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Updated: Feb 28, 2026

Using a Murine Model of Psychosocial Stress in Pregnancy as a Translationally Relevant Paradigm for Psychiatric Disorders in Mothers and Infants
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Unpredictable maternal behavior and infant emotional reactivity in the context of high maternal adversity

María José Garzón1, Riikka Korja2, Herbert Ainamani3

  • 1Department of Psychology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Bavaria, Germany.

Child Development
|February 27, 2026
PubMed

The impact of maternal adverse experiences on early parent-infant interaction and child development is widely acknowledged. Yet, the underlying mechanisms of intergenerational transmission remain poorly understood, especially in samples facing high adversity. This study explored the unpredictability of maternal (auditory, tactile, and visual) sensory signals as a mediator between maternal childhood maltreatment and infant emotional reactivity in a sample from southwestern Uganda. In 115 mother-infant dyads (M = 28.70 years, SD = 6.68, and M = 7.87 months, SD = 0.81), both maternal trauma exposure and unpredictability were associated with reduced infant emotional reactivity. However, no mediation effect was found. These findings suggest that infants adjust dynamically to their mothers' unpredictable behavior, helping them adapt to challenging environments.

Keywords:
infant emotional reactivityintergenerational transmissionlow- and middle-income countriesmaternal childhood maltreatmentunpredictability of maternal sensory signals

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