Browsing by Author "Campbell, Tavis, S."

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    Developmental origins of infant stress reactivity profiles: A multi-system approach
    (Wiley, 2016-03-08) Giesbrecht, Gerald; Rash, Joshua, A.; Thomas, Jenna, C.; Campbell, Tavis, S.; Letourneau, Nicole; Granger, Douglas, A.
    Background: This study tested the hypothesis that maternal physiological and psychological variables during pregnancy discriminate between theoretically informed infant stress reactivity profiles. Methods: The sample comprised 254 women and their infants. Maternal mood, salivary cortisol, respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), and salivary α-amylase (sAA) were assessed at 15 and 32 weeks gestational age. Infant salivary cortisol, RSA, and sAA reactivity were assessed in response to a structured laboratory frustration task at 6-months of age. Infant responses were used to classify them into stress reactivity profiles using three different classification schemes: HPA-axis, autonomic, and multi-system. Discriminant function analyses evaluated the prenatal variables that best discriminated infant reactivity profiles within each classification scheme. Results: Maternal stress biomarkers, along with self-reported psychological distress during pregnancy discriminated between infant stress reactivity profiles. Conclusions: These results suggest that maternal psychological and physiological states during pregnancy have broad effects on the development of the infant stress response systems.
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    The role of maternal cardiac vagal control in the association between depressive symptoms and gestational hypertension.
    (Elsevier, 2016-05) Giesbrecht, Gerald; Rouleau, Codie, R.; Tomfohr- Madsen, Lianne, M.; Campbell, Tavis, S.; Letourneau, Nicole; O'Beirne, Maeve
    Reduced cardiac vagal control, indexed by relatively lower high-frequency heart rate variability (HF-HRV), is implicated in depressed mood and hypertensive disorders among non-pregnant adults whereas research in pregnancy is limited. This study examined whether maternal HF-HRV during pregnancy mediates the association between depressed mood and gestational hypertension. Depressive symptoms (Edinburgh Depression Scale) and HF-HRV were measured during early (M = 14.9 weeks) and late (M = 32.4 weeks) pregnancy in 287 women. Gestational hypertension was determined by chart review. Depressive symptoms were associated with less HF-HRV (b = -0.02, p =.001). There was an indirect effect of depressed mood on gestational hypertension through late pregnancy HF-HRV (b = 0.04, 95% CI 0.0038, 0.1028) after accounting for heart rate. These findings suggest cardiac vagal control is a possible pathway through which prenatal depressed mood is associated with gestational hypertension, though causal ordering remains uncertain.
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    Sexually dimorphic and interactive effects of prenatal maternal cortisol and psychological distress on infant cortisol reactivity.
    (Cambridge University Press, 2016-07-18) Giesbrecht, Gerald; Letourneau, Nicole; Campbell, Tavis, S.
    In utero exposure to maternal psychological distress is a risk factor for developmental psychopathology and these effects are believed to occur, in part, via dysregulation of the maternal and fetal hypothalamic-adrenal-pituitary (HPA) axes. Nevertheless, only a few human studies have directly assessed the effects of prenatal cortisol exposure on infant cortisol reactivity and none have investigated sex differences or potential interactions between prenatal cortisol and psychological distress. Here we report on a prospective longitudinal investigation (N=236) of in utero exposure to maternal cortisol and distress in a relatively high SES and low risk population to determine whether these exposures interact in their effects on infant (M age=3.0 months; Range=2.3-5.0; 51.9% male) cortisol reactivity and whether there are sex differences in these effects. Results revealed both sexually dimorphic and interactive effects of prenatal cortisol and distress, even after controlling for postnatal distress. In general, blunted reactivity in females was associated with exposure to high maternal distress and flattened patterns of diurnal maternal cortisol whereas blunted reactivity in males was associated with exposure to steeper morning increases and daytime decreases in maternal cortisol. The findings suggest that sex differences in the effects of prenatal cortisol and distress on infant cortisol reactivity are a plausible mechanism by which maternal experiences during pregnancy contribute to sex differences in the development of psychopathology.