Jessica Louise Buthmann

All Publications

• Prenatal wildfire smoke, first trimester proteome, and subsequent child behavioral outcomes: An exploratory study. Environmental research Buthmann, J. L., Aghaeepour, N., Burke, M., Maric, I., Stevenson, D. K., Shaw, G. M., Gotlib, I. H. 2025; 291: 123577

  Abstract

  California has the highest air pollution levels of any state in the United States, due in part to the high levels of drought and the prevalence of wildfires in the state. Given the increasing frequency and magnitude of wildfires globally, it is critical that we gain a better understanding of the risks posed by wildfire smoke, especially to susceptible populations. In particular, investigators have posited that fetal developmental processes are disrupted by inhalation of wildfire smoke by pregnant women. In this study, we obtained proteomic data by drawing blood from women in their first trimester of pregnancy. We then linked data estimating levels of particulate matter (PM2.5) related to wildfire smoke at the census-tract level to participants' prenatal residential address. Finally, when their children were 3-5 years of age, mothers completed questionnaires assessing their children's behavior and temperament (N = 86). We found that in relation to exposure to wildfire smoke during the first trimester, the prenatal proteome was enriched in proteins involved in inflammation, neurodevelopment, and tissue development. This enrichment, in turn, predicted higher levels of mother-reported exuberant behavior and lower levels of fearfulness in the children. Thus, prenatal exposure to wildfire smoke may influence both immune and developmental processes in utero, with potential long-term effects on child behavior and temperament. Further research should focus on gaining a more comprehensive understanding of both the mechanisms underlying these associations and their implications for public health.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.envres.2025.123577

  View details for PubMedID 41412360

• Adolescents' Perceptions of Parenting Behaviors Mediate the Association of Maternal Childhood Abuse With Adolescent Externalizing Behaviors TRANSLATIONAL ISSUES IN PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE Parks, K. C., Buthmann, J. L., Uy, J. P., Gotlib, I. H. 2025; 11 (4): 477-490

  View details for DOI 10.1037/tps0000478

  View details for Web of Science ID 001619871100001

• Adolescents' Perceptions of Parenting Behaviors Mediate the Association of Maternal Childhood Abuse with Adolescent Externalizing Behaviors. Translational issues in psychological science Parks, K. C., Buthmann, J. L., Uy, J. P., Gotlib, I. H. 2025; 11 (4): 477-490

  Abstract

  Exposure to childhood maltreatment (CM) increases risk for psychiatric disorders and maladaptive outcomes across the lifespan, including the transition into parenthood. Mothers with histories of CM are more likely to experience poorer mental health and engage in negative parenting practices. Maternal CM influences parenting behaviors, potentially leading to adolescent maladaptive outcomes. This study examines the effects of maternal CM on adolescent emotional and behavioral difficulties, focusing on how mothers' and adolescents' perceptions of parental psychological control (PPC) mediate these relationships.We analyzed data from 148 mother-adolescent dyads recruited for a longitudinal investigation of early life stress and psychopathology. Mothers completed the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire assessing CM, and both mothers and adolescents reported perceptions of PPC. Adolescents reported internalizing and externalizing problems 2-4 years later. Mediation analyses assessed maternal CM's effects on adolescent behavioral problems, examining adolescent- and mother-reported PPC as mediators.Maternal childhood abuse significantly predicted adolescent externalizing problems, mediated by adolescents' perceptions of PPC. Higher maternal childhood abuse correlated with increased adolescent-reported PPC, which was associated with greater externalizing problems. Mother-reported PPC did not mediate this association, highlighting adolescents' perceptions. Maternal neglect had no significant direct or indirect effects on adolescent outcomes, or on adolescent- or mother-reported PPC.These findings underscore the importance of adolescents' perceptions of parenting in understanding the effects of maternal childhood abuse on externalizing problems. Lack of findings for maternal neglect highlights the need to identify alternative mechanisms by which neglect may affect adolescent functioning. Interventions promoting positive mother-adolescent relationships could improve adolescent psychosocial outcomes.

  View details for DOI 10.1037/tps0000478

  View details for PubMedID 41479774

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC12755837

• Psychobiological mechanisms underlying the association between early life stress and depression in adolescence. Molecular psychiatry Gotlib, I. H., Uy, J. P., Buthmann, J. L., Pine, D. S. 2025

  Abstract

  Early life stress (ELS), or exposure to adverse experiences before the age of 18 years, is alarmingly prevalent and is a strong risk factor for the development of depression in adolescence. Despite the consistency of this association, we do not fully understand how, or for whom, ELS gets 'under the skin' to increase adolescents' risk for experiencing depression. In this context, researchers have identified psychobiological characteristics that may serve to link early adversity to risk for adolescent depression. In this paper we discuss four of these characteristics: stress reactivity, reward processing, inflammation, and biological aging. For each of these putative mechanisms we describe the nature of their associations with both ELS and depression, focusing when possible on these relations during adolescence. In addition to being a vulnerable period for the emergence of depression, adolescence is also characterized by developmental shifts in critical domains of psychobiological functioning that add nuance to the associations with early life stress and depression. Following this presentation, we discuss how these constructs likely co-occur and interact in ways that alter the relation between early adversity and risk for adolescent depression; we also consider factors that might serve to moderate this association. We conclude by describing unresolved issues and suggesting directions for future research concerning the ways that ELS increases adolescents' risk for the development of depression. Specifically, we discuss how researchers might address the lack of consistency in findings examining associations among ELS, biological functioning, and depression in adolescent samples by examining systematically the types of stress experienced, the biological functioning and specific aspects of depression that are assessed in each study, and moderators such as participants' sex, developmental stage, and family history. We seek to stimulate researchers to examine other mechanisms that might underlie the association of early adversity with depression in order to inform the development of more effective approaches to the prevention and treatment of this debilitating disorder.

  View details for DOI 10.1038/s41380-025-03348-8

  View details for PubMedID 41243003

  View details for PubMedCentralID 2966503

• Neighborhood air quality, psychobiological reactivity, and mental health across adolescence. Environmental science and pollution research international Buthmann, J. L., Gotlib, I. H. 2025

  Abstract

  Researchers are paying increasing attention to the environmental aspects of the neighborhood in which children and adolescents are raised and their role in psychobiological development. Factors that are distal to the home environment, such as green spaces and pollution levels, have been shown to be associated with mental health in youth, even when accounting for variance explained by more proximal home factors (e.g., family socioeconomic status). Researchers have posited that individuals vary in their susceptibility to adverse conditions, which can be operationalized as psychobiological reactivity; this formulation, however, has not been tested with respect to air quality. Here, we assessed internalizing and externalizing symptoms in 133 adolescents at four time points, each approximately two years apart, beginning in early puberty. Psychobiological reactivity was assessed during the Trier Social Stress Test. We found that adolescents living in neighborhoods with poorer air quality, measured by particulate matter, ozone levels, and days with temperatures over 90°F, had higher levels of internalizing and externalizing symptoms if they were also less psychobiologically reactive. These findings support the formulation that levels of psychobiological reactivity index susceptibility to the environment and highlight the importance of reducing air pollution to help promote optimal adolescent health.

