# The neural foundations of regulation in infancy and the role of individual and environmental factors over time

> **NIH NIH K00** · WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $49,501

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
This application seeks to understand brain network organization and environmental mechanisms underlying risