Background Growing evidence shows an association between in utero exposure to natural disasters and child behavioral problems, but we still know little about the development of specific psychopathology in preschool‐aged children. Methods Preschool children (n = 163, mean age = 3.19, 85.5% racial and ethnic minorities) and their parents (n = 151) were evaluated annually at ages 2–5 to assess the emergence of psychopathology using the Preschool Age Psychopathological Assessment (PAPA), a parent‐report structured diagnostic interview developed for preschool‐age children. Sixty‐six (40.5%) children were exposed to Sandy Storm (SS) in utero and 97 (59.5%) were not. Survival analysis evaluated patterns of onset and estimated cumulative risks of psychopathology among exposed and unexposed children, in total and by sex. Analyses were controlled for the severity of objective and subjective SS‐related stress, concurrent family stress, and demographic and psychosocial confounders, such as maternal age, race, SES, maternal substance use, and normative prenatal stress. Results Exposure to SS in utero was associated with a substantial increase in depressive disorders (Hazard Ratio (HR) = 16.9, p = .030), anxiety disorders (HR = 5.1, p < .0001), and attention‐deficit/disruptive behavioral disorders (HR = 3.4, p = .02). Diagnostic rates were elevated for generalized anxiety disorder (GAD; HR = 8.5, p = .004), attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD; HR = 5.5, p = .01), oppositional‐defiant disorder (ODD; HR = 3.8, p = .05), and separation‐anxiety disorder (SAD; HR = 3.5, p = .001). Males had distinctively elevated risks for attention‐deficit/disruptive behavioral disorders (HR = 7.8, p = .02), including ADHD, CD, and ODD, whereas females had elevated risks for anxiety disorders (HR = 10.0, p < .0001), phobia (HR = 2.8, p = .02) and depressive disorders (HR = 30.0, p = .03), including SAD, GAD, and dysthymia. Conclusions The findings demonstrate that in utero exposure to a major weather‐related disaster (SS) was associated with increased risk for psychopathology in children and provided evidence of distinct psychopathological outcomes as a function of sex. More attention is needed to understand specific parent, child, and environmental factors which account for this increased risk, and to develop mitigation strategies.

We performed three experiments to improve the quality and retention of data obtained from a Procedure for Rapidly Establishing Steady-State Behavior (PRESS-B; Klapes et al., 2020). In Experiment 1, 120 participants worked on nine concurrent random-interval random-interval (conc RI RI) schedules and were assigned to four conditions of varying changeover delay (COD) length. The 0.5-s COD condition group exhibited the fewest instances of exclusive reinforcer acquisition. Importantly, this group did not differ in generalized matching law (GML) fit quality from the other groups. In Experiment 2, 60 participants worked on nine conc RI RI schedules with a wider range of scheduled reinforcement rate ratios than was used in Experiment 1. Participants showed dramatic reductions in exclusive reinforcer acquisition. Experiment 3 entailed a replication of Experiment 2 wherein blackout periods were implemented between the schedule presentations and each schedule remained in operation until at least one reinforcer was acquired on each alternative. GML fit quality was slightly more consistent in Experiment 3 than in the previous experiments. Thus, these results suggest that future PRESS-B studies should implement a shorter COD, a wider and richer scheduled reinforcement rate ratio range, and brief blackouts between schedule presentations for optimal data quality and retention.

Luria proposed that the brain is organized hierarchically and according to functional units. The functional units provide a basis of integrated experience and behavior that becomes fractionated in various psychological and behavioral disorders. Emerging research suggests that the fundamental organization of brain networks and functional connections are established in utero during the second and third trimesters of fetal development. This paper discusses the value of studying emerging fetal organization within the framework of Luria’s theory. In addition, it will expand Luria’s theory in emphasizing the integration of physiological and psychological mechanisms across the life.span, with the aim of developing more individualized assessment and intervention tools.

Objective To assess the role of the heart rate variability (HRV) in the relationship between prenatal anxiety exposure and subsequent child anxiety levels. Methods A longitudinal study of mother–child dyads (subsample of 89) measured maternal anxiety during the second trimester of pregnancy (self-reported via STAI-S) and subsequent child anxiety (maternal-reported via BASC-3) and baseline autonomic physiological measures (high and low frequency band of HRV power spectrum) at 5-years-old. Mediation analysis was conducted to test whether child high and/or low frequency HRV mediates the relationship between prenatal anxiety and child anxiety. Results Prenatal anxiety predicted child anxiety (β = 0.137, p = 0.004) and high frequency HRV (β = −0.009, p &lt; 0.001), but not low frequency HRV (β = −0.002, p = 0.231). Mediation analysis using bootstrapping procedure revealed that high frequency HRV (β = 0.044, 95% CI [0.007, 0.085]), but not low frequency HRV (β = 0.0117, 95% CI [−0.007, 0.047]), mediated the relationship between prenatal anxiety and child anxiety. After controlling for high frequency HRV, prenatal anxiety was no longer associated with child anxiety (β = 0.0753, p = 0.148). Conclusion Results indicate that in-utero exposure to maternal anxiety influences the child’s high frequency but not low frequency HRV. Importantly, changes in only high frequency HRV from prenatal anxiety is driving the relationship between prenatal anxiety and child anxiety levels, indicating that maternal anxiety during pregnancy affects the development of the autonomic nervous system with long term effects on child emotional regulation. The results suggest that the high frequency portion of the HRV power spectrum should be assessed in a multidimensional model of fetal programming and subsequent mental health risk of the child.