  View details for DOI 10.1007/s11356-025-37144-2

  View details for PubMedID 41193744

• Maternal history of maltreatment interacts with DNA methylation patterns to predict infant temperament. Child abuse & neglect Parks, K. C., Buthmann, J. L., Teh, A. L., Chen, L., Chen, H. Y., Gotlib, I. H. 2025; 169 (Pt 2): 107650

  Abstract

  Maternal childhood maltreatment (CM) has been associated with subsequent difficult infant temperament. Further, maternal CM and maladaptive infant outcomes have each been linked, separately, to increased methylation in umbilical cord blood of CpG sites in genes related to the stress response and inflammatory markers. Researchers have not yet examined the nature of the interactions of these factors or whether DNA methylation (DNAm) mediates or moderates the association of maternal CM with infant temperament.We tested whether DNAm mediates or moderates the association between maternal CM and infant temperament.Longitudinal data from 144 mother-infant dyads were analyzed.DNAm in umbilical cord blood, history of maternal CM, and infant temperament were assessed at age three months. Principal components analysis identified one methylation component with CpG sites related to the following hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis genes: ADRA1B, CRHBP, CREBBP, HSD11B1, HTR2A, NCOR2, and NR3C1.Higher DNAm levels were associated with stronger effects of maternal CM, driven in particular by maternal childhood abuse, on difficult infant temperament.These findings highlight the complexity of the relations among maternal CM, epigenetic modifications to the stress response, and infant temperament. Infants of mothers who experienced more CM, particularly abuse, exhibited more difficult temperament, a relation that was moderated by heightened methylation of HPA-axis-related CpG sites related to CM. This methylation pattern may reflect an elevated stress response that is altered by maternal CM, suggesting a fetal programming formulation that should be tested more explicitly and systematically in future research.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.chiabu.2025.107650

  View details for PubMedID 40974784

• Frontolimbic Connectivity and Threat-Related Psychopathology: A Data-Driven Test of Models of Early Adversity. Developmental psychobiology Antonacci, C., Buthmann, J. L., Uy, J. P., Khosravi, P., Lee, Y., Gotlib, I. H. 2025; 67 (5): e70080

  Abstract

  Early adversity is a well-established risk factor for psychopathology in youth. Contemporary taxonomies of adversity seek to distill the diverse stressors children face into meaningful categories of experience to enable more precise prediction of risk; however, few studies have tested these models using data-driven approaches in well-characterized, longitudinal samples. Here, we examined the latent structure of early stress across diverse domains of exposure, tested differential associations with psychopathology in adolescence, and investigated frontolimbic functional connectivity as a potential mediator. In a sample of 168 youth (Mage = 11.36), factor analyses identified two latent stress factors at baseline-"Parenting" and "Deprivation & Unpredictability"-and a single "Psychopathology" factor extracted from measures of mental health obtained 2 years later. While adverse parenting predicted greater psychopathology, exposure to threat emerged as the strongest predictor of adolescent mental health problems. High-dimensional regularized mediation analyses revealed that frontolimbic functional connectivity mediated the association between Threat and Psychopathology in girls but not in boys. These findings suggest that widely used dimensional models overlook key aspects of adversity, including sex-linked asymmetries across neurodevelopment and the distinct role of parenting-related stress. Refining adversity taxonomies across diverse samples and stress domains is crucial to advancing targeted interventions for youth mental health.

  View details for DOI 10.1002/dev.70080

  View details for PubMedID 40898734

• Pollution burden and trajectories of pubertal development: Implications for sleep disturbances and depressive symptoms. Psychoneuroendocrinology Uy, J. P., Shenoy, T. N., Lee, Y., Buthmann, J. L., Gotlib, I. H. 2025; 181: 107586

  Abstract

  Childhood exposure to pollution has been associated with elevated levels of depressive symptoms during adolescence. Epidemiological studies have related exposure to pollution to altered pubertal timing; however, the effects of pollution exposure on levels of pubertal hormones and their developmental trajectories (i.e., pubertal tempo) are not known. Furthermore, how pollution-related alterations in pubertal development influence trajectories of depressive symptoms during adolescence is not well understood. One factor that has been linked to pollution exposure, pubertal development, and depressive symptoms, and that is modifiable, is sleep disturbances; these variables, however, have not been examined together in a single investigation. The current study examined the effects of pollution burden during childhood on trajectories of adrenal and gonadal development and their impact on trajectories of sleep disturbances and depressive symptoms during adolescence. 184 adolescents (109 females) completed four assessments, each approximately 2 years apart, starting at 9-13 years of age (M=11.37, SD=1.06). At each timepoint, participants completed measures assessing pubertal development, sleep disturbances, and depressive symptoms and provided saliva samples, from which levels of DHEA, testosterone, and estradiol (females only) were assayed. We estimated participants' pollution burden at the census tract-level using their residential addresses and publicly available environmental data. We found that female adolescents residing in neighborhoods with greater pollution burden showed delayed adrenarche and gonadarche based on levels of DHEA and estradiol, respectively, followed by faster DHEA and estradiol tempo into middle adolescence. These pollution burden-related increases in DHEA and estradiol tempo interacted with increasing levels of sleep disturbances to predict the highest increase in levels of depressive symptoms. Although pollution burden was associated with altered adrenal development in male adolescents, effects differed for DHEA and self-reported development, and these alterations did not interact with increases in sleep disturbances to predict trajectories of depressive symptoms. Thus, childhood pollution burden appears to affect pubertal development in sex-dependent ways that contribute to sex-differentiated risk for depression in adolescence.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2025.107586

  View details for PubMedID 40907146

• The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on neurobiological functioning in adolescents. Translational psychiatry Yuan, J. P., Borchers, L. R., Lee, Y., Buthmann, J. L., Coury, S. M., Joachimsthaler, J., Jaeger, E. L., Ho, T. C., Gotlib, I. H. 2025; 15 (1): 276

  Abstract

  The COVID-19 pandemic and its associated lockdowns were an unprecedented source of stress, with striking adverse effects on adolescents' mental health but relatively unknown effects on important aspects of neurobiological functioning. Using data from 154 adolescents (age M ± SD = 16.2 ± 1.1 years; range = 13.9-19.4) drawn from an ongoing longitudinal study and assessed either before or after the pandemic, we compared the pre-pandemic and post-pandemic groups on three key stress-sensitive biological systems: the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, immune response, and neural responses to affective stimuli. We found that compared to those assessed before the pandemic, adolescents assessed post-lockdown had significantly lower total cortisol production, elevated levels of systemic inflammation, and reduced neural activation in the prefrontal cortex during affective processing (pseudo-F(1,3250) = 7.43, p = 0.006). These findings suggest that, for adolescents, the experience of the pandemic was associated with significant disruptions in multiple biological systems that are sensitive to stress that might have enduring adverse developmental effects.

  View details for DOI 10.1038/s41398-025-03485-2

  View details for PubMedID 40796772

  View details for PubMedCentralID 10706127

• Exposure to Fine Particulate Matter During Pregnancy Is Associated With Hippocampal Development in Offspring. Biological psychiatry global open science Buthmann, J. L., Benmarhnia, T., Huang, J. Y., Huang, P., Miller, J. G., Uy, J. P., Gluckman, P. D., Fortier, M. V., Chong, Y. S., Tan, A. P., Meaney, M. J., Gotlib, I. H. 2025; 5 (4): 100490

  Abstract

  As the global climate crisis persists, it becomes increasingly important to understand how exposure to environmental toxins can affect the developing brain. Although researchers are beginning to document links between prenatal exposure to air pollution and brain structure, it is not clear when these associations emerge.We leveraged data from the GUSTO (Growing Up Toward Healthy Outcomes in Singapore) longitudinal birth cohort study to examine prenatal exposure to air pollution and brain development during childhood. Spatiotemporally interpolated prenatal exposure to particulate matter <2.5 μm was averaged across each prenatal week. Structural magnetic resonance imaging data were obtained when children were ages 4.5, 6.0, 7.5, and 10.5 years (N = 325, 47.7% female) and segmented with FreeSurfer 7.1. A subset of parents completed the Child Behavior Checklist at the final assessment (n = 195, 46.7% female). We used latent growth modeling to estimate a slope of hippocampal volume growth in each hemisphere from ages 4.5 to 10.5 years, adjusted for intracranial volume.Distributed lag models indicated that late gestational exposure (during weeks 36-40) was associated with slower hippocampal growth in both hemispheres. Importantly, we also found that faster hippocampal volume growth in the right hemisphere was associated with more externalizing and attention problems at 10.5 years.Future research should examine mechanisms that may underlie or contribute to these associations. These findings underscore the importance of efforts to reduce pollution, particularly for pregnant people and their children.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.bpsgos.2025.100490

