Resilience to stress during pregnancy: Biopsychosocial mechanisms and implications for offspring emotional and behavioral outcomes in toddlerhood.

Exposure to high levels of stress during pregnancy is a known risk factor for a wide range of offspring outcomes, but little is known about the biopsychosocial factors underlying resilience and recovery from stress during pregnancy. The current study investigated associations between emotional and instrumental support during pregnancy and resilience to stress during pregnancy, including perceived resilience (belief in ability to "bounce back" from adversity) and physiological resilience (ability to physiologically recover quickly after an acute stressor). We further tested whether support and resilience during pregnancy predicted offspring internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Participants included 130 pregnant women (ages 26-28 years; 58% Black, 27% White, 15% Multiracial; 28% receiving public assistance) from a population-based longitudinal study. During pregnancy, participants reported on emotional and instrumental support, current life stressors, and perceived resilience to stress. In addition, heart rate variability was recorded continuously before, during, and after a controlled stress test to measure physiological recovery from stressors. When offspring were 2-3 years of age, mothers reported on children's internalizing and externalizing problems. Results from moderated mediation analyses indicated that emotional, but not instrumental, support was associated with perceived resilience during pregnancy, which predicted lower internalizing and externalizing problems in offspring. Emotional support also predicted greater physiological recovery during pregnancy, but only for individuals reporting multiple life stressors. Findings suggest that emotional support may influence psychological and physiological responses to stress during pregnancy, with implications for offspring emotional and behavioral health. Clinical implications of these results and directions for future research are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Social connectedness and well-being among Black women who experienced adolescent sexual trauma.

OBJECTIVE: Sexual violence disproportionately impacts Black girls and women in the United States. The literature documents the long-term mental health outcomes of childhood sexual trauma, but research on resilience-promoting factors for Black women survivors of such trauma is sparse. The present study tests hypotheses about the influence of Black girls' social connectedness (e.g., with mothers, peers, and racial/ethnic community) on the association between adolescent sexual trauma and early adulthood well-being. METHOD: Participants included 850 Black girls from the Pittsburgh Girls Study. Girls reported prospectively and retrospectively on experiences of sexual trauma between ages 13 and 17. Annual assessments of social connectedness comprised reports of closeness with mother, peer social self-worth, and belonging/affirmation in racial/ethnic identity. In early adulthood (ages 18-21), participants reported on psychological flourishing. RESULTS: Approximately 10% (N = 83) of participants reported having experienced sexual trauma during adolescence. Hierarchical linear regression analyses revealed that adolescent sexual trauma predicted lower psychological flourishing, whereas peer social self-worth and belonging in racial/ethnic identity predicted higher psychological flourishing in early adulthood. Tests of moderation revealed no significant effects of social connectedness on the association between adolescent sexual trauma and later psychological flourishing. CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest that Black women survivors of adolescent sexual trauma may experience lower psychological flourishing than those without histories of such trauma and support the importance of multiple domains of social connectedness for Black adolescent girls, in general. However, further research is needed on race- and gender-specific contextual factors that enable Black women survivors of sexual trauma to thrive. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Factor structure of the Outness Inventory in a sample of Black and White lesbian and bisexual young adult women.

Introduction: The Outness Inventory (OI; Mohr & Fassinger, 2000) is the most commonly used measure for assessing an individual's level of outness, or openness about sexual identity. However, data on the validity of the OI factor structure across diverse populations is limited. The present study aimed to test the factor structure of the OI in a population-based sample of Black and White young adult women. Method: Participants included 319 lesbian and bisexual women drawn from the Pittsburgh Girls Study (PGS), a large longitudinal study of 5- to 8-year-old girls (53% Black) oversampled from low-income neighborhoods and followed through adulthood. Participants completed the 11-item OI at ages 20-23 years. Confirmatory factor analyses evaluated measurement invariance of the OI across race and suggested significant differences in factor structure between Black and White sexual minority women. Exploratory factor analyses were conducted separately by race. Results: An EFA revealed three factors for the Black subsample: Family, Straight Friends, and Work/Strangers. Three factors also emerged for the White subsample, representing Familiar Acquaintances, Less Familiar Acquaintances, and Work. Conclusion: Additional research is needed to investigate potential culturally-based differences in domains of disclosure, which may help to better understand how specific contexts of outness relate to mental health.

Microbiome function and neurodevelopment in Black infants: vitamin B12 emerges as a key factor.

The early life gut microbiome affects the developing brain, and therefore may serve as a target to support neurodevelopment of children living in stressful and under-resourced environments, such as Black youth living on the South Side of Chicago, for whom we observe racial disparities in health. Microbiome compositions/functions key to multiple neurodevelopmental facets have not been studied in Black children, a vulnerable population due to racial disparities in health; thus, a subsample of Black infants living in urban, low-income neighborhoods whose mothers participated in a prenatal nutrition study were recruited for testing associations between composition and function of the gut microbiome (16S rRNA gene sequencing, shotgun metagenomics, and targeted metabolomics of fecal samples) and neurodevelopment (developmental testing, maternal report of temperament, and observed stress regulation). Two microbiome community types, defined by high Lachnospiraceae or Enterobacteriaceae abundance, were discovered in this cohort from 16S rRNA gene sequencing analysis; the Enterobacteriaceae-dominant community type was significantly negatively associated with cognition and language scores, specifically in male children. Vitamin B12 biosynthesis emerged as a key microbiome function from shotgun metagenomics sequencing analysis, showing positive associations with all measured developmental skills (i.e., cognition, language, motor, surgency, effortful control, and observed stress regulation). Blautia spp. also were identified as substantial contributors of important microbiome functions, including vitamin B12 biosynthesis and related vitamin B12-dependent microbiome functions, anti-inflammatory microbial surface antigens, competitive mechanisms against pathobionts, and production of antioxidants. The results are promising with respect to the potential for exploring therapeutic candidates, such as vitamin B12 nutritional or Blautia spp. probiotic supplementation, to support the neurodevelopment of infants at risk for experiencing racial disparities in health.