Mental health across generations of Hispanic Americans: investigating the biomechanism of fetal programming

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PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Epidemiological evidence demonstrates increasing rates of mental illness across generations of Hispanic Americans. Because this trend occurs alongside improvements in socio-economic status across generations, it remains largely unknown why mental illness rates should increase with each subsequent generation post-immigration. Our proposal addresses this issue by suggesting a novel hypothesis based on the concept of fetal programming, i.e., the possibility that during pregnancy, maternal life experiences are reflected in biochemical signals that influence fetal developmental trajectories. We posit that immigration, discrimination, and acculturation-related stressors may, in the case of Hispanic immigrant women who become pregnant, alter intrauterine biochemistry in ways that affect offspring developmental trajectories that manifest in greater risks of psychopathologies. Previous studies have invoked the concept of fetal programming to account for effects of maternal prenatal stress on offspring mental health. However, the majority of these studies have been conducted with low- risk populations, and stressors related to ethnic and cultural minority status have been mostly neglected. Thus, there is a need to investigate the effects of maternal prenatal socio-cultural stress on child development in contexts of social vulnerabilities. The objective of the proposed research is to examine how maternal socio-cultural stressors are related to precursors of mental health risk among 12-month age infants via gestational stress physiology. This project utilizes the study population from the Mothers’ Cultural Experiences Study, an NIH-funded longitudinal, prospective study of Hispanic immigrant women followed across pregnancy and postpartum. The first research aim will investigate maternal stressors related to immigration and minority status in a context of social vulnerability and three domains of gestational stress physiology: endocrine stress, inflammation, and immunoregulation. The second research aim will investigate the effects of maternal socio-cultural stressors on two domains of infant development that have been associated with later life psychopathology risk: temperament and social-emotional development. The findings of this research will elucidate bio-social mechanisms that contribute to patterns of social vulnerability and mental illness among Hispanic Americans and may reveal opportunities for intervention that prevent intergenerational escalation of mental illness risks in this group. This research proposal is integrated with a training plan that includes learning and practicing primary data collection with pregnant women of minority status, conducting infant developmental assessments, laboratory methods in psychoneuroimmunology, and Hispanic cultural context of health. This research and training will prepare the PI to independently conduct innovative research on the biopsychosocial mechanisms that underlie intergenerational transmission of prenatal stress among disadvantaged, minority populations.