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Updated: May 22, 2026

Using a Murine Model of Psychosocial Stress in Pregnancy as a Translationally Relevant Paradigm for Psychiatric Disorders in Mothers and Infants
Published on: June 13, 2021
Social regulation of the stress response in the transitional newborn: a pilot study
Cynthia Anderson Elverson1, Margaret E Wilson, Melody A Hertzog
1South Dakota State University, Brookings, SD, USA. Cynthia.Elverson@sdstate.edu
Abstract:
The purpose of the study was to explore relationships between caregiver holding and feeding behaviors and the transitional newborn infant's cortisol response. Behaviors of 46 mothers, fathers, and their term transitional newborn infants were measured with the Index of Mother-Infant Separation (IMIS). Repeated measures of infant salivary cortisol were used to calculate area under the curve. A higher percentage of observations in which mother was holding infant was related to lower infant total cortisol during the first 6 hours after birth (r = -.24, p = .05, one-tailed).
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