Collaborative Research: Developmental origins of emotional and epigenetic resilience among children

该项目旨在了解面临心理、社会和文化压力的母亲及其子女在情绪韧性和心理健康方面的差异。这项研究利用生物文化和发育框架，通过研究儿童唾液中测量的荷尔蒙和分子变化，促进关于母亲体内的各种压力和弹性因素如何塑造孩子的压力生物学特征的基础知识。该项目的成果可有助于努力改进预防和干预措施，以减少心理健康方面的差距。该项目通过指导和培训研究生和本科生以及社区成员，扩大代表不足群体在STEM中的参与。结果在学术和社区渠道上共享，支持公共科学教育和参与。本研究探索了母亲的社会文化和情感保护因素和应激源可以改变儿童发展中的应激生物学的各种生物学途径。该项目利用之前由美国国家科学基金会资助的出生儿童队列的现有数据，检查与皮质醇对应激任务的反应有关的压力和弹性因素，以及儿童时期(6个月和3-5岁)压力相关基因DNA甲基化的变化。结果涉及了产前早期暴露和出生后暴露的相对重要性，人类第一次改变应激生物学的最早时间，以及改变的应激反应是否意味着最终会使儿童面临更高的情绪或行为问题或认知障碍风险的权衡。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project aims to understand disparities in emotional resilience and mental health among mothers and their children who face a high burden of psychological, social, and cultural stress. The research employs biocultural and developmental frameworks to advance fundamental knowledge about how various stress and resilience factors in mothers can shape the stress biology profile of their children, through study of hormonal and molecular changes measured in children’s saliva. The results of the project can contribute to efforts to improve prevention and interventions to reduce disparities in psychological well-being. The project broadens participation of under-represented groups in STEM through mentoring and training of graduate and undergraduate students and community members. Results are shared in both academic and community outlets, supporting public science education and engagement.This study explores various biological pathways through which maternal sociocultural and emotional protective factors and stressors can alter the developing stress biology of a child. The project leverages existing data from a previously NSF-funded birth cohort of children to examine stress and resilience factors in relation to cortisol reactivity to stress tasks and changes in DNA methylation at stress-related genes at two points in childhood (6 months and 3-5 years). Results address the relative importance of early prenatal versus later postnatal exposures, the earliest timing at which stress biology may first be altered in humans, and whether altered stress reactivity signifies a trade-off that ultimately places children at higher risk for emotional or behavioral problems or impaired cognition.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.