  View details for PubMedID 40290196

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC12032870

• Early Experiences of Threat, Attentional Avoidance of Fearful Facial Expressions, and Subsequent Internalizing Problems in Adolescents: A Longitudinal Investigation COGNITIVE THERAPY AND RESEARCH Buthmann, J., Gotlib, I. 2025

  View details for DOI 10.1007/s10608-025-10613-1

  View details for Web of Science ID 001478403200001

• Nucleus accumbens volume mediates the association between prenatal adversity and attention problems in youth. Development and psychopathology Antonacci, C., Buthmann, J. L., Borchers, L. R., Fortier, M. V., Chong, Y. S., Gluckman, P., Eriksson, J., Chen, H. Y., Law, E., Meaney, M. J., Tan, A. P., Gotlib, I. H. 2025: 1-13

  Abstract

  Exposure to adversity during the perinatal period has been associated with cognitive difficulties in children. Given the role of the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) in attention and impulsivity, we examined whether NAcc volume at age six mediates the relations between pre- and postnatal adversity and subsequent attention problems in offspring. 306 pregnant women were recruited as part of the Growing Up in Singapore Towards Healthy Outcomes Study. Psychosocial stress was assessed during pregnancy and across the first 5 years postpartum. At six years of age, children underwent structural MRI and, at age seven years, mothers reported on their children's attention problems. Separate factor analyses conducted on measures of pre- and postnatal adversity each yielded two latent factors: maternal mental health and socioeconomic status. Both pre- and postnatal maternal mental health predicted children's attention difficulties. Further, NAcc volume mediated the relation between prenatal, but not postnatal, maternal mental health and children's attention problems. These findings suggest that the NAcc is particularly vulnerable to prenatal maternal mental health challenges and contributes to offspring attention problems. Characterizing the temporal sensitivity of neurobiological structures to adversity will help to elucidate mechanisms linking environmental exposures and behavior, facilitating the development of neuroscience-informed interventions for childhood difficulties.

  View details for DOI 10.1017/S0954579425000240

  View details for PubMedID 40232121

• Stress reactivity moderates the association between early experiences of unpredictability and emotional problems in adolescents NEUROBIOLOGY OF STRESS Buthmann, J. L., Antonacci, C., Uy, J. P., Borchers, L. R., Miller, J. G., Gotlib, I. H. 2025; 34: 100706

  Abstract

  Researchers have documented that exposure to different kinds of psychosocial stressors can lead to emotional difficulties and, further, that heightened reactivity to stress can moderate these associations. Recently, investigators have distinguished among threat, deprivation, and unpredictability as different dimensions of early life stress (ELS). It is not clear, however, whether reactivity in specific stress response systems functions as a diathesis to lead to emotional difficulties following exposure to these dimensions of ELS. In this study (N = 154) we examined whether stress reactivity, assessed across different psychobiological systems during the Trier Social Stress Test, is a unitary or multidimensional construct, and if reactivity differentially moderates the associations between ELS dimensions and adolescents' susceptibility to emotional and behavioral problems two years later. A factor analysis conducted on stress reactivity measures yielded two factors: one composed of reactivity in heart rate, heart rate variability, and cortisol, and one composed of reactivity in skin conductance and self-reported mood. These two factors independently moderated the associations between early unpredictability and subsequent emotional problems. For each factor, the combination of higher unpredictability and higher stress reactivity predicted higher emotional problems; stress reactivity factors were not significant moderators of the effects of threat and deprivation. Our findings suggest that increased stress reactivity, assessed across several domains of functioning, functions as a diathesis that interacts with ELS characterized by unpredictability to predict subsequent mental health difficulties in adolescents and, further, that low stress reactivity buffers against mental health difficulties in adolescents who have experienced unpredictability early in life.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.ynstr.2024.100706

  View details for Web of Science ID 001394953500001

  View details for PubMedID 39810833

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC11732563

• Exposure to diesel-related particulate matter, cortisol stress responsivity, and depressive symptoms in adolescents. Psychoneuroendocrinology Uy, J. P., Shin, K., Buthmann, J. L., Kircanski, K., LeMoult, J., Berens, A. E., Gotlib, I. H. 2024; 171: 107214

  Abstract

  Exposure to air pollution is associated with higher risk for psychopathology; however, the mechanisms underlying this association are not clear. Dysfunction of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis in response to stress has been implicated in depression. Here, we estimated annual exposure to particulate matter (PM) from diesel emissions in 170 9- to 15-year-old adolescents (56 % female) using their residential addresses and data from nearby monitoring sites. We obtained salivary cortisol samples from participants while they completed a social stress task and calculated area under the curve with respect to ground (AUCg) and with respect to increase (AUCi) in order to assess cortisol responsivity during stress. Participants also reported on their depressive symptoms and sleep disturbances. Greater exposure to diesel PM was associated with lower cortisol output (AUCg) during stress, which was associated with higher depressive symptoms, particularly for adolescents with more sleep disturbances. Importantly, these effects were independent of household and neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage and exposure to early adversity. Thus, HPA-axis dysfunction may be one mechanism through which environmental pollutants affect adolescents' mental health.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2024.107214

  View details for PubMedID 39426039

• Socioeconomic Disadvantage Moderates the Association of Systemic Inflammation with Amygdala Volume in Adolescents Over a Two-Year Interval: An Exploratory Study. Biological psychiatry. Cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging Yuan, J. P., Jaeger, E. L., Coury, S. M., Uy, J. P., Buthmann, J. L., Ho, T. C., Gotlib, I. H. 2024

  Abstract

  Research has demonstrated an association between elevated systemic inflammation and changes in brain function. Affective areas of the brain involved in processing threat (e.g., amygdala) and reward (e.g., nucleus accumbens [NAcc]) appear to be sensitive to inflammation. Early life stress (ELS), such as experiencing low socioeconomic status (SES), may also potentiate this association, but relevant evidence has come primarily from cross-sectional studies of brain function. It is unclear whether similar associations are present between ELS, inflammation, and brain structure, particularly in typically developing populations.We recruited and assessed 50 adolescents (31F/19M) from the community (M±SD age=15.5±1.1; range=13.1-17.5 years ) and in exploratory analyses examined whether changes in C-reactive protein (ΔCRP) from blood spots predict changes in gray matter volumes (ΔGMV) in the bilateral amygdala and NAcc over a two-year period. We also investigated whether experiencing ELS, operationalized using a comprehensive composite score of SES disadvantage at the family and neighborhood levels, significantly moderated the association between ΔCRP and ΔGMV.We found that ΔCRP was negatively associated with ΔAmygdala GMV (i.e. increasing CRP levels were associated with decreasing amygdala volume; β=-0.84; p=0.012). This effect was stronger in youth who experienced greater SES disadvantage (β=-0.56; p=0.025).These findings suggest that increases in systemic inflammation are associated with reductions in amygdala GMV in adolescents, potentially signaling accelerated maturation, and that these neuroimmune processes are compounded in adolescents who experienced greater SES disadvantage. Our findings are consistent with theoretical frameworks of neuroimmune associations and suggest they may influence adolescent neurodevelopment.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.bpsc.2024.05.002

  View details for PubMedID 38815859

• Nucleus Accumbens Volume Mediates the Association Between Prenatal Adversity and Attention Problems in Youth Antonacci, C., Buthmann, J. L., Borchers, L., Tan, A., Meaney, M., Gotlib, I. H. ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC. 2024: S132-S133

