Doctoral Dissertation Research: Intergenerational effects of prenatal stress on physiological and psychosocial outcomes

博士论文研究：产前压力对生理和心理社会结果的代际影响

• 批准号: 1849265
• 负责人: Christopher Kuzawa
• 金额: $ 2.94万
• 依托单位: Northwestern University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2019-09-01 至 2021-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1849265&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Intergenerational; effects

In recent decades, research has underscored the importance of early life experiences, especially those that occur in utero, as factors that influence biological outcomes across the life course. Growing evidence suggests that some early life biological effects, such as those triggered by psychosocial stress, can persist into adulthood and in some cases influence offspring and grandoffspring development. This doctoral research project will use existing survey data, and newly collected data and biological samples, to examine life course and intergenerational effects of early life stress experienced by now young-adult mothers who were exposed to highly adverse social conditions. The research will advance knowledge about potential biological pathways of multigenerational effects of stress in humans, and contribute more broadly to our understanding of the complex interplay between human biology and culture. The outcomes of this project will contribute valuable data that may inform public health research and policy. The project will also support student training, international research collaborations, and science outreach activities. Researchers have proposed that there may be multigenerational pathways of biological "memory" whereby an individual's biology reflects not only their own experiences and that of their mothers, but potentially also their grandmothers' experiences. The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis is a central component of the body's system of stress response and is among the candidate outcomes likely to be influenced by such multigenerational plasticity. This study provides a unique opportunity to trace the long-term impacts of early life stress exposure to biological and social disparities, focusing on both the physiology and well-being of exposed individuals, and the birth outcomes and stress physiology of their unexposed offspring. This project will utilize existing and newly collected data for a cohort of women, their children, and grandchildren, that has been followed for nearly 30 years and that experienced highly adverse social and environmental conditions. The investigators will first assess long-term effects of the mother's stress experiences during her own early life on her adult biology and well-being, before exploring downstream impacts on her offspring.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

近几十年来，研究强调了早期生活经历的重要性，特别是那些发生在子宫内的经历，作为影响整个生命过程中生物学结果的因素。越来越多的证据表明，一些生命早期的生物学影响，如由社会心理压力引发的影响，可以持续到成年，在某些情况下还会影响后代和孙辈的发育。这个博士研究项目将使用现有的调查数据、新收集的数据和生物样本，来研究暴露在高度不利的社会条件下的年轻成年母亲的生命历程和早期生活压力的代际影响。这项研究将促进对人类压力多代效应的潜在生物学途径的认识，并更广泛地有助于我们对人类生物学和文化之间复杂相互作用的理解。该项目的成果将提供宝贵的数据，为公共卫生研究和政策提供信息。该项目还将支持学生培训、国际研究合作和科学推广活动。研究人员提出，可能存在多代的生物“记忆”途径，即一个人的生物学不仅反映了他们自己和他们母亲的经历，还可能反映了他们祖母的经历。下丘脑-垂体-肾上腺轴是人体应激反应系统的核心组成部分，也是可能受到这种多代可塑性影响的候选结果之一。这项研究提供了一个独特的机会来追踪早期生活压力暴露对生物和社会差异的长期影响，重点关注暴露个体的生理和福祉，以及他们未暴露的后代的出生结果和应激生理。该项目将利用现有和新收集的一组妇女、她们的子女和孙辈的数据，这些数据已被跟踪了近30年，经历了非常不利的社会和环境条件。研究人员将首先评估母亲早期生活中的压力经历对其成年生物学和健康的长期影响，然后再探索对其后代的下游影响。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

项目成果

Childhood adversity during the post‐apartheid transition and COVID ‐19 stress independently predict adult PTSD risk in urban S outh A frica: A biocultural analysis of the stress sensitization hypothesis

后种族隔离过渡期间的童年逆境和 COVID-19 压力可独立预测南非城市成人 PTSD 风险：压力敏化假说的生物文化分析

• DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.24791
• 发表时间: 2023
• 期刊: American Journal of Biological Anthropology
• 作者: Kim, Andrew Wooyoung;Said Mohamed, Rihlat;Norris, Shane A.;Naicker, Sara;Richter, Linda M.;Kuzawa, Christopher W.
• 通讯作者: Kuzawa, Christopher W.