# Psychosocial and neurobiological stress and opioid use trajectories following pregnancy

> **NIH NIH R01** · YALE UNIVERSITY · 2023 · $556,541

## Abstract

Abstract
Maternal opioid addiction is a significant public health concern, impacting the health and well-being of both
mothers and their developing child during pregnancy and the postpartum period. Crucially, factors shaping
maternal opioid use trajectories during pregnancy and after birth are not well understood. Emerging research
indicates that elevated levels of psychosocial stress during pregnancy and the first year postpartum may
explain increased risk for opioid relapse, consistent with a larger body of research that has documented the
role of stress in the initiation and maintenance of addiction generally, and an emerging body of work focusing
on parenting stress and addiction specifically. In the current application, we will employ a short-term
longitudinal design to probe the biobehavioral mechanisms of psychosocial and parenting stress in pregnant
women receiving medication assisted treatment (MAT) for opioid use disorder and demographically-matched
pregnant women not receiving MAT. In pregnancy we will measure psychosocial stress and maternal tolerance
of infant distress alongside characterizing craving and withdrawal symptoms. After delivery, mothers will
complete monthly batteries of assessments to further characterize psychosocial and parenting stress and
addiction symptoms. Additionally, mothers will complete neuroimaging assessments at 1 and 4 months
postpartum to identify neural mechanisms of responding to infant (and non-infant) distress cues. Our
biobehavioral characterization of psychosocial and parenting stress will then be employed in the prediction of
MAT adherence. Taken together, this R01 application serves to identify a novel biobehavioral phenotype of
psychosocial and parenting stress present in pregnancy and the early postpartum period that may confer
increased risk for opioid relapse.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10673115
- **Project number:** 5R01DA050636-04
- **Recipient organization:** YALE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Helena JV Rutherford
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2023
- **Award amount:** $556,541
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2020-09-30 → 2025-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10673115

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10673115, Psychosocial and neurobiological stress and opioid use trajectories following pregnancy (5R01DA050636-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10673115. Licensed CC0.

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