  View details for Web of Science ID 001282811900306

• The cortisol/DHEA ratio mediates the association between early life stress and externalizing problems in adolescent boys. Psychoneuroendocrinology Lee, Y., Donahue, G. Z., Buthmann, J. L., Uy, J. P., Gotlib, I. H. 2024; 165: 107034

  Abstract

  Despite evidence that early life stress (ELS) can influence the functioning of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and increase maladaptive behaviors in adolescence, less attention has been paid to the role of the coordinated effects of the two primary adrenal hormones, cortisol and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), in these associations.138 typically developing adolescents (76 females) reported the stressful events experienced during childhood and early adolescence across 30 domains. Two years later we assessed levels of externalizing problems and obtained salivary levels of cortisol and DHEA. Using causal moderated mediation analyses, we examined whether the ratio of cortisol to DHEA (CD ratio) mediates the association between ELS and subsequent externalizing problems.We found that ELS is associated with both a lower CD ratio and more externalizing problems. Importantly, a lower CD ratio mediated the association between ELS and externalizing problems in boys.An imbalance in adrenal hormones may be a mechanism through which ELS leads to an increase in externalizing problems in adolescent boys. These findings underscore the utility of using the CD ratio to index HPA-axis functioning.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2024.107034

  View details for PubMedID 38554595

• The growing interdisciplinarity of developmental psychopathology: Implications for science and training. Development and psychopathology Gotlib, I. H., Buthmann, J. L., Uy, J. P. 2024: 1-11

  Abstract

  The field of developmental psychopathology has grown exponentially over the past decades, and has become increasingly multifaceted. The initial focus on understanding abnormal child psychology has broadened to the study of the origins of psychopathology, with the goals of preventing and alleviating disorder and promoting healthy development. In this paper, we discuss how technological advances and global events have expanded the questions that researchers in developmental psychopathology can address. We do so by describing a longitudinal study that we have been conducting for the past dozen years. We originally planned to examine the effects of early adversity on trajectories of brain development, endocrine function, and depressive symptoms across puberty; it has since become an interdisciplinary study encompassing diverse domains like inflammation, sleep, biological aging, the environment, and child functioning post-pandemic, that we believe will advance our understanding of neurobehavioral development. This increase in the breadth in our study emerged from an expansion of the field; we encourage researchers to embrace these dynamic changes. In this context, we discuss challenges, opportunities, and institutional changes related to the growing interdisciplinarity of the field with respect to training the next generation of investigators to mitigate the burden of mental illness in youth.

  View details for DOI 10.1017/S0954579424000580

  View details for PubMedID 38516854

• Neighborhood disadvantage and parenting predict longitudinal clustering of uncinate fasciculus microstructural integrity and clinical symptomatology in adolescents. Developmental cognitive neuroscience Buthmann, J. L., Uy, J. P., Miller, J. G., Yuan, J. P., Coury, S. M., Ho, T. C., Gotlib, I. H. 2024; 66: 101368

  Abstract

  Parenting behaviors and neighborhood environment influence the development of adolescents' brains and behaviors. Simultaneous trajectories of brain and behavior, however, are understudied, especially in these environmental contexts. In this four-wave study spanning 9-18 years of age (N=224 at baseline, N=138 at final assessment) we used longitudinal k-means clustering to identify clusters of participants with distinct trajectories of uncinate fasciculus (UF) fractional anisotropy (FA) and anxiety symptoms; we examined behavioral outcomes and identified environmental factors that predicted cluster membership. We identified three clusters of participants: 1) high UF FA and low symptoms ("low-risk"); 2) low UF FA and high symptoms ("high-risk"); and 3) low UF FA and low symptoms ("resilient"). Adolescents in disadvantaged neighborhoods were more likely to be in the resilient than high-risk cluster if they also experienced maternal warmth. Thus, neighborhood disadvantage may confer neural risk for psychopathology that can be buffered by maternal warmth, highlighting the importance of considering multiple environmental influences in understanding emotional and neural development in youth.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.dcn.2024.101368

  View details for PubMedID 38547783

• Large-scale proteomics in the first trimester of pregnancy predict psychopathology and temperament in preschool children: an exploratory study. Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines Buthmann, J. L., Miller, J. G., Aghaeepour, N., King, L. S., Stevenson, D. K., Shaw, G. M., Wong, R. J., Gotlib, I. H. 2024

  Abstract

  Understanding the prenatal origins of children's psychopathology is a fundamental goal in developmental and clinical science. Recent research suggests that inflammation during pregnancy can trigger a cascade of fetal programming changes that contribute to vulnerability for the emergence of psychopathology. Most studies, however, have focused on a handful of proinflammatory cytokines and have not explored a range of prenatal biological pathways that may be involved in increasing postnatal risk for emotional and behavioral difficulties.Using extreme gradient boosted machine learning models, we explored large-scale proteomics, considering over 1,000 proteins from first trimester blood samples, to predict behavior in early childhood. Mothers reported on their 3- to 5-year-old children's (N = 89, 51% female) temperament (Child Behavior Questionnaire) and psychopathology (Child Behavior Checklist).We found that machine learning models of prenatal proteomics predict 5%-10% of the variance in children's sadness, perceptual sensitivity, attention problems, and emotional reactivity. Enrichment analyses identified immune function, nervous system development, and cell signaling pathways as being particularly important in predicting children's outcomes.Our findings, though exploratory, suggest processes in early pregnancy that are related to functioning in early childhood. Predictive features included far more proteins than have been considered in prior work. Specifically, proteins implicated in inflammation, in the development of the central nervous system, and in key cell-signaling pathways were enriched in relation to child temperament and psychopathology measures.

  View details for DOI 10.1111/jcpp.13948

  View details for PubMedID 38287782

• Exploring sex differences in trajectories of pubertal development and mental health following early adversity. Psychoneuroendocrinology Ho, T. C., Buthmann, J., Chahal, R., Miller, J. G., Gotlib, I. H. 2023; 161: 106944

  Abstract

  Despite evidence that early life adversity (ELA) affects mental health in adolescence, we know little about sex differences in how distinct dimensions of adversity affect development and their corresponding effects on mental health. In this three-wave longitudinal study, 209 participants (118 females; ages 9-13 years at baseline) provided objective (salivary hormones, BMI, age of menarche) and subjective (perceived gonadal and adrenal status) measures of puberty and physical development, and reported on levels of internalizing and externalizing symptoms at all timepoints. Participants also reported lifetime exposure to three distinct types of ELA: deprivation, threat, and unpredictability. Using generalized additive mixed models, we tested within each sex whether dimensions of adversity were associated with longitudinal changes in measures of pubertal and physical development, and whether these indices of development were associated with trajectories of internalizing and externalizing symptoms. In females, experiences of threat and unpredictability were significantly associated with earlier pubertal timing (e.g., age of menarche) whereas experiences of deprivation were associated with steeper increases in BMI; further, faster pubertal tempo (i.e., steeper increases in pubertal stage) was associated with increases in internalizing and externalizing symptoms. In males, however, ELA was not associated with any measures of pubertal or physical development or with symptoms. Together, our results suggest that adverse experiences during early life have sex-selective consequences for pubertal and physical maturation and mental health trajectories in ways that may elucidate why females are at higher risk for mental health difficulties during puberty, particularly following exposure to unpredictable and threatening experiences of adversity.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2023.106944

  View details for PubMedID 38171040

• Early life stress predicts trajectories of emotional problems and hippocampal volume in adolescence. European child & adolescent psychiatry Buthmann, J. L., Miller, J. G., Uy, J. P., Coury, S. M., Jo, B., Gotlib, I. H. 2023

