Threat versus deprivation in mother's childhood: Differential relations to hair cortisol and psychopathology in pregnancy

Abstract

BackgroundThe negative effects of childhood maltreatment can be intergenerational, and the prenatal period may play an important role in this intergenerational transmission. Maternal hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis dysfunction and maternal psychopathology represent two mechanisms through which the effects of childhood maltreatment are hypothesized to be transmitted across generations. ObjectiveThis study first sought to extend prior research on pathways of intergenerational transmission by examining whether mothers' childhood experiences of abuse versus neglect differentially relate to maternal HPA activity and to maternal psychopathology during the prenatal period. Second, exploratory analyses examined the links between maternal variables and their State Protective Service involvement as a parent, as an indicator of maladaptive caregiving. MethodsDuring the third trimester of pregnancy, 51 women reported on experiences of childhood maltreatment, on State Protective Service involvement as an adult parent, and on current depressive and post-traumatic stress symptoms, and provided a hair sample for cortisol assay. ResultsRegression analyses indicated that greater severity of abuse, but not neglect, in childhood was associated with higher maternal depressive symptoms (β = 0.488, p = .020). In contrast, greater severity of neglect, but not abuse, in mothers' childhood was associated with lower maternal hair cortisol concentration (β = −0.437, p = .031). Lower maternal hair cortisol concentration, but not maternal psychopathology or severity of childhood abuse or neglect, in turn, was associated with State Protective Service involvement (β = −0.785, p < .001). ConclusionsFindings extend prior work by suggesting that childhood abuse and neglect may have different sequelae for mothers during pregnancy and that these sequelae may have different relations to parenting.