This pilot study will examine the adverse influence of prenatal and postnatal exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV: male violence toward their female partners) on one year old infants'emotional and physiological [i.e., hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and sympathetic nervous system (SNS)] regulation. We will measure the HPA axis and SNS functioning of both infants and mothers through salivary cortisol and alpha-amylase. We expect that experiences of IPV affect the mother's mental health status and also are associated with (1) dysregulation of the HPA axis and (2) dysregulation of SNS activity, which may then affect infant emotional, behavioral, and HPA and SNS outcomes. There are 3 specific aims. (1) Do maternal mental health (depression and PTSD) and maternal HPA and SNS indicators mediate the relationship between prenatal IPV exposure and one year olds'outcomes? (2) What are the effects of timing and duration of IPV exposure on infant functioning? Experiences of IPV may have occurred prenatally, postnatally, or at both times. (3) Does HPA and SNS functioning in response to a stress challenge predict resilience in infants exposed to IPV, through coordination of the infant's two stress response systems and/or through dyadic concordance of the mother and infant stress response systems? One hundred sixty women and their one-year old children will be assessed in a 4-group cohort design (those with and without IPV prenatally and postnatally). This pilot project is a cross-sectional study assessing maternal and child emotional, behavioral, and physiological factors postnatally, when the infant's are one- year-old. If our data reveal the expected relationships, a longitudinal study will be proposed to test the full model beginning with multiple assessments of maternal physiology and psychological functioning during pregnancy as well as multiple assessments of maternal and infant physiology and behavior during the first three years of life. This longitudinal study will allow us to examine the developmental trajectories of maternal and infant physiology and behavior, including response to stress, in the context of prenatal trauma.
The objective for this proposed pilot study is to examine the adverse influence of prenatal and postnatal exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV) on one-year-old infants'emotional, behavioral, and physiological regulation (HPA and SNS). One hundred sixty women and their children will be assessed in a 4-group cohort design (those with and without IPV prenatally and postnatally).
| Bernard, Nicola K; Kashy, Deborah A; Levendosky, Alytia A et al. (2017) Do different data analytic approaches generate discrepant findings when measuring mother-infant HPA axis attunement? Dev Psychobiol 59:174-184 |
| Martinez-Torteya, Cecilia; Bogat, G Anne; Lonstein, Joseph S et al. (2017) Exposure to intimate partner violence in utero and infant internalizing behaviors: Moderation by salivary cortisol-alpha amylase asymmetry. Early Hum Dev 113:40-48 |
| Levendosky, Alytia A; Bogat, G Anne; Lonstein, Joseph S et al. (2016) Infant adrenocortical reactivity and behavioral functioning: relation to early exposure to maternal intimate partner violence. Stress 19:37-44 |
