Logo image
Maternal History of Childhood Maltreatment and Brain Responses to Infant Cues Across the Postpartum Period
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Maternal History of Childhood Maltreatment and Brain Responses to Infant Cues Across the Postpartum Period

Margaret H. Bublitz, James Swain, Shoshanna Lustig, Christine Barthelemy, Lena DeYoung and Daniel Dickstein
Child maltreatment, v 29(1), pp 3-7
01 Feb 2024
PMID: 36154501
url
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10165352View

Abstract

adverse childhood experiences childhood maltreatment Infants
Adults with histories of childhood maltreatment (CM) are more likely to display problematic parenting behaviors. The goal of this study was to examine changes in maternal brain activation to negative infant cues over the early postpartum period among new mothers with and without histories of CM, as this is a period of immense neuroplasticity in the maternal brain. CM was measured using the Adverse Childhood Experiences Scale. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) conducted at approximately 5 and 13 weeks postpartum measured brain responses to own and unfamiliar infant cues in primiparous women. Women with histories of CM displayed increasing activation in the anterior cingulate cortex, and greater increases in anterior cingulate cortex activation was associated with maternal reports of less regulatory capacity in their infants. Preliminary results suggest that new mothers with CM histories display greater brain responses to negative infant cues compared to new mothers without CM histories. Women with CM histories may benefit from additional supports during the transition to parenthood.

Metrics

1 Record Views
3 citations in Scopus

Details

UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This publication has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

#3 Good Health and Well-Being
#5 Gender Equality

Source: SDGs in the Output

InCites Highlights

Data related to this publication, from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool:

Collaboration types
Domestic collaboration
Web of Science research areas
Family Studies
Social Work
Logo image