Quality of Maternal Care Moderates the Developmental Consequences of Exposure to

描述(由申请人提供)：本提案的目标是确定产后产妇护理是否可以缓解产前暴露在母体压力下对婴儿/幼儿发育的影响。越来越多的数据表明，产前暴露于母亲的心理社会压力和压力荷尔蒙会对发育产生持久的影响。在动物文献中，有证据表明，产后产妇护理可以缓解这些产前暴露的影响。虽然有大量的人类工作记录了产妇护理在塑造各种发育结果中所起的关键作用，但关于产后护理是否缓解了产前的压力暴露，人们知之甚少。拟议的项目将使用前瞻性的设计和客观的实验室观察措施来解决这一问题。我们收集了从怀孕14周到两岁期间连续收集的母婴/幼儿配对的预期数据。孕妇的心理社会和内分泌指标在产前期间被收集了五次。从3个月到24个月，对婴儿发育进行了四次评估。这项应用的目的是获得资金，对现有的母子互动数字视频记录进行评分，以确定产妇护理质量(水平和稳定性)是否缓和了产前应激对(I)恐惧气质、(Ii)压力调节和(Iii)出生后头两年认知发展的影响。在3个月、6个月、12个月和24个月时使用标准化方案收集母婴/幼儿相互作用的观察，以评估产妇护理的质量，包括为NICHD早期儿童护理研究网络制定的产妇敏感性和反应性评价。因此，我们有独特的机会来确定产妇护理的质量和出生后头两年的连续性是否像在动物模型中所表现的那样，缓和了人类婴儿产前应激的发育后果。与公共卫生相关：越来越多的证据表明，人类胎儿暴露在母体应激信号中，对随后的发育以及对健康和疾病的风险具有持久的影响。在这项应用中，我们正在调查出生前和出生后环境之间的相互作用，以确定出生后高质量的母亲护理是否可以缓解产前母亲应激对发育的影响。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The goal of this proposal is to determine whether postnatal maternal care can moderate the effects of prenatal exposure to maternal stress on infant/toddler development. Accumulating data indicate that prenatal exposure to maternal psychosocial stress and stress hormones has lasting consequences for development. In the animal literature, there is evidence that postnatal maternal care can moderate the impact of these prenatal exposures. While there is a large body of human work documenting the critical role that maternal care plays in shaping a variety of developmental outcomes, little is known about whether postnatal care moderates prenatal stress exposures. The proposed project will address this question using a prospective design and objective laboratory observational measures. We have prospective data collected on mother infant/toddler pairs collected serially from 14 weeks of gestation through two years of age. Maternal psychosocial and endocrine indicators of maternal stress were collected five times during the prenatal period. Infant development was assessed four times from 3 to 24- months. The purpose of this application is to obtain funds to score existing digital video recordings of maternal child interactions to determine whether the quality of maternal care (level and stability) moderates the influence of prenatal stress on the development of (i) fearful temperament, (ii) stress regulation, and (iii) cognitive development during the first two postnatal years. Observations of mother-infant/toddler interactions were collected at 3, 6, 12 and 24-months using a standardized protocol to assess the quality of maternal care including evaluation of maternal sensitivity and responsiveness that was developed for the NICHD Early Child Care Research Network. Thus we have the unique opportunity to determine whether both the quality of maternal care and the continuity over the first two postnatal years moderate the developmental consequences of prenatal stress in human infants as it appears to in animal models. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: There is accumulating evidence demonstrating that human fetal exposure to maternal signals of stress has a persisting influence on subsequent development and on the risk for health and disease. In this application we are investigating the interaction between the pre and postnatal environment to determine if postnatal high quality of maternal care can moderate the effects of prenatal maternal stress on development.