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Developmental origins of infant stress reactivity profiles: A multi-system approach
Joshua A Rash1, Jenna C Thomas1, Tavis S Campbell1
1Department of Psychology, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive N.W., Calgary, AB, T2N 1N4, Canada.
Background:
This study tested the hypothesis that maternal physiological and psychological variables during pregnancy discriminate between theoretically informed infant stress reactivity profiles.
Methods:
The sample comprised 254 women and their infants. Maternal mood, salivary cortisol, respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), and salivary α-amylase (sAA) were assessed at 15 and 32 weeks gestational age. Infant salivary cortisol, RSA, and sAA reactivity were assessed in response to a structured laboratory frustration task at 6 months of age. Infant responses were used to classify them into stress reactivity profiles using three different classification schemes: hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA)-axis, autonomic, and multi-system. Discriminant function analyses evaluated the prenatal variables that best discriminated infant reactivity profiles within each classification scheme.
Results:
Maternal stress biomarkers, along with self-reported psychological distress during pregnancy, discriminated between infant stress reactivity profiles.
Conclusions:
These results suggest that maternal psychological and physiological states during pregnancy have broad effects on the development of the infant stress response systems. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 58: 578-599, 2016.
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