Parental Reflective Functioning correlates to brain activation in response to video-stimuli of mother–child dyads: Links to maternal trauma history and PTSD

Parental Reflective Functioning is a parent's capacity to infer mental states in herself and her child. Parental Reflective Functioning is linked to the quality of parent-child attachment and promotes parent-child mutual emotion regulation. We examined neural correlates of parental reflective functioning and their relationship to physical abuse. Participants were mothers with (n = 26) and without (n = 22) history of childhood physical abuse. Parental reflective functioning was assessed by coding transcripts of maternal narrative responses on interviews. All mothers also underwent magnetic resonance imaging while watching video clips of children during mother-child separation and play. Parental reflective functioning was significantly lower among mothers with histories of childhood physical abuse. When mothers without history of childhood physical abuse watched scenes of separation versus play, brain activation was positively correlated with parental reflective functioning in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, and negatively associated with the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and insula. These associations were not present when limiting analyses to mothers reporting abuse histories. Regions subserving emotion regulation and empathy were associated with parental reflective functioning; yet these regions were not featured in maltreated mothers. These data suggest that childhood physical abuse exposure may alter the psychobiology that is linked to emotional comprehension and regulation

Associations Between Maternal Post-traumatic Stress Disorder and Traumatic Events With Child Psychopathology: Results From a Prospective Longitudinal Study.

Introduction: Exposure to interpersonal violence (IPV) can lead to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in mothers, and in turn adversely affect the mother-child relationship during early development, as well as the mental health of their children. Our objectives are to assess: (1) the association of maternal IPV-PTSD to child psychopathology, (2) the association of maternal IPV independently of PTSD to child psychopathology, and (3) the relationship between child exposure to violence to the psychopathology of these children. Methods: We used data from the longitudinal Geneva Early Childhood Stress Project. The sample included 64 children [mean age at Phase 1 = 2.4 (1.0-3.7) years] of mothers with or without IPV-PTSD. Data on mothers was collected during Phase 1, using the Clinical Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS), the Brief Physical and Sexual Abuse Questionnaire (BPSAQ) and the Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS2). Modules of a semi-structured diagnostic interview, and the Violence Exposure Scale were used to collect information on child at Phase 2, when children were older [mean age = 7.02 (4.7-10)]. Results: A higher CAPS score in mothers when children were toddler-age was associated with an increased risk of symptoms of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD; β = 0.33, p = 0.014) and PTSD in school-age children. The association between maternal IPV-PTSD and child PTSD (β = 0.48, p < 0.001) symptoms remained significant after adjustment for potential confounders. Among children, exposure to violence was associated with an increased risk of symptoms of generalized anxiety (β = 0.37, p = 0.006), major depressive (β = 0.24, p = 0.039), ADHD (β = 0.27, p = 0.040), PTSD (β = 0.52, p < 0.001), conduct (β = 0.58, p = 0.003) and oppositional defiant (β = 0.34, p = 0.032) disorders. Conclusion: Our longitudinal findings suggest that maternal IPV-PTSD during the period of child development exert an influence on the development of psychopathology in school-aged children. Mothers' IPV was associated with child psychopathology, independently of PTSD. Child lifetime exposure to violence had an additional impact on the development of psychopathology. Careful evaluation of maternal life-events is essential during early childhood to reduce the risk for the development of child psychopathology. Early efforts to curb exposure to violence in children and early intervention are both needed to reduce further risk for intergenerational transmission of trauma, violence, and related psychopathology

New insights into polymer-solvent affinity in thin films

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Violence Exposure Is Associated With Atypical Appraisal of Threat Among Women: An EEG Study.

Introduction The present study investigates the association of lifetime interpersonal violence (IPV) exposure, related posttraumatic stress disorder (IPV-PTSD), and appraisal of the degree of threat posed by facial avatars. Methods We recorded self-rated responses and high-density electroencephalography (HD-EEG) among women, 16 of whom with lifetime IPV-PTSD and 14 with no PTSD, during a face-evaluation task that displayed male face avatars varying in their degree of threat as rated along dimensions of dominance and trustworthiness. Results The study found a significant association between lifetime IPV exposure, under-estimation of dominance, and over-estimation of trustworthiness. Characterization of EEG microstates supported that lifetime IPV-PTSD modulates emotional appraisal, specifically in encoding and decoding processing associated with N170 and LPP evoked potentials. EEG source localization demonstrated an overactivation of the limbic system, in particular the parahippocampal gyrus, in response to non-threatening avatars. Additionally, dysfunctional involvement of attention-related processing anterior prefrontal cortex (aPFC) was found in response to relatively trustworthy avatars in IPV-PTSD individuals compared with non-PTSD controls. Discussion This study showed that IPV exposure and related PTSD modulate individuals' evaluation of facial characteristics suggesting threat. Atypical processing of these avatar characteristics was marked by group differences in brain regions linked to facial processing, emotion regulation, and memory

Morphology control in thin films of PS: PLA homopolymer blends by dip-coating deposition

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Submicronic etched features of silicon with high aspect ratio obtained by cryogenic plasma deep-etchingthrough perforated polymer thin films

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Cryogenic etching of submicronic features in silicon using masks based on porous polymer films

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Developmental delay in communication among toddlers and its relationship to caregiving behavior among violence-exposed, posttraumatically stressed mothers

This study aimed to understand if maternal interpersonal violence-related posttraumatic stress disorder (IPV-PTSD) is associated with delayed language development among very young children ("toddlers")

EEG recording during an emotional face-matching task in children of mothers with interpersonal violence-related posttraumatic stress disorder

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of maternal interpersonal violence-related posttraumatic disorder (IPV-PTSD) on child appraisal of emotion, as measured by high-density electroencephalography (HD-EEG) during an Emotional Face-matching Task (EFMT). We recorded HD-EEG in 47 children of mothers with and without IPV-PTSD during an Emotional Face-matching Task (EFMT). Mothers and children each performed the EFMT. Behavioral results demonstrated that both mothers who were directly exposed to violent events, and their children, presented attentional bias toward negative emotions when processing facial stimuli. EEG findings confirmed differences in emotion appraisal between children of IPV-PTSD mothers and non-PTSD controls at scalp-level and in terms of source localization upon which children of IPV-PTSD mothers demonstrated decreased activation of the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) in response to angry and fearful faces as compared to non-PTSD children with respect to the N170 component. Our study, to our knowledge, is the first to show that maternal IPV-PTSD significantly affects a mother's own and her child's neural activity in response to facial expressions of negative emotion. These findings are potentially important to the development and study of effective interventions to interrupt intergenerational cycles of violence and trauma