  Abstract

  Exposure to early life stress (ELS) has been consistently associated with adverse emotional and neural consequences in youth. The development of brain structures such as the hippocampus, which plays a significant role in stress and emotion regulation, may be particularly salient in the development of psychopathology. Prior work has documented smaller hippocampal volume (HCV) in relation to both ELS exposure and risk for psychopathology. We used longitudinal k-means clustering to identify simultaneous trajectories of HCV and emotional problems in 155 youth across three assessments conducted approximately two years apart (mean baseline age = 11.33 years, 57% female). We also examined depressive symptoms and resilience approximately two years after the third timepoint. We identified three clusters of participants: a cluster with high HCV and low emotional problems; a cluster with low HCV and high emotional problems; and a cluster with low HCV and low emotional problems. Importantly, severity of ELS was associated with greater likelihood of belonging to the low HCV/high symptom cluster than to the low HCV/low symptom cluster. Further, low HCV/high symptom participants had more depressive symptoms and lower resilience scores than did participants in the low HCV/low symptom, but not than in the high HCV/low symptom cluster. Our findings suggest that smaller HCV indexes biological sensitivity to stress. This adds to our understanding of the ways in which ELS can affect hippocampal and emotional development in young people and points to hippocampal volume as a marker of susceptibility to context.

  View details for DOI 10.1007/s00787-023-02331-4

  View details for PubMedID 38135803

  View details for PubMedCentralID 6179355

• Biological sensitivity to adolescent-parent discrepancies in perceived parental warmth. Comprehensive psychoneuroendocrinology Buthmann, J. L., LeMoult, J., Miller, J. G., Berens, A., Gotlib, I. H. 2023; 16: 100211

  Abstract

  Parenting behaviors are formative to the psychological development of young people; however, parent and adolescent perceptions of parenting are only moderately correlated with each other. Whereas discrepant perceptions may represent a normative process of deindividuation from caregivers in some adolescents, in others a discrepancy might predict psychological maladjustment. The biological sensitivity to context model provides a framework from which individual differences in development can be estimated in adolescents whose perceptions of parenting diverge from those of their parents.At baseline we obtained diurnal cortisol samples from US adolescents (M = 13.37 years of age, SD = 1.06) as well as parents' and adolescents' ratings of parental warmth; we obtained adolescent-reported symptoms of psychopathology at baseline and again at follow-up two years later (N = 108, 57.5% female). We estimated waking cortisol, cortisol awakening response, and daytime cortisol slopes using piecewise regression models.Lower adolescent than parent ratings of parental warmth predicted increased externalizing symptoms at follow-up. Higher waking cortisol and steeper cortisol awakening response and daytime slopes predicted increased internalizing symptoms at follow-up. Further, discrepant ratings of parental warmth interacted with cortisol awakening response and daytime slopes such that greater discrepancies predicted greater increases in externalizing symptoms in adolescents with steeper cortisol slopes.These findings indicate that steeper changes in cortisol production throughout the day index a greater sensitivity to perceived parental warmth. Lower adolescent than parent ratings of parental warmth may represent dysfunction in the parental relationship rather than a normative process of deindividuation in adolescents with steeper diurnal cortisol slopes.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.cpnec.2023.100211

  View details for PubMedID 37808874

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC10550797

• Early life stress, sleep disturbances, and depressive symptoms during adolescence: The role of the cingulum bundle. Developmental cognitive neuroscience Uy, J. P., Ho, T. C., Buthmann, J. L., Coury, S. M., Gotlib, I. H. 2023; 63: 101303

  Abstract

  Adolescence is often characterized by sleep disturbances that can affect the development of white matter tracts implicated in affective and cognitive regulation, including the cingulate portion of the cingulum bundle (CGC) and the uncinate fasciculus (UF). These effects may be exacerbated in adolescents exposed to early life adversity (ELA). We examined the longitudinal relations between sleep problems and CGC and UF microstructure during adolescence and their relation to depressive symptoms as a function of exposure to ELA. We assessed self-reported sleep disturbances and depressive symptoms and acquired diffusion-weighted MRI scans twice: in early adolescence (9-13 years) and four years later (13-17 years) (N=72 complete cases). Independent of ELA, higher initial levels and increases in sleep problems were related to increases in depressive symptoms. Further, increases in right CGC fractional anisotropy (FA) mediated the association between sleep problems and depressive symptoms for youth who experienced lower, but not higher, levels of ELA. In youth with higher ELA, higher initial levels of and steeper decreases in sleep problems were associated with greater decreases in right UF FA, but were unrelated to depressive symptoms. Our findings highlight the importance of sleep quality in shaping fronto-cingulate-limbic tract development and depressive symptoms during adolescence.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.dcn.2023.101303

  View details for PubMedID 37738837

• The Functioning of Offspring of Depressed Parents: Current Status, Unresolved Issues, and Future Directions ANNUAL REVIEW OF DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY Gotlib, I. H., Buthmann, J. L., Miller, J. G. 2023; 5: 375-397

  View details for DOI 10.1146/annurev-devpsych-120221-033623

  View details for Web of Science ID 001315423300018

• Maternal-prenatal stress and depression predict infant temperament during the COVID-19 pandemic. Development and psychopathology Buthmann, J. L., Miller, J. G., Gotlib, I. H. 2022: 1-9

  Abstract

  Researchers have begun to examine the psychological toll of the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic. Data are now emerging indicating that there may be long-term adverse effects of the pandemic on new mothers and on children born during this period. In a longitudinal study of maternal mental health and child emotional development during the pandemic, we conducted online assessments of a cohort of women at two time points: when they were pregnant at the beginning of the surge of the pandemic in the United States (baseline, N = 725), and approximately 1 year postpartum (follow-up, N = 296), examining prenatal and postnatal maternal mental health, prenatal pandemic-related stress, and infant temperament. Pandemic-related stress at baseline was associated with concurrent depressive symptoms and infant negative affect at follow-up. Baseline maternal depressive symptoms were associated with follow-up depressive symptoms, which in turn were also associated with infant negative affect. Pandemic-related stress during pregnancy may have enduring effects on infant temperament. These findings have important implications for our understanding of the emotional development of children who were in utero during the COVID-19 pandemic.

  View details for DOI 10.1017/S0954579422001055

  View details for PubMedID 36345652

• Negative caregiving and stress reactivity moderate the relation between early life stress and externalizing in adolescence. Developmental psychobiology Buthmann, J., Miller, J. G., Chahal, R., Berens, A., Gotlib, I. H. 2022; 64 (7): e22327

  Abstract

  Exposure to early life stress (ELS) is common and has been implicated in the development of psychopathology; importantly, however, many individuals who experience ELS do not develop emotional or behavioral difficulties. Prior research implicates stress exposure, negative caregiving behaviors, and patterns of physiological reactivity in predicting psychological well-being; however, the precise factors that contribute to resilience versus vulnerability to the adverse effects of stress exposures are not well understood. In a longitudinal study of adolescents (N = 120) assessed at three timepoints approximately every 2 years beginning at the ages of 913 years, we examined the roles of autonomic reactivity to social stress (assessed through skin conductance during the Trier Social Stress Task) and negative caregiving behaviors as moderators of the association between exposure to ELS and internalizing and externalizing symptoms. We found that the relation between ELS and externalizing symptoms was moderated by both negative caregiving and autonomic reactivity, such that the relation between ELS and externalizing was positive at low levels of negative caregiving and at high levels of autonomic reactivity; interactions predicting internalizing symptoms were not statistically significant. These findings highlight the importance of considering physiological and environmental variables that might contribute to susceptibility or resilience to symptoms of psychopathology following exposure to ELS.

