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Principal Investigator: Margaret J Briggs-Gowan
Organization: UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT SCH OF MED/DNT
Fiscal Year: 2024
Award: $581,159
Funding agency: Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
ABSTRACT
Pregnancy marks a time of increased challenges among families that may be exacerbated by conditions
known to enhance stress reactivity and disrupt emotion regulation, such as posttraumatic stress disorder
(PTSD). For this already vulnerable population, the 2020 pandemic may constitute a trifecta of calamities, with
currently unknown, but likely deleterious effects on the caregiving environment and infant outcomes. In the first
three-month period, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on individuals, families, and
communities across the world, with preliminary evidence for an increase in the prevalence and severity of
mental health problems. As such, understanding the impact of PTSD and pandemic-related stress on families
with children born during the pandemic is critical for identifying and driving novel approaches to prevention and
intervention, especially during similar crises. The current study seeks to recruit a diverse cohort of women and
their partners who were in the final two trimesters of pregnancy during the COVID-19 pandemic. Phase 1 of the
study will involve a large-scale survey (N=2,000) of these individuals to assess perinatal stress exposure
occurring in the context of the pandemic. Phase 2 will involve selecting individuals from the Phase 1 survey to
establish two subgroups with high (n=200) and low (n=200) perinatal pandemic-related stress exposure to
participate in a comprehensive and longitudinal assessment protocol, including interviews, parent-child
interactions, an infant stress paradigm, and biological sample collection. Aims are to: (1) use person-centered
latent class analysis of perinatal pandemic-related experiences to identify unique profiles that vary on the types
and quantity of stress exposure and differentially associate with race/ethnicity, caregiver-reported perceived
stress, emotion dysregulation, PTSD, parenting, and infant dysregulation (stress-reactivity and
emotional/behavioral problems) in the large Phase 1 survey cohort (N=2,000); (2) Compare infants with high
and low perinatal pandemic-related stress and examine caregiver emotion dysregulation, PTSD, and
responsive parenting as potential mediators of this relationship in the longitudinal Phase 2 cohort (N=400); and
(3) identify differentially methylated regions of DNA and differences in telomere length and changes over time
in infants in high v. low perinatal stress groups. Assessment procedures will integrate the experiences and
functioning of both the mother and partner when considering implications for offspring. This work will yield
mechanistic insight on how pandemic-related stress, caregiver emotion dysregulation, and PTSD influence
multiple aspects of the caregiving environment and infant outcomes and is expected to directly inform perinatal
public health interventions as the COVID-19 pandemic continues and its sequelae unfold.
Terms: <0-11 years old><0-4 weeks old><Address><Age Months><Approaches to prevention><Automobile Driving><Behavioral><Biological><COVID crisis><COVID epidemic><COVID pandemic><COVID-19 crisis><COVID-19 epidemic><COVID-19 era><COVID-19 global health crisis><COVID-19 global pandemic><COVID-19 health crisis><COVID-19 pandemic><COVID-19 period><COVID-19 public health crisis><COVID-19 years><Care Givers><Caregivers><Cell Aging><Cell Senescence><Cellular Aging><Cellular Senescence><Child><Child Rearing><Child Youth><Children (0-21)><Cohort Studies><Communities><Concurrent Studies><DNA><DNA Methylation><Data><Deoxyribonucleic Acid><Development><Disasters><Emotional><Emotions><Environment><Epidemic><Epigenetic><Epigenetic Change><Epigenetic Mechanism><Epigenetic Process><Equipment and supply inventories><Ethnic Origin><Ethnicity><Exposure to><Failure><Family><Financial Hardship><Gestation><Health><Home visitation><House Call><Impairment><Individual><Infant><Intervention><Intervention Strategies><Interview><Inventory><Knowledge><Latina><Length><Life><Link><Measures><Mediating><Mediator><Mental Health><Mental Hygiene><Methods><Methylation><Modeling><Mothers><Newborn Infant><Newborns><Outcome><PTSD><Parent-Child Relations><Parent-Child Relationship><Parenting><Parenting behavior><Pathway interactions><Pattern><Perinatal><Peripartum><Phase><Phase I Study><Population><Post-Traumatic Neuroses><Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders><Posttraumatic Neuroses><Pregnancy><Pregnancy Trimesters><Preparation><Prevalence><Prevention approach><Problem behavior><Procedures><Process><Protocol><Protocols documentation><Psychological Health><Race><Races><Regulation><Replicative Senescence><Reporting><Risk><SARS-CoV-2 epidemic><SARS-CoV-2 global health crisis><SARS-CoV-2 global pandemic><SARS-CoV-2 pandemic><SARS-coronavirus-2 epidemic><SARS-coronavirus-2 pandemic><Sampling><Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome CoV 2 epidemic><Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome CoV 2 pandemic><Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 epidemic><Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 pandemic><Severities><Shapes><Site><Stress><Subgroup><Survey Instrument><Surveys><Telomere Shortening><Testing><Time><Vulnerable Populations><Woman><Women's cohort><Work><adverse consequence><adverse outcome><behavioral problem><biobehavior><biobehavioral><biologic><biological adaptation to stress><care giver stress><care giving><caregiver stress><caregiving><childhood adversity><childrearing><cohort><cohort in women><cohort on women><coronavirus disease 2019 crisis><coronavirus disease 2019 epidemic><coronavirus disease 2019 global health crisis><coronavirus disease 2019 global pandemic><coronavirus disease 2019 health crisis><coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic><coronavirus disease 2019 public health crisis><coronavirus disease crisis><coronavirus disease epidemic><coronavirus disease pandemic><coronavirus disease-19 global pandemic><coronavirus disease-19 pandemic><developmental><driving><early childhood><emotion dysregulation><emotion regulation><emotional dysregulation><emotional regulation><environmental stresses><environmental stressor><epigenetically><ethnic diversity><ethnically diverse><experience><exposure to trauma><female cohort><fetal stress><financial adversity><financial burden><financial distress><financial insecurity><financial strain><financial stress><genome scale><genome-wide><genomewide><home visit><infant outcome><insight><interventional strategy><kids><maternal stress><new approaches><newborn child><newborn children><next generation><novel approaches><novel strategies><novel strategy><offspring><pandemic><pandemic associated stress><pandemic disease><pandemic effect><pandemic impact><pandemic induced stress><pandemic outcome><pandemic related stress><pandemic repercussions><pandemic stress><parent child interaction><parent offspring interaction><pathway><pediatric adversity><perceived stress><perception of stress><perinatal period><perinatal phase><person centered><phase 1 study><post-trauma stress><post-trauma stress disorder><post-traumatic stress><posttrauma stress><posttrauma stress disorder><posttraumatic stress><pregnant><prenatal><prenatal stress><preparations><prevent><preventing><psychologic><psychological><public health intervention><racial><racial background><racial origin><reaction; crisis><recruit><saliva sample><salivary sample><sample collection><self-reported stress><severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 global health crisis><severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 global pandemic><social><specimen collection><stress due to pandemic><stress during the pandemic><stress perception><stress reactivity><stress related disorder><stress response><stress; reaction><stressed mothers><telomere><telomere attrition><trauma exposure><traumatic neurosis><unborn><vulnerable group><vulnerable individual><vulnerable people><youngster>