted via genetics, the prenatal environment, and the postnatal environment. The sample included N = 561 adopted children and their biological and adoptive parents. Path models identified a direct effect of biological mother life stress on children's effortful control (β = -.08) and an indirect effect of her life stress on child externalizing behavior via effortful control (β =.52), but no main or indirect effects of biological parent psychopathology, prenatal stress, or adoptive mother adverse childhood experiences (ACES). Adoptive mother ACES amplified the association between biological mother life stress and child effortful control (β = -.08), externalizing behavior (β = 1.41), and the indirect effect via effortful control, strengthening associations when adoptive mothers reported average or high ACES during their own childhoods. Results suggest that novel study designs are needed to enhance the understanding of how life stress gets "under the skin"to affect psychopathology in the offspring of adults who have experienced stress.
AB - Development and Psychopathology has been a premier resource for understanding stressful childhood experiences and the intergenerational continuity of psychopathology. Building on that tradition, we examined the unique and joint influences of maternal stress on children's effortful control (age 7) and externalizing behavior (age 11) as transmitted via genetics, the prenatal environment, and the postnatal environment. The sample included N = 561 adopted children and their biological and adoptive parents. Path models identified a direct effect of biological mother life stress on children's effortful control (β = -.08) and an indirect effect of her life stress on child externalizing behavior via effortful control (β =.52), but no main or indirect effects of biological parent psychopathology, prenatal stress, or adoptive mother adverse childhood experiences (ACES). Adoptive mother ACES amplified the association between biological mother life stress and child effortful control (β = -.08), externalizing behavior (β = 1.41), and the indirect effect via effortful control, strengthening associations when adoptive mothers reported average or high ACES during their own childhoods. Results suggest that novel study designs are needed to enhance the understanding of how life stress gets "under the skin"to affect psychopathology in the offspring of adults who have experienced stress.
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U2 - 10.1017/S0954579424000191
DO - 10.1017/S0954579424000191
M3 - Article
C2 - 38384191
AN - SCOPUS:85186094821
SN - 0954-5794
JO - Development and Psychopathology
JF - Development and Psychopathology
ER -