  View details for DOI 10.1002/dev.22327

  View details for PubMedID 36282754

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC9608333

• A Social Gradient of Cortical Thickness in Adolescence: Relationships With Neighborhood Socioeconomic Disadvantage, Family Socioeconomic Status, and Depressive Symptoms. Biological psychiatry global open science Miller, J. G., Lopez, V., Buthmann, J. L., Garcia, J. M., Gotlib, I. H. 2022; 2 (3): 253-262

  Abstract

  BACKGROUND: Mental and physical health are affected by family and neighborhood socioeconomic status (SES). Accelerated maturation in the context of lower SES is one mechanism that might contribute to underlying health disparities; few studies, however, have considered neighborhood SES in relation to putative markers of brain maturation in adolescents.METHODS: In 120 adolescents 13 to 18 years of age, we examined family and neighborhood SES in relation to cortical thickness adjusted for age. We also examined whether cortical thickness was related to depressive symptoms and explored regions of interest.RESULTS: Controlling for age, neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage was associated with a thinner cortex in the left hemisphere (standardized beta = -0.20), which was related to more severe depressive symptoms (standardized beta = -0.33). Family SES was not significantly associated with age-adjusted mean cortical thickness in either hemisphere after controlling for relevant covariates. In exploratory, covariate-adjusted analyses of cortical thickness at the regional level, neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage was associated with reduced cortical thickness in the left superior frontal gyrus (standardized beta = -0.27), fusiform gyrus (standardized beta = -0.20), and insula (standardized beta = -0.21), whereas family SES was positively associated with cortical thickness in the right lateral and right medial orbitofrontal cortex (standardized beta = 0.21 and standardized beta = 0.19, respectively) and left transverse temporal gyrus (standardized beta = 0.22).CONCLUSIONS: Our findings provide evidence for a social gradient of cortical thickness during adolescence. Adolescents living in less advantaged community or family contexts appear to have a thinner cortex according to global and regional measures. Reduced cortical thickness in the left hemisphere may indicate increased risk for depression in adolescence.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.bpsgos.2022.03.005

  View details for PubMedID 36032055

• Hippocampal volume indexes neurobiological sensitivity to the effect of pollution burden on telomere length in adolescents. New directions for child and adolescent development Miller, J. G., Buthmann, J. L., Gotlib, I. H. 2022

  Abstract

  Exposure to environmental pollutants has been associated with cellular aging in children and adolescents. Individuals may vary, however, in their sensitivity or vulnerability to the effects of environmental pollutants. Larger hippocampal volume has emerged as a potential index of increased sensitivity to social contexts. In exploratory analyses (N=214), we extend work in this area by providing evidence that larger hippocampal volume in early adolescence reflects increased sensitivity to the effect of neighborhood pollution burden on telomere length (standardized beta =-0.40, 95% CI[-0.65, -0.15]). In contrast, smaller hippocampal volume appears to buffer this association (standardized beta =0.02). In youth with larger hippocampal volume, pollution burden was indirectly associated with shorter telomere length approximately 2 years later through shorter telomere length at baseline (indirect standardized beta =-0.25, 95% CI[-0.40, 0.10]). For these youth, living in high or low pollution-burdened neighborhoods may predispose them to develop shorter or longer telomeres, respectively, later in adolescence.

  View details for DOI 10.1002/cad.20471

  View details for PubMedID 35738556

• Coping During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Maternal Mental Health and Infant Temperament Buthmann, J., Coury, S., Gotlib, I. ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC. 2022: S196-S197

  View details for Web of Science ID 000789022200480

• Dimensions of Early Adversity and the Development of Functional Brain Network Connectivity During Adolescence: Implications for Trajectories of Internalizing Symptoms Chahal, R., Miller, J. G., Yuan, J. P., Buthmann, J. L., Ho, T. C., Gotlib, I. H. ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC. 2022: S48

  View details for Web of Science ID 000789022200122

• Prenatal COVID-19 Related Stress, Maternal Emotion Regulation and Infant Temperament: Assessing the Developmental Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic Costello, L., Buthmann, J. L., Gotlib, I. ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC. 2022: S253

  View details for Web of Science ID 000789022200620

• An exploration of dimensions of early adversity and the development of functional brain network connectivity during adolescence: Implications for trajectories of internalizing symptoms. Development and psychopathology Chahal, R., Miller, J. G., Yuan, J. P., Buthmann, J. L., Gotlib, I. H. 1800: 1-15

  Abstract

  Different dimensions of adversity may affect mental health through distinct neurobiological mechanisms, though current supporting evidence consists largely of cross-sectional associations between threat or deprivation and fronto-limbic circuitry. In this exploratory three-wave longitudinal study spanning ages 9-19 years, we examined the associations between experiences of unpredictability, threat, and deprivation with the development of functional connectivity within and between three brain networks implicated in psychopathology: the salience (SAL), default mode (DMN), and fronto-parietal (FPN) networks, and tested whether network trajectories moderated associations between adversity and changes in internalizing symptoms. Connectivity decreased with age on average; these changes differed by dimension of adversity. Whereas family-level deprivation was associated with lower initial levels and more stability across most networks, unpredictability was associated with stability only in SAL connectivity, and threat was associated with stability in FPN and DMN-SAL connectivity. In youth exposed to higher levels of any adversity, lower initial levels and more stability in connectivity were related to smaller increases in internalizing symptoms. Our findings suggest that whereas deprivation is associated with widespread neurodevelopmental differences in cognitive and emotion processing networks, unpredictability is related selectively to salience detection circuitry. Studies with wider developmental windows should examine whether these neurodevelopmental alterations are adaptive or serve to maintain internalizing symptoms.

  View details for DOI 10.1017/S0954579421001814

  View details for PubMedID 35094729

• Prenatal Exposure to a Climate-Related Disaster Results in Changes of the Placental Transcriptome and Infant Temperament. Frontiers in genetics Buthmann, J., Huang, D., Casaccia, P., O'Neill, S., Nomura, Y., Liu, J. 2022; 13: 887619

  Abstract

  Maternal stress during pregnancy exerts long-term effects on the mental well-being of the offspring. However, the long-term effect of prenatal exposure on the offspring's mental status is only partially understood. The placenta plays a vital role in connecting the maternal side to the fetus, thereby serving as an important interface between maternal exposure and fetal development. Here, we profiled the placental transcriptome of women who were pregnant during a hurricane (Superstorm Sandy), which struck New York City in 2012. The offspring were followed longitudinally and their temperament was assessed during the first 6-12months of age. The data identified a significant correlation between a Superstorm Sandy stress factor score and infant temperament. Further, analysis of the placental transcriptomes identified an enrichment of functional pathways related to inflammation, extracellular matrix integrity and sensory perception in the specimen from those infants with "Slow-to-Warm-up" temperament during the first year of life. Together, these findings provide initial evidence that maternal exposure to climate-related disasters results in altered placental transcriptome, which may be related to long-term emotional and behavioral consequences in children.

  View details for DOI 10.3389/fgene.2022.887619

  View details for PubMedID 35571026

• Maternal stress and its consequences - biological strain. American journal of perinatology Stevenson, D. K., Gotlib, I. H., Buthmann, J. L., Maric, I., Aghaeepour, N., Gaudilliere, B., Angst, M. S., Darmstadt, G. L., Druzin, M. L., Wong, R. J., Shaw, G. M., Katz, M. 2022

  Abstract

  Understanding the role of stress in pregnancy and its consequences is important, particularly given documented associations between maternal stress and preterm birth and other pathologic outcomes. Physical and psychological stressors can elicit the same biological responses, known as biological strain. Chronic stressors, like poverty and racism (race-based discriminatory treatment), may create a legacy or trajectory of biological strain that no amount of coping can relieve in the absence of larger-scale socio-behavioral or societal changes. An integrative approach that takes into consideration simultaneously social and biological determinants of stress may provide the best insights into risk for preterm birth. The most successful computational approaches and the most predictive machine-learning models are likely to be those that combine information about the stressors and the biological strain (for example, as measured by different omics) experienced during pregnancy.

