Michigan State University researchers have received a $ 3.8 million grant from the National Institute for Child Health and Development to advance research into the effects of prenatal and postnatal stress on child psychopathology.

The prenatal stress study, which began in 2016, is the first of its kind. The researchers will monitor pregnant women and their children up to the age of 4, paying attention to early markers of psychopathology, particularly depression, anxiety, and impulsivity.

“What we do is unique in assessing prenatal stress every week of pregnancy as soon as women sign up for our study, which typically lasts 15 weeks,” said Alytia Levendosky, professor of psychology at MSU and one of the lead researchers Education. “We hope to be able to pinpoint the effects of prenatal and postnatal stress on self-regulation, development and mental health problems in children, and to measure the quality of the mother-child relationship.”

The research team – includes colleagues from MSU, Anne Bogat and Joseph Lonstein, both professors of psychology; Maria Muzik, Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Michigan Medicine; and co-investigator Amy Nuttall, assistant professor of human development and genealogy at MSU – currently has nearly 380 women who have completed the first phase of enrollment.

A growing body of research suggests that prenatal stress can determine various aspects of infant physiology and brain development, particularly emotions and learning skills, Levendosky said. Preliminary results bring research even further.

“We found correlations between the time of prenatal stress and the mental health of the mother and the results of the child – in particular, the reactivity of maternal cortisol after 15 to 17 weeks before birth is related to depressive and PTSD symptoms later in pregnancy”, said Levendosky. “With the early data from our current grant demonstrating the varying effects of prenatal stress timing on relevant outcomes, we are confident that we have a solid foundation on which to build our proposed project.”

Levendosky said that many experts believe that the prenatal period is critical to a baby’s brain development, but it is doubtful that every stage of pregnancy is equally prone to the negative effects of prenatal stress.

“The brain does not develop evenly, so some parts of the brain are more sensitive than others at certain points in fetal development,” Levendosky said. “By tracking prenatal stress every week as soon as women sign up for our study, we can track variations in real time.”

Women taking part in the study fill out a 20-point online questionnaire each week in which they rate their stress factors and perceived stress levels. In addition, women fill out questionnaires on social support, mental health, and pregnancy health behavior in the laboratory at three points during pregnancy. During each lab visit, the researchers collect a saliva sample before and after completing a stressful task, which the researchers examine for analytes associated with parts of the nervous system.

Mothers’ mental health is assessed one month after the birth and periodically thereafter. When infants reach 6 months of age, researchers study both behavioral and physiological reactivity by encoding the infant’s fear and anger in response to two different stressful tasks. The researchers are also studying mother-child interactions.

The researchers hope to provide preliminary data for the new phase of the study in 2021.