Collaborative Research: Developmental origins of emotional and epigenetic resilience among children

This project aims to understand disparities in emotional resilience and mental health among mothers and their children who face a high burden of psychological, social, and cultural stress. The research employs biocultural and developmental frameworks to advance fundamental knowledge about how various stress and resilience factors in mothers can shape the stress biology profile of their children, through study of hormonal and molecular changes measured in children’s saliva. The results of the project can contribute to efforts to improve prevention and interventions to reduce disparities in psychological well-being. The project broadens participation of under-represented groups in STEM through mentoring and training of graduate and undergraduate students and community members. Results are shared in both academic and community outlets, supporting public science education and engagement. This study explores various biological pathways through which maternal sociocultural and emotional protective factors and stressors can alter the developing stress biology of a child. The project leverages existing data from a previously NSF-funded birth cohort of children to examine stress and resilience factors in relation to cortisol reactivity to stress tasks and changes in DNA methylation at stress-related genes at two points in childhood (6 months and 3-5 years). Results address the relative importance of early prenatal versus later postnatal exposures, the earliest timing at which stress biology may first be altered in humans, and whether altered stress reactivity signifies a trade-off that ultimately places children at higher risk for emotional or behavioral problems or impaired cognition. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.