Using Principles of Behavioral Epigenetics to Advance Research on Early‐Life Stress

Abstract

While the negative effects of early-life stress on children’s developmental outcomes are well documented, we know little about how these processes unfold and which children are more susceptible to these exposures. In this article, I outline how studying the effects of early-life stress on children’s development can be advanced by considering how epigenetic processes may contribute to the emergence of children’s behavior. The study of epigenetics can help pinpoint the mechanisms by which early-life stress may affect developmental outcomes and identify which children may be most sensitive to the effects of these exposures. I conclude by highlighting the challenges inherent in studying epigenetics in children and offer possible solutions.

Maternal Sensitivity Buffers the Association between SLC6A4 Methylation and Socio-Emotional Stress Response in 3-Month-Old Full Term, but not very Preterm Infants

“…Fourth, maternal sensitivity is meant to be a multidimensional construct ( 70 , 71 ), including responsive parenting, contingent responses to infants’ cues, non-intrusive and non-demanding maternal behaviors. Hence, future studies should target the epigenetic effects of specific maternal behaviors on infants’ stress response development, also including other stress-related genes [e.g., BDNF ( 72 ); NR3C1 ( 73 )] mimicking what has been done in behavioral epigenetic research on animal models ( 74 ). For instance, as proposed by Conradt et al ( 7 ), it is plausible to hypothesize that sensitive touch by the mother might be a potential proxy for environmental-driven epigenetic regulation of infants’ stress-related genes and recent retrospective research appears to confirm such regulatory role of maternal touch in healthy adults ( 8 ).…”

DNA methylation of NR3c1 in infancy: Associations between maternal caregiving and infant sex

“…Epigenetics is defined as the study of molecular processes occurring on and around the genome that regulate gene activity without changing the underlying DNA sequence. While a growing literature has identified that we can measure epigenetic processes in humans (Conradt, ; Lester, Conradt, & Marsit, ), and that these processes are sensitive to early life stress (Oberlander et al., ; Romens, McDonald, Svaren, & Pollak, ), there has been no published evidence of whether observed maternal caregiving in humans relates to epigenetic processes in infancy. In this study, we sought to identify whether maternal caregiving behavior was associated with epigenetic modification of a gene implicated in the neuroendocrine response to stress, the glucocorticoid receptor gene, NR3c1 exon 1F.…”

Methodological Challenges in Developmental Human Behavioral Epigenetics: Insights Into Study Design

“…The gene X environment approach was providing insightful support to the notion that—at some point in life—our genetic predisposition and the environmental encounters might interact resulting in observable behaviors (Belsky and Pluess, 2012 ; Mileva-Seitz et al, 2016 ). Nonetheless, BE holds promise to reveal the biochemical processes through which this interaction actually occurs in a developmental framework (Lester et al, 2011 ; Conradt, 2017 ).…”