This Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award (K23) will support the candidate to de- velop skills to launch an independent research career as a translational clinical researcher focused on parent- child interventions to address intergenerational transmission of mental illness in contexts of adversity. The physical and intellectual research environments at Tulane University are supportive of professional develop- ment in the areas of intergenerational stress and adversity, mechanistic measurement, and clinical research. Training goals include: 1) Develop clinical trials research design skills; 2) Integrate mechanistic approaches into clinical trials research with high-risk families; and 3) Develop basic competencies in deployment-focused interventions. Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are significant risk factors for psychopathology across the lifespan ? risks that extend to the next generation, likely transmitted through both biological and behavioral pathways. Biobehavioral self-regulation and parenting are key candidates for transmission and potential points of intervention. However, nearly all intervention research takes a one-generation approach, measuring out- comes in the individual adult or child in treatment. Additionally, very little research has examined biomarkers of self-regulation in parents or children following treatment, and no known research has examined these pro- cesses in parents and young children simultaneously across treatment to explore bidirectional effects. There is a critical need to specify targets of two-generation interventions among high-adversity families to decrease in- tergenerational transmission of mental illness. The objective for this K23 application is to determine whether Mom Power, an evidence-based two generation intervention for mothers with histories of trauma, enhances physiological and behavioral self-regulation in mothers and young children, testing mechanisms and examining bidirectional effects. The central hypothesis is that the intervention will shift behavioral and physiological (Res- piratory Sinus Arrhythmia) self-regulation in mothers, children, and dyads to mitigate psychopathology risk.
Three specific aims are proposed: 1) I will examine intervention effects on children's biobehavioral self-regula- tion and psychopathology; 2) I will examine intervention effects on mothers' biobehavioral self-regulation, psy- chopathology, and parenting behavior; and 3) I will examine intergenerational change processes, including shifts in dyadic physiological and behavioral synchrony as well as bidirectional influences between mother and child self-regulation. Consistent with a Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) perspective, self-regulation will be assessed via self-report, behavior, and physiology in mothers and children. Findings will be used to support an R01 application. The proposed award is significant because it is expected to provide an evidence-based, tar- get-driven framework for the continued development and specification of parent-child interventions to prevent intergenerational transmission of mental illness among high-risk families, while at the same time enabling the candidate to achieve independence as a translational clinical researcher.
The proposed research is relevant to public health because it takes a mechanistic and experimental approach to understanding the intergenerational transmission of risk for mental illness among high-adversity families, seeking to identify targets and effects of intervention across two generations. Aligned with Strategic Objective 3 (strive for prevention and cures), this study employs a target-focused strategy probing the potential mechanism of deficits in self- regulation associated with stress-related mental health disorders in a high-risk population, examining effects in both high-risk mothers and their children. In line with NIMH's Strategic Objective 1 and a Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) multilevel, experimental therapeutics focus, the proposed research will evaluate self-regulation target engagement of the intervention in parents, children, and the dyad at multiple units of analysis, including physiology, behavior, and self-report.
