The Transgenerational Influence of Discrimination on Mental Health

NIH RePORTER · NIH · U01 · $121,277 · view on reporter.nih.gov ↗

Abstract

This Diversity Supplement to the Healthy Brain and Child Development (HBCD) study will examine the influence of experiencing discrimination on mental health during the peripartum period and determine the potential transgenerational influence of discrimination by examining offspring neurobehavioral development. We will focus on infant amygdala volume at 1 month of age and infant negative affect at 3-9 months of age as these offspring outcomes are early emerging transdiagnostic indicators of risk for mental health problems, and have previously demonstrated vulnerability to prenatal exposures. Prior research in animal models and in developmental work in humans has demonstrated the sensitivity of the fetal amygdala to stress in the prenatal environment due to stress sensitive biological systems, which also play critical roles in brain development. These early alterations in amygdala development have further been shown to predict increases in negative affect evident in early infancy and lower regulatory capacity as children get older. This proposal will test the extent to which discrimination represents an important contributing factor to these previously observed neurobehavioral phenotypes involving early alterations in the amygdala and heightened negative affect. With regard to the training aspect, this supplement provides a unique opportunity for the applicant to develop professional relationships with a network of national and international scientific and policy leader within her area of focus. The applicant will receive mentorship not only from the lead HBCD investigators at her institution, but also from senior investigators and leaders in the HBCD consortium at two other institutions across the country. She will participate in consortium wide activities, such as the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Work Group, to allow her to take full advantage of the collective expertise and career development opportunities afforded by the HBCD consortium. She will also gain training in the methods central to this application and her scientific career goals, including characterizing infant behavior (administration and coding of behavioral tasks) and early brain development (acquisition and basic processing of magnetic resonance imaging [MRI] data). It further includes study of key theoretical and methodological aspects of research focused on prenatal programming, including assessment of perinatal mental health symptoms and social determinants of health with an emphasis on discrimination. These trainings will be supplemented by training in foundational statistics, skills for conducting research with high-risk populations, and scientific writing (both for manuscripts and grants). These training experiences will position the applicant for her long-term career goal to conduct research investigating the mechanisms by which social-emotional adversity transmits intergenerationally, and influences child behavior, affect and development. This supplement will not only p...

Key facts

NIH application ID
10987256
Project number
3U01DA055363-04S1
Recipient
OREGON HEALTH & SCIENCE UNIVERSITY
Principal Investigator
Alice M Graham
Activity code
U01
Funding institute
NIH
Fiscal year
2024
Award amount
$121,277
Award type
3
Project period
2021-09-30 → 2026-06-30