Adverse Childhood Experiences and Mental Health among Students Seeking Psychological Counseling Services.

Recent years have seen a marked rise in the number of students accessing University Psychological Counseling (UPC) services, and their concerns have been increasingly severe. This study aimed to examine the impact of cumulative adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) on mental health in students who had approached counseling services (N = 121) and students who had no experience with counseling services (N = 255). Participants completed an anonymous online self-report questionnaire measuring exposure to adverse childhood experiences (ACE-Q), psychological distress (General Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) and Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), personality traits (PID-5), and coping strategies. We found that students who approached UPC services scored higher on cumulative ACEs than the non-counseling group. While ACE-Q score was a direct positive predictor of PHQ-9 (p < 0.001), it did not predict GAD-7. Moreover, the results supported the existence of a mediation effect of avoidance coping, detachment, and psychoticism on the indirect effects of ACE-Q score on PHQ-9 or GAD-7. These results underlined the importance of screening for ACEs in a UPC setting because it can help identify students at higher risk for developing mental and physical health problems and provide them with early interventions and support.

A Preliminary Longitudinal Study on Infant-Directed Speech (IDS) Components in the First Year of Life.

Infant-directed speech (IDS) is an essential factor of mother-infant interaction and facilitates early language processing and word learning during dyadic interactions. This study aimed to longitudinally investigate emotional and prosodic components of IDS in the first year of life by analyzing children's responses to the different prosodic trends that mothers use during the observation of mother-child interactions. Seventeen mothers and infants were recruited for this study during their first hospitalization. The study involved observing communication changes in face-to-face interactions between the mother and child at three, six, and nine months after the child's birth. We analyzed the relationship between gaze direction, smiling, speech speed, and clarity. The results showed that the IDS differs in production when compared to the age of the child; at only nine months, there is high intensity. The same is evident from the results related to the elocution velocity. The verbal sensitivity of the mother and the ability to tune in to the affective states of the child, especially at nine months, can predict the child's understanding of future language.

The Relationship between Parental Monitoring, Peer Pressure, and Motivations for Responsible Drinking among Italian Adolescents: The Mediating Role of Positive Alcohol Expectancies.

This study investigated the associations between parental monitoring, peer pressure, and motivations for responsible drinking, while also taking the mediating role of positive alcohol expectancies into account. The participants were 579 Italian adolescents, aged 14-20 years (M = 16.39 years, SD = 1.27; 55.3% females), involved in a cross-sectional survey. They were administered online self-report questionnaires. Structural equation modeling revealed both direct and indirect positive associations between study variables. Parental monitoring was positively associated, both directly and indirectly, with adolescents' motivations for responsible drinking through the mediation of positive alcohol expectancies; peer pressure was negatively and indirectly associated with adolescents' motivations for responsible drinking, via the mediating role of positive alcohol expectancies. Findings highlighted the importance of environmental factors with regard to motivations for responsible drinking, suggesting the opportunity to implement prevention programs to improve parental monitoring and increase adolescents' skills to manage peer pressure and to develop realistic expectancies about drinking.

The relationship between maternal-fetus attachment and perceived parental bonds in pregnant women: Considering a possible mediating role of psychological distress.

Maternal-Fetal Attachment (MFA) delineates the emotional, cognitive, and behavioral aspects that mothers develop toward the unborn baby during pregnancy. The literature indicates that optimal attachment in pregnancy represents a protective factor for the mother-child attachment bond after birth and child development outcomes. To date, there are few studies that have investigated associated factors of MFA. This study sets out to explore the association between perceived parental bonds and maternal-fetal bonding in pregnant women, accounting for factors such as psychological distress, socio-demographic and obstetric characteristics. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 1,177 pregnant women answered the Parental Bonding Instrument, the Maternal-Fetal Attachment Scale, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-Y), and Beck-Depression Inventory (BDI-II). Results: We found out that perceived maternal and paternal care had significant direct effects on maternal-infant bonding during the pregnancy period when controlling for some confounders, including gestational age and mother age among others. Such maternal and paternal perceived care effects were not mediated by levels of psychological distress, which in turn resulted to be a "borderline" significant predictor of prenatal attachment. Interestingly, the gestational age and the mother age emerged to have a significant and synergic nonlinear effect, suggesting the influence on the MFAS of the gestational age depends on the values of the mother age, and likewise, the effect of mother age on MFAS depends on the gestational week. Conclusion: This study expands our knowledge of the intergenerational transmission of attachment pointing out the effects of a woman's perceived bond in relation to her parental figures during the development of the prenatal attachment process. Findings also suggests that parenting support interventions may have benefits that are realized across generations.

Exploring the Contribution of Proximal Family Risk Factors on SLC6A4 DNA Methylation in Children with a History of Maltreatment: A Preliminary Study.

The cumulative effects of proximal family risk factors have been associated with a high number of adverse outcomes in childhood maltreatment, and DNA methylation of the serotonin transporter gene (SLC6A4) has been associated with child maltreatment. However, the relationships between proximal family risk factors and SLC6A4 methylation remains unexplored. We examined the association among cumulative family risk factors, maltreatment experiences and DNA methylation in the SLC6A4 gene in a sample of 33 child victims of maltreatment. We computed a cumulative family risk (CFR) index that included proximal family risk factors, such as drug or alcohol abuse, psychopathology, parents' experiences of maltreatment/abuse in childhood, criminal history, and domestic violence. The majority of children (90.9%) experienced more than one type of maltreatment. Hierarchical regression models suggested that the higher the CFR index score and the number of maltreatment experiences, and the older the children, the higher the SLC6A4 DNA methylation levels. Although preliminary, our findings suggest that, along with childhood maltreatment experiences per se, cumulative proximal family risk factors are seemingly critically associated with DNA methylation at the SLC6A4 gene.

Effects of maternal psychological distress and perception of COVID-19 on prenatal attachment in a large sample of Italian pregnant women.

BACKGROUND: Evidence concerning the impact of COVID-19-related stress exposure on prenatal attachment in pregnant women is unknown. In this study we sought to assess the effect of psychological distress and risk perception of COVID-19 on prenatal attachment in a Italian sample of pregnant women. METHODS: 1179 pregnant women completed an anonymous online survey and self-report questionnaires measuring socio-demographic and obstetric characteristics, psychological distress (STAI Form Y-1-2 and BDI-II), prenatal attachment (PAI) and risk perception of COVID-19. Data were collected from March 2020 to April 2020 referring to the national lockdown period. RESULTS: After adjusting for the socio-demographic and obstetric factors in the multivariable analysis, we found out the state anxiety was shown to be a significant predictor (p < 0001) of prenatal attachment. Moreover, the COVID-19-risk perception positively moderate the relationship between trait anxiety and prenatal attachment (p=0008), indicating that when COVID-19-risk perception is high, the effects of trait anxiety on prenatal attachment is attenuated. The synergistic effect between STAI Form Y-1 and COVID-19-risk perception index on PAI is partially mediated by STAI Form Y-2 score. CONCLUSIONS: Findings from this study showed that state anxiety related to COVID-19 outbreak in pregnant women may affect the prenatal attachment process of the expectant mother negatively. However, an adequate and functional perception of COVID-19 could enhance prenatal attachment. These results underline the importance of monitoring the prenatal attachment process and the mother's mental health during pandemics, to safeguard maternal and infant mental health.

Attachment-related dimensions in the epigenetic era: A systematic review of the human research.

In recent years, an increasing number of studies documented potential links between parental care and epigenetic mechanisms. The present systematic review focuses on the potential association and interrelationship between attachment-related dimensions and DNA methylation in human studies. We performed a literature review using electronic databases such as PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and EBSCOhost. Thirteen papers were included in the review. Findings support significant associations between attachment-related dimensions and epigenetic status in studies which considered different populations, age ranges, attachment measures and peripheral tissues. Although research in this area is still under investigation, available results suggest that DNA methylation associated with attachment-related dimensions might affect the development of stress regulation system and social-emotional capacities, thus contributing to the emerging phenotypic outcomes. However, identifying mediator and moderator effects in the interrelationship between these parameters was problematic owing to heterogeneous methodologies. Finally, we discuss clinical implications, unanswered questions, and future directions for human development in epigenetics research.

Identifying fetal yawns based on temporal dynamics of mouth openings: A preterm neonate model using support vector machines (SVMs).

Fetal yawning is of interest because of its clinical, developmental and theoretical implications. However, the methodological challenges of identifying yawns from ultrasonographic scans have not been systematically addressed. We report two studies that examined the temporal dynamics of yawning in preterm neonates comparable in developmental level to fetuses observed in ultrasound studies (about 31 weeks PMA). In Study 1 we tested the reliability and construct validity of the only quantitative measure for identifying fetal yawns in the literature, by comparing its scores with a more detailed behavioral coding system (The System for Coding Perinatal Behavior, SCPB) adapted from the comprehensive, anatomically based Facial Action Coding System for Infants and Young Children (Baby FACS). The previously published measure yielded good reliability but poor specificity, resulting in over-representation of yawns. In Study 2 we developed and tested a new machine learning system based on support vector machines (SVM) for identifying yawns. The system displayed excellent specificity and sensitivity, proving it to be a reliable and valid tool for identifying yawns in fetuses and neonates. This achievement represents a first step towards a fully automated system for identifying yawns in the perinatal period.