Latent profiles of prenatal exposure to toxic metals and psychosocial risk and protective factors: testing associations with child developmental outcomes and moderations by caregiving experience

项目总结 胎儿和婴儿敏感期对有毒金属的暴露及心理和社会应激源 发育与较差的儿童认知和社会情感发展有关。也有证据表明 用于缓和有毒金属与心理和社会应激源之间的影响，使有毒物质的影响 金属对发展的影响可能取决于心理和社会压力的暴露，反之亦然。 由于身体、心理和社会风险因素往往聚集在一起，对联合暴露的研究可能会 变得更加生态有效。尽管之前的研究已经利用双向统计交互作用来检验这些 综合影响，这些模型仍然不能认识到个体同时暴露在多个 物质和社会环境中的风险和保护因素。此前的研究也未能证明 严格测试照顾经验可能缓解或加剧产前影响的程度 接触有毒金属对儿童结局的影响。利用大脑和早期经验的纵向数据进行研究 和有限混合建模方法，这项研究将：1)对出生前接触有毒金属的情况进行分类， 将心理和社会风险因素和保护因素纳入产前风险的潜在概况；2)测试关联 36岁时产前风险潜伏期与儿童认知和社会情绪发育指数之间的关系 以及3)检查护理经验指数作为调节因素，以了解潜在概况的影响 产前风险对儿童认知和社会情绪发育的影响。在这些分析中，推论 在潜在侧写法和更传统的统计方法(即双向交互)之间， 被比较。这项研究将全面检查产前有毒金属以及心理和社会风险，并 确定抵消产前有毒金属以及心理和社会风险影响的战略的可能性 关于儿童发展的问题。随附的培训计划将为怀利女士奠定基础，帮助她 将发展科学和公共卫生科学结合起来研究联合影响的研究计划 物质和社会环境对儿童发展的影响，以及如何利用积极的社会经验 以减轻物理和化学应激源的影响。具体来说，怀利女士将a)建立她的实质性 与儿童神经发育相关的早期生活环境暴露及其机制方面的专业知识 行动；b)将她的量化技能扩展到有限混合模型和适度的应用 分析；c)扩大她在早期生活中保护社会环境研究方面的专业知识；d)发展她 跨学科协作和职业发展技能。怀利女士已经召集了一位出色的和有凝聚力的 来自发展科学、环境科学和量化学科的导师团队 心理学。这个指导团队为怀利女士的职业生涯带来了专业知识、经验和奉献精神 确保顺利完成她的培训目标和研究计划的发展。

PROJECT SUMMARY Exposures to toxic metals and psychological and social stressors during sensitive periods of fetal and infant development are associated with poorer child cognitive and socioemotional development. There is also evidence for moderating effects between toxic metals and psychological and social stressors, such that the effects of toxic metals on development may be conditional upon exposures to psychological and social stress and vice versa. Because physical, psychological, and social risk factors tend to cluster, the study of combined exposures may be more ecologically valid. Though prior studies have utilized two-way statistical interactions to examine these combined effects, these models still fall short in recognizing that individuals are concurrently exposed to multiple risk and protective factors across the physical and social environments. Previous studies have also failed to rigorously test the extent to which caregiving experience may mitigate or exacerbate the effects of prenatal exposure to toxic metals on child outcomes. Using longitudinal data from the Brain and Early Experiences Study and a finite mixture modeling approach, this study will: 1) categorize prenatal exposures to toxic metals, psychological and social risk factors, and protective factors into latent profiles of prenatal risk; 2) test associations between latent profiles of prenatal risk and indices of child cognitive and socioemotional development at 36 months old; and 3) examine indices of caregiving experience as moderators for the effects of latent profiles of prenatal risk on child cognitive and socioemotional development. Throughout these analyses, inferences between the latent profile approach and more traditional statistical approaches (i.e., two-way interactions) will be compared. This study will examine prenatal toxic metal and psychological and social risk holistically and has the potential to identify strategies to offset the effects of prenatal toxic metals and psychological and social risk on child development. The accompanying training plan will provide Ms. Wylie with the foundation to build her program of research which will combine developmental and public health sciences to study the joint influences of the physical and social environments on child development, and how positive social experience may be used to mitigate the effects of physical and chemical stressors. Specifically, Ms. Wylie will a) build her substantive expertise in early life environmental exposures relevant to child neurodevelopment and their mechanisms of action; b) expand her quantitative skillset towards the application of finite mixture models and moderation analyses; c) expand her expertise in the study of protective social environments in early life; and d) develop her interdisciplinary collaborations and career development skills. Ms. Wylie has assembled a stellar and cohesive mentorship team from the disciplines of developmental science, environmental science, and quantitative psychology. This mentorship team carries the expertise, experience, and dedication to Ms. Wylie’s professional development that will ensure the successful completion of her training goals and research plan.