Tag: Jennifer Ablow

Oxytocin: A Pathway for the Intergenerational Impacts of Early Trauma

Presenter: Giovanni Ricci – Psychology

Faculty Mentor(s): Jennifer Ablow

Session: (In-Person) Poster Presentation

Oxytocin (OT) is a peptide hormone and neuropeptide that is produced by the hypothalamus and released by the pituitary gland. Research has shown OT is involved in regulating social behaviors such as pair bonding as well as facilitating maternal-child attachment. Research has also shown early childhood trauma may impair OT production later in life through negative feedback mechanisms. However, the relationship between OT and trauma has rarely been examined using both the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) questionnaire and salivary OT measures. The aim of this study is to explore the association between salivary OT, ACE scores, and maternal-child bonding and attachment using a novel salivary OT measure. We hope to solidify previous findings and argue OT acts as an important factor in the transmission of intergenerational trauma. The study will include a sample of new mothers of infants who participated in a prenatal study. Maternal salivary OT and the MPAS and PBQ questionnaires will be collected at the outset of a postnatal visit, and ACE scores were collected as part of the prenatal study. Based on preliminary results, we expect maternal baseline OT will be positively associated with healthy maternal-child bonding and attachment, and negatively associated with ACE scores. Should results be as expected, implications for understanding the role early adversity plays in reduced OT production as a potential pathway for the intergenerational impacts of trauma are discussed.

Like mother, like child: Intergenerational transmission of maternal emotion regulation to infants

Presenter(s): Annaliese Elliot — Psychology

Faculty Mentor(s): Jennifer Ablow, Jeffrey Measelle

Session: (In-Person) Poster Presentation

Emotion dysregulation is a demonstrated precursor to future psychopathology. Infancy is a critical time to develop self regulatory skills in the context of a relationship with primary caregivers. How well a caregiver can aid infant regulation development varies, often depending on the caregiver’s own emotion regulation abilities. This study aims to build upon previous research by examining the predictive association between reported maternal emotional dysregulation, using the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS), and observations of infant self regulation at six months. Temperament, measured with the Infant Behavioral Questionnaire (IBQ-R), will be controlled to capture the independent contributions of maternal dysregulation to infant’s early indices of emotion regulation capacities. Infants’ self regulation and negative affect will be measured with micro- analytic behavioral coding during the Still Face Paradigm (SFP), which examines patterns between a caregiver and their infant. It is hypothesized that greater emotion dysregulation in mothers will predict negative affect and ineffective regulation in infants during the SFP, above the effect of temperament. Understanding how a pregnant woman’s dysregulation relates to her infant’s developing regulatory strategies may provide insight into specific mechanisms through which risk for emotion dysregulation is transmitted across generations.

More Than Just Words: EMOTAIX-Tropes Examines Linguistic Predictors of Mental Health

Presenter: Jackie Cowell

Mentor: Jennifer Ablow

Poster: 6

Major: Psychology 

Given the fundamental role that language plays in our lives, it is apparent that the words people use reveal information the ways in which they experience and interact with those around them. Examining the language use of at-risk first- time mothers is especially pertinent as risk factors such as maternal depression and anxiety lead to adverse child outcomes including delayed emotional development, behavioral problems and lower IQ (Bergman et at., 2007). To broaden the understanding of how language is used in emotion processing with regards to mental health outcomes, we used EMOTAIX-Tropes, a text-analysis software program aimed at assessing the emotional lexicon, to examine 65 first-time mothers’ use of emotion language such as words denoting worry, happiness, or anger. The women were interviewed using the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) and were recorded and transcribed verbatim, then analyzed via EMOTAIX-Tropes, which divides and classifies emotion terms into semantic categories according to valence (positive or negative). Additionally, participants filled out questionnaires to assess levels of depression (CESD) (Radloff, 1977), anxiety (BAI) (Beck, Brown, Epstein & Steer, 1998), trauma history (TSC) (Elliot & Briere, 1992), alexithymia (TAS) (Bagby, Parker & Taylor, 1994), and intelligence (Shipley, 1940). We hypothesized that participants’ emotional language would correlate with self-reported measures of distress, such that those with greater symptomatology will use more negative affect terms. Preliminary Results show that depression is positively correlated with the use of negative emotion words. Further analyses will look at the correlation between emotion language and other mental health factors.

Relationship between Early Life Adversity and Inflammation

Presenter: Jason David

Mentors: Jeffrey Measelle and Jennifer Ablow, Psychology

Oral Presentation

Major: Psychology

Early life adversity is associated with adult elevations of inflammatory markers like circulating levels of C-reactive protein (CRP). Few studies have examined whether exposure to adversity prenatally is associated with inflammation during childhood. Exposure to adversity before birth may engender disease vulnerability via alterations in inflammatory biomarkers (i.e. fetal programming of disease hypothesis). This study examines the association between exposure to prenatal vs. postnatal adversity and CRP concentrations when infants were 18 months old. We followed 105 low-SES (socio-economic stress) infant-mother dyads across the perinatal transition. Our measures of psychosocial and contextual measured prenatally and at 5- and 18-months postnatally. When infants were 18 months old, resting state saliva samples were collected to assess CRP (mg/L) levels via enzyme immunoassay. Hierarchical regression analyses reveals a composite measure of prenatal maternal adversity, that uniquely predicts variability in infants’ log transformed CRP levels, B = 1.15 (SE = .05), p < .05. Maternal adversity at 5 months is not predictive of infant CRP, but maternal adversity at 18 months is marginally associated. These results raise questions about timing of exposure to adverse events as well as the potentially lasting effects on inflammatory processes when such exposure occurs very early in development.

