# Exploring Mechanisms Linking Maternal Childhood Adversity to Adolescent Psychopathology: The Role of Early Childhood Deprivation and Threat

> **NIH NIH R21** · UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL · 2024 · $225,306

## Abstract

Project Summary
This developmental R21 study proposes a secondary data analysis addressing specific questions regarding
the mediating pathways by which childhood maltreatment (CM) experienced by mothers may place their
children at greater risk for externalizing and internalizing symptoms in adolescence. Using innovative models
from developmental neuroscience, this study explores novel frameworks for understanding associations
between maternal CM and offspring psychopathology. The subsample is drawn from the ongoing Family Life
Project (FLP) and is comprised of mothers who reported that they did or did not experience CM at or before the
age of 14 (N=1122).
There is growing interest in the long-term consequences of CM and its association with the socioemotional
adjustment of survivors and their children. Prior research links CM history across numerous domains of adult
interpersonal functioning, including elevated depression, intimate partner violence (IPV), and problems in the
parental role. Children of mothers with trauma histories are reported to have significant adjustment difficulties
when compared to children of women without self-reported CM. Despite the strength of evidence linking
maternal CM history and offspring psychopathology, there is heterogeneity in outcomes for survivors of trauma
and their children.
Our goal is to identify the underlying mechanisms by which maternal CM may be related to psychopathology
among offspring in adolescence. We propose a dimensional model of adversity focused on examining how
different types of risk factors may be differentially related to the development of children whose mothers report
CM. Using novel methods to achieve a precise and systematic identification of the processes that account for
the heterogeneity of outcomes among offspring of women with CM histories, will not only open new avenues
for research identifying factors that may protect or interrupt potential links between maternal CM and offspring
psychopathology, but also provide more clear road maps for future intervention development. A major area of
innovation includes the use of a rich longitudinal dataset that has a comprehensive array of biological,
neurocognitive, behavioral, caregiving, and ecological measures from age 6-months – age 16, allowing us
perhaps for the first time, to examine the intergenerational effects of CM. To our knowledge this is the first
study of its kind to test complex longitudinal relations among early adversity, deprivation, fear learning, stress
physiology, hypervigilance, and key outcomes in a racially and economically diverse sample. The high
prevalence rates for CM in the United States, suggests a significant number of children are living in homes with
mothers reporting trauma histories making this an important direction for further inquiry.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10811371
- **Project number:** 1R21HD110824-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL
- **Principal Investigator:** Bharathi J. Zvara
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $225,306
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-08-07 → 2026-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10811371

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10811371, Exploring Mechanisms Linking Maternal Childhood Adversity to Adolescent Psychopathology: The Role of Early Childhood Deprivation and Threat (1R21HD110824-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-12 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10811371. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*