  View details for DOI 10.1055/a-1798-1602

  View details for PubMedID 35292943

• Placental Gene Expression and Offspring Temperament Trajectories: Predicting Negative Affect in Early Childhood JOURNAL OF ABNORMAL CHILD PSYCHOLOGY Finik, J., Buthmann, J., Zhang, W., Go, K., Nomura, Y. 2020; 48 (6): 783-795

  Abstract

  Exposure to prenatal stress increases offspring risk for long-term neurobehavioral impairments and psychopathology, such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Epigenetic regulation of glucocorticoid pathway genes may be a potential underlying mechanism by which maternal conditions 'program' the fetal brain for downstream vulnerabilities. The present study aims to investigate whether mRNA expression of glucocorticoid pathway genes in the placenta predict offspring negative affect during early childhood (between 6 and 24 months). Participants include 318 mother-child dyads participating in a longitudinal birth cohort study. Placental mRNA expression of glucocorticoid pathway genes (HSD11B1, HSD11B2, NR3C1, NCOR2) were profiled and negative affect traits of the offspring were measured at 6, 12, 18, and 24 months. HSD11B1 mRNA expression significantly predicted negative affect (β = -.09, SE = .04; p = .036), and Distress to Limitations trajectories (β = -.13, SE = .06; p = .016). NCOR2 mRNA expression significantly predicted Distress to Limitations (β = .43, SE = .21; p = .047), and marginally predicted Sadness trajectories (β = .39, SE = .21; p = .068). HSD11B2 and NR3C1 did not predict trajectories of Negative Affect or subscale scores. Infant negative affect traits were assessed via maternal self-report, and deviated from linearity across follow-up. mRNA expression of glucocorticoid pathway genes in the placenta may be a potentially novel tool for early identification of infants at greater risk for elevated negative affect. Further study is needed to validate the utility of mRNA expression of glucocorticoid pathway genes in the placenta.

  View details for DOI 10.1007/s10802-020-00632-9

  View details for Web of Science ID 000520660800001

  View details for PubMedID 32185610

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC7242121

• The children of Superstorm Sandy: Maternal prenatal depression blunts offspring electrodermal activity BIOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY Buthmann, J., Finik, J., Ventura, G., Zhang, W., Shereen, A. D., Nomura, Y. 2019; 146: 107716

  Abstract

  We set out to examine the relations between prenatal exposure to the natural disaster Superstorm Sandy, maternal depression, and offspring electrodermal activity (EDA). EDA was measured via skin conductance response (SCR) magnitude in 198 children (M = 42.54 months, SD = 12.76) during a startle paradigm. In keeping with prior research, we expected prenatal depression to be associated with hyporeactive EDA and prenatal stress to be associated with hyperreactive EDA. SCR magnitude was lower in children prenatally exposed to depression alone, when compared to Superstorm Sandy, and controls. SCR magnitude of children prenatally exposed to both maternal depression and the storm was lower than that of all other groups. Our results emphasize the influence of maternal prenatal mental health, support targeted risk assessment for children who experienced an adverse prenatal environment, and highlight the need for a deeper understanding of the interactions between maternal mood and stress on the developing child.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2019.107716

  View details for Web of Science ID 000485784700010

  View details for PubMedID 31176750

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC6718305

• Influence of in utero exposure to maternal depression and natural disaster-related stress on infant temperament at 6 months: The children of Superstorm Sandy INFANT MENTAL HEALTH JOURNAL Nomura, Y., Davey, K., Pehme, P. M., Finik, J., Glover, V., Zhang, W., Huang, Y., Buthmann, J., Dana, K., Yoshida, S., Tsuchiya, K. J., Li, X., Ham, J. 2019; 40 (2): 204-216

  Abstract

  This study examined the effects of in utero exposure to maternal depression and Superstorm Sandy, a hurricane that hit metropolitan New York in 2012, on infant temperament at 6 months. Temperament was assessed using the Infant Behavior Questionnaire-Revised. Maternal depression was measured by the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale. The main effects and the interaction of maternal depression and Sandy exposure on infant temperament were examined using a multivariable generalized linear model. Results show that prenatal maternal depression was associated with lower emotion regulation and greater distress. Stratification and interaction analyses suggested that the adverse effects of prenatal maternal depression on problematic temperament were amplified by in utero Sandy exposure. This study underscores the importance of providing prenatal screening and treatment for maternal depression during pregnancy while also identifying high-risk families who may have suffered from disaster-related traumas to provide necessary services. As the frequency of natural disasters may increase due to climate change, it is important to understand the consequences of in utero stress on child development and to formulate plans for early identification.

  View details for DOI 10.1002/imhj.21766

  View details for Web of Science ID 000461054900003

  View details for PubMedID 30723931

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC6491203

• Infant Temperament: Repercussions of Superstorm Sandy-Related Maternal Stress CHILD PSYCHIATRY & HUMAN DEVELOPMENT Buthmann, J., Ham, J., Davey, K., Finik, J., Dana, K., Pehme, P., Zhang, W., Glover, V., Nomura, Y. 2019; 50 (1): 150-162

  Abstract

  This study recruited a prospective cohort of 380 pregnant women before, during, or after Superstorm Sandy in 2012 to examine the association between disaster-related pre- and post-natal maternal stress and offspring temperament at 6 months-old. Mothers prospectively reported stressful experiences during the storm and rated their child's temperament 6 months postpartum. Results indicated that length of time without phone or electricity and financial loss was associated with offspring negative affect, whereas financial loss and threat of death or injury was associated with emotion dysregulation. Furthermore, offspring born before the storm had greater negative affect and lower emotion regulation than those born after the storm. Given the probable increase in the occurrence of natural disasters due to climate change in recent years (McCarthy, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Climate change 2001: impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability: contribution of Working Group II to the third assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2001), our results highlight the necessity of education and planning to help ameliorate any potential consequences on the developing infant.

  View details for DOI 10.1007/s10578-018-0828-2

  View details for Web of Science ID 000458372000014

  View details for PubMedID 30030653

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC6339835

• Sex differences in the relations between infant temperament and electrodermal responses in early childhood INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BEHAVIORAL DEVELOPMENT Buthmann, J., Finik, J., Nomura, Y. 2018; 42 (6): 535-542

  Abstract

  The present study examines the relationship between sex, infant temperament, and childhood psychophysiological reactivity via electrodermal activity (EDA). Both temperament and EDA are known to be relatively stable traits across the lifespan reflecting individual reactivity and regulation linked to suboptimal behavioral development and risk for psychopathology. However, little is known about the role of sex in the relationship between temperament and EDA. As a part of a larger longitudinal study of behavioral development, 125 participants were followed from birth till 3 years-old to examine the relationship between temperament and psychophysiological reactivity in different gender groups. Measurements of temperament at 6 months-old, and EDA, via skin conductance response (SCR) rate to a series of six startling auditory stimuli at 3 years-old were collected. Median splits of SCR scores and three temperament dimensions (positive affect, negative affect, and regulation) were created to designate high/low groups. Results indicate sex moderated the relationships between temperament traits and SCR rates. Specifically, low positive affect was associated with an increased risk for high psychophysiological reactivity in boys (odds ratio = 3.8), whereas high regulation was associated with an increased risk for greater reactivity in girls (odds ratio = 4.2). While preliminary, these findings suggest the importance of sex in relation to psychophysiological and temperamental reactivity, risk factors for developmental psychopathology. As our participants age, follow-up research to investigate the stability of these associations will provide valuable insights for the potential of EDA as a psychophysiological marker for developmental psychopathology risk in young children.

  View details for DOI 10.1177/0165025418757705

  View details for Web of Science ID 000452308400002

  View details for PubMedID 31105363

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC6516783

• Prenatal exposure to disaster-related traumatic stress and developmental trajectories of temperament in early childhood: Superstorm Sandy pregnancy study JOURNAL OF AFFECTIVE DISORDERS Zhang, W., Rajendran, K., Ham, J., Finik, J., Buthmann, J., Davey, K., Pehme, P. M., Dana, K., Pritchett, A., Laws, H., Nomura, Y. 2018; 234: 335-345

  Abstract

  Little is known about the impact of prenatal maternal stress (PNMS) on the developmental trajectory of temperament and few studies have been able to incorporate a natural disaster as a quasi-experimental stressor. The current study investigated PNMS related to Superstorm Sandy ('Sandy'), a hurricane that struck the New York metropolitan area in October 2012, in terms of objective exposure during pregnancy, subjective stress reaction as assessed by maternal symptoms of post-traumatic stress, and their impact on the developmental changes in temperament during early childhood.A subsample of 318 mother-child dyads was drawn from the Stress in Pregnancy Study. Temperament was measured at 6, 12, 18, and 24 months of age.Objective exposure was associated with greater High-Intensity Pleasure, Approach, Perceptual Sensitivity and Fearfulness, but lower Cuddliness and Duration of Orientation at 6 months. Objective exposure and its interaction with subjective stress reaction predicted developmental changes in temperament. In particular, objective exposure was linked to greater increases in Activity Level but decreases in High-Intensity Pleasure, Approach, and Fearfulness. The combination of objective exposure and subjective stress reaction was also associated with greater increases in Activity Level.Temperament was measured solely via maternal report. Trimester-specific effects of Sandy on temperament were not examined.This is the first study to examine the effects of prenatal maternal exposure to a natural disaster on trajectories of early childhood temperament. Findings suggest that both objective stress exposure and subjective stress reaction in-utero predict developmental trajectories of temperament in early childhood.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jad.2018.02.067

  View details for Web of Science ID 000429308000049

  View details for PubMedID 29614461

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC5963732

• Placental MAOA expression mediates prenatal stress effects on temperament in 12-month-olds INFANT AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT Pehme, P. M., Zhang, W., Finik, J., Pritchett, A., Buthmann, J., Dana, K., Hao, K., Nomura, Y. 2018; 27 (4)

  Abstract

  The placenta adapts to maternal environment and its alterations may have a lasting impact on child's temperament development. Prenatal stress has been linked to both a downregulation of monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) gene expression in the placenta and to difficult temperament. Capitalizing on an ongoing longitudinal study, we analysed data from 95 mother-child dyads to investigate whether MAOA mediates the association between prenatal stress and infant temperament. Prenatal stress was defined as exposure to Superstorm Sandy (Sandy) during pregnancy. Infant temperament was measured by Infant Behaviour Questionnaire-Revised. MAOA gene expression was quantified in placenta tissue. The Smiling and Laughter subscale score was independently associated with Sandy exposure and MAOA placental gene expression. Mediation analysis confirmed that MAOA expression partially mediated the relationship between Sandy and Smiling and Laughter subscale, suggesting that in utero exposure to Sandy could induce lower frequency of smiling and laughter via downregulation of placental MAOA gene expression. These effects could compromise optimal temperamental trajectory and contribute to risk for psychological problems. Placental epigenetic markers can contribute to a multidimensional model of early intervention for high-risk children.

  View details for DOI 10.1002/icd.2094

  View details for Web of Science ID 000440923300011

  View details for PubMedID 30505241

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC6261505

• Timing of prenatal exposure to trauma and altered placental expressions of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis genes and genes driving neurodevelopment JOURNAL OF NEUROENDOCRINOLOGY Zhang, W., Li, Q., Deyssenroth, M., Lambertini, L., Finik, J., Ham, J., Huang, Y., Tsuchiya, K. J., Pehme, P., Buthmann, J., Yoshida, S., Chen, J., Nomura, Y. 2018; 30 (4): e12581

  Abstract

  Prenatal maternal stress increases the risk for negative developmental outcomes in offspring; however, the underlying biological mechanisms remain largely unexplored. In the present study, alterations in placental gene expression associated with maternal stress were examined to clarify the potential underlying epi/genetic mechanisms. Expression levels of 40 selected genes involved in regulating foetal hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and neurodevelopment were profiled in placental tissues collected from a birth cohort established around the time of Superstorm Sandy. Objective prenatal traumatic stress was defined as whether mothers were exposed to Superstorm Sandy during pregnancy. Among the 275 mother-infant dyads, 181 dyads were delivered before Superstorm Sandy (ie, Control), 66 dyads were exposed to Superstorm Sandy during the first trimester (ie, Early Exposure) and 28 were exposed to Superstorm Sandy during the second or third trimester (ie, Mid-Late Exposure). Across all trimesters, expression of HSD11B2, MAOA, ZNF507 and DYRK1A was down-regulated among those exposed to Superstorm Sandy during pregnancy. Furthermore, trimester-specific differences were also observed: exposure during early gestation was associated with down-regulation of HSD11B1 and MAOB and up-regulation of CRHBP; exposure during mid-late gestation was associated with up-regulation of SRD5A3. The findings of the present study suggest that placental gene expression may be altered in response to traumatic stress exposure during pregnancy, and the susceptibility of these genes is dependent on the time of the exposure during pregnancy. Further studies should aim to clarify the biological mechanisms that underlie trimester-specific exposure by evaluating the differential impact on offspring neurodevelopment later in childhood.

  View details for DOI 10.1111/jne.12581

  View details for Web of Science ID 000430917800003

  View details for PubMedID 29423924

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC5939590

• Neurodevelopmental consequences in offspring of mothers with preeclampsia during pregnancy: underlying biological mechanism via imprinting genes ARCHIVES OF GYNECOLOGY AND OBSTETRICS Nomura, Y., John, R. M., Janssen, A., Davey, C., Finik, J., Buthmann, J., Glover, V., Lambertini, L. 2017; 295 (6): 1319-1329

  Abstract

  Preeclampsia is known to be a leading cause of mortality and morbidity among mothers and their infants. Approximately 3-8% of all pregnancies in the US are complicated by preeclampsia and another 5-7% by hypertensive symptoms. However, less is known about its long-term influence on infant neurobehavioral development. The current review attempts to demonstrate new evidence for imprinting gene dysregulation caused by hypertension, which may explain the link between maternal preeclampsia and neurocognitive dysregulation in offspring.Pub Med and Web of Science databases were searched using the terms "preeclampsia," "gestational hypertension," "imprinting genes," "imprinting dysregulation," and "epigenetic modification," in order to review the evidence demonstrating associations between preeclampsia and suboptimal child neurodevelopment, and suggest dysregulation of placental genomic imprinting as a potential underlying mechanism.The high mortality and morbidity among mothers and fetuses due to preeclampsia is well known, but there is little research on the long-term biological consequences of preeclampsia and resulting hypoxia on the fetal/child neurodevelopment. In the past decade, accumulating evidence from studies that transcend disciplinary boundaries have begun to show that imprinted genes expressed in the placenta might hold clues for a link between preeclampsia and impaired cognitive neurodevelopment. A sudden onset of maternal hypertension detected by the placenta may result in misguided biological programming of the fetus via changes in the epigenome, resulting in suboptimal infant development.Furthering our understanding of the molecular and cellular mechanisms through which neurodevelopmental trajectories of the fetus/infant are affected by preeclampsia and hypertension will represent an important first step toward preventing adverse neurodevelopment in infants.

  View details for DOI 10.1007/s00404-017-4347-3

  View details for Web of Science ID 000401337700004

  View details for PubMedID 28382413

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC6058691