Dissociative Experiences Associated with Parasympathetic Nervous System Activation of Expectant Mothers During Trauma Recollection

Presenter(s): Cassandra Dukes − Psychology

Faculty Mentor(s): Jennifer Ablow, Jeffrey Measelle

Poster 108

Research Area: Clinical Psychology

Trauma, defined by the DMS-5 as “exposure to actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence” can be associated with levels of dissociation when triggered by recollection (Shauer & Elbert, 2010). The Polyvagal Theory, developed by Stephen Porges (1995), suggests that dissociation, a form of immobilization, is a defense used as a coping mechanism to confront an inescapable fear or danger. In keeping with this, research has shown through investigating heart rate that dissociation activates the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) (Koopman et al., 2004). Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) is an important measurement of the PNS that relates to heart rate variation and respiration (Sack, Hopper, & Lamprecht, 2004). Although research has shown associations between heart rate and dissociation during stressful or triggering interviews, there is limited knowledge of dissociation correlating with RSA during personal trauma recall. This study recorded continuous RSA of eighty-two pregnant women discussing trauma during the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) then involved them filling out several questionnaires including the Brief Betrayal Trauma Survey (BBTS), Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), Trauma Symptoms Checklist (TSC), and Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES-II). After data was recorded, it was analyzed using a paired-sample t-test and regressions. It is predicted that as scores on the DES-II increase, RSA will increase during trauma recollection. If the results are consistent with these hypotheses, it will further support the idea of dissociation as a form of coping mechanism and a way to counteract the autonomic nervous system dysfunction normally caused by experiencing trauma. In doing so, researchers can better understand how dissociation helps individuals regulate stress and emotions during stressful situations and why this might be a common symptom of PTSD.

The Origins of Empathy During Infancy: Links to Theory of Mind and Prosocial Behavior at Age 5

Presenter(s): Courtne Daum − Psychology

Faculty Mentor(s): Jennifer Ablow, Jeffrey Measelle

Poster 100

Research Area: Psychology

Researchers examining the developmental origins of empathy report that infants as young as 17 months show early indices of empathic behavior in the form of concern for others, positive affect, and emotional distress (Zahn-Waxler, & Robinson, 2005). In turn, a vast amount of research demonstrates the long-term outcomes of empathic children, such as prosocial development, high self-esteem, few externalizing problems and a positive disposition (Eisenberg, Fabes & Spinard, 2015). In addition, early empathic tendencies predict earlier onset of Theory of Mind, which is the ability to attribute beliefs and desires to self and others (Laranjo et al., 2010). Evidence suggests that ToM develops within the context of the parenting relationship during infancy (Laranjo et al., 2010), through parenting mechanisms such as Maternal Mind-mindedness, which is the ability to treat children as their own entities’ with minds through appropriate mind related language. Though there is vast literature on the outcomes of early indices of empathy expressed in infancy, there is little research on the development of empathy prior to 17 months. Given links between Maternal Mind-mindedness in infancy and early onset of ToM, and links between early indices of empathy and ToM, this study examines Maternal Mind Mindedness at 5 months predicting indices of infant empathy at 17 months, which in turn predicts ToM, empathy, and prosocial behaviors at 5 years.

The Role of Infant Attachment and Self-Efficacy in Predicting Later Academic and Social Competence

Presenter(s): Ellyn Kennelly

Faculty Mentor(s): Jennifer Ablow & Jeff Measelle

Poster 142

Session: Social Sciences & Humanities

Child self-efficacy has been shown to predict better social and academic problem solving skills, both of which are foundational to school success. Additionally, attachment security has been linked to school achievement via its effect on socioemotional adjustment. Presently, few studies have addressed the interaction of self-efficacy and attachment early in life to determine whether they have a joint role in shaping readiness for school. We hypothesize that self-efficacy during infancy will predict school readiness outcomes at age 5. However, we also anticipate that this association will be moderated by infant attachment security. In particular, we expect that infants with disorganized attachment histories will fail to develop the self-efficacy capacities needed to begin school on an adaptive trajectory. Our high-risk sample comprises 74 low SES mother-infant dyads who were followed longitudinally from pregnancy through 60 months postnatally. When infants were 17-months-old they completed the Strange Situation Procedure as well as a task designed to probe early self-efficacy, which together we used to predict mother’s reports of their child’s social and academic competence at age 5, before entry to kindergarten. Our findings provide insight into the manner and degree to which attachment and self-efficacy interact to predict important real-world outcomes, such as social and academic competence at school entry.