# Mental health across generations of Hispanic Americans: investigating the biomechanism of fetal programming

> **NIH NIH F32** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES · 2022 · $67,582

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Epidemiological evidence demonstrates increasing rates of mental illness across generations of Hispanic Americans.
Because this trend occurs alongside improvements in socio-economic status across generations, it remains largely unknown
why mental illness rates should increase with each subsequent generation post-immigration. Our proposal addresses this
issue by suggesting a novel hypothesis based on the concept of fetal programming, i.e., the possibility that during pregnancy,
maternal life experiences are reflected in biochemical signals that influence fetal developmental trajectories. We posit that
immigration, discrimination, and acculturation-related stressors may, in the case of Hispanic immigrant women who become
pregnant, alter intrauterine biochemistry in ways that affect offspring developmental trajectories that manifest in greater
risks of psychopathologies. Previous studies have invoked the concept of fetal programming to account for effects of
maternal prenatal stress on offspring mental health. However, the majority of these studies have been conducted with low-
risk populations, and stressors related to ethnic and cultural minority status have been mostly neglected. Thus, there is a
need to investigate the effects of maternal prenatal socio-cultural stress on child development in contexts of social
vulnerabilities. The objective of the proposed research is to examine how maternal socio-cultural stressors are related to
precursors of mental health risk among 12-month age infants via gestational stress physiology.
 This project utilizes the study population from the Mothers’ Cultural Experiences Study, an NIH-funded
longitudinal, prospective study of Hispanic immigrant women followed across pregnancy and postpartum. The first research
aim will investigate maternal stressors related to immigration and minority status in a context of social vulnerability and
three domains of gestational stress physiology: endocrine stress, inflammation, and immunoregulation. The second research
aim will investigate the effects of maternal socio-cultural stressors on two domains of infant development that have been
associated with later life psychopathology risk: temperament and social-emotional development. The findings of this
research will elucidate bio-social mechanisms that contribute to patterns of social vulnerability and mental illness among
Hispanic Americans and may reveal opportunities for intervention that prevent intergenerational escalation of mental illness
risks in this group.
 This research proposal is integrated with a training plan that includes learning and practicing primary data collection
with pregnant women of minority status, conducting infant developmental assessments, laboratory methods in
psychoneuroimmunology, and Hispanic cultural context of health. This research and training will prepare the PI to
independently conduct innovative research on the biopsychosocial mechanisms that underlie intergenerati...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10434786
- **Project number:** 5F32MD015201-03
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES
- **Principal Investigator:** Kyle Steven Wiley
- **Activity code:** F32 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $67,582
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2020-09-01 → 2023-09-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10434786

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10434786, Mental health across generations of Hispanic Americans: investigating the biomechanism of fetal programming (5F32MD015201-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10434786. Licensed CC0.

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