Effects of prenatal factors and temperament on infant cortisol regulation in low‐income Mexican American families

Abstract

Prenatal psychosocial exposures can significantly affect infant health and development. Infants with higher temperamental negativity are theorized to be more susceptible to environmental exposures. We evaluated the interaction of prenatal maternal exposures and infant temperamental negativity to predict infant cortisol response to mildly challenging mother-infant interaction tasks. Participants included 322 Mexican American mother-infant dyads (mother age 18–42; 82% Spanish-speaking; modal family income $10,000–$15,000). Mothers reported depressive symptoms and social support prenatally and infant temperamental negativity at 6 weeks postpartum. Salivary cortisol was collected from infants before and after mother-infant interaction tasks at 12 weeks. Higher prenatal maternal depressive symptoms and lower social support predicted higher cortisol among infants with higher temperamental negativity. Higher infant temperamental negativity predicted an increase in maternal distress and a decrease in social support from prenatal to 12 weeks postpartum. Interactive influences of maternal social-contextual factors and infant temperament may influence the development of infant neurobiological regulation and promote or strain maternal and infant adaptation over time.

Economic Stress and Cortisol Among Postpartum Low-Income Mexican American Women: Buffering Influence of Family Support

“…We treated postpartum depressive (PPD) symptoms at 6 weeks as a potential confound because prior research supports the association of PPD with maternal stress, social support, and cortisol. 17,19,33–35 Therefore, we adjusted for six week depressive symptoms in the prediction of maternal cortisol at 12 weeks.…”

Maternal depression in Latinas and child socioemotional development: A systematic review

“…Prenatal. Studies (n = 2) conducted in the prenatal period found a significant relationship between prenatal depressive symptoms and infant self-regulation [56,57]. In Fuller et al's study, higher prenatal maternal depressive symptoms on a continuum (Patient Health Questionnaire-9, score range 5-27) positively moderated the relationship between neighborhood stress and infant self-regulatory difficulties (IBQ-R).…”

“…through dysfunctional cortisol responses: heightened cortisol output for 12-week old infants with high temperamental negativity but blunted cortisol for infants with low negativity [57]. Both studies co-varied for postpartum depressive symptoms, suggesting that dysfunctional self-regulatory processes were associated with the prenatal rather than postnatal psychosocial environment.…”

Ontogeny of emotional and behavioral problems in a low-income, Mexican American sample.

“…Indeed, findings from animal studies have indicated that pre- and postnatal stress may exert opposing influences on offspring epigenetic changes, suggesting that postnatal stress may reprogram changes that emerge initially as a result of exposure to prenatal stress (Bale, 2015). Nonetheless, evidence for high rates of stability between prenatal and postnatal stress, associations between early infant negativity and decreased maternal postnatal well-being and subsequent parenting quality underscore that the influence of prenatal stress on infant development may be enduring beyond the transmission of its effects on earlier to later negativity (Luecken et al, 2015). …”

“…For example, although aspects of Mexican American culture may protect against the adverse influence of prenatal stress on infant birth outcomes (Luecken et al, 2013; Ruiz, Hamann, Mehl, & O’Connor, 2016), prenatal stress exposure has nonetheless been found to compromise infants’ stress reactivity and regulation and the subsequent caregiving environment (Luecken, MacKinnon, Jewell, Crnic, & Gonzales, 2015). Likewise, although some scholars have found evidence suggestive that Mexican American children’s social skills may rival those of their socioeconomically advantaged, White counterparts (Guerrero et al, 2013), others have found that impoverished Latino children may nonetheless be equally susceptible to the influence of poverty on heightened rates of behavioral symptoms (e.g., Holtz, Fox, & Meurer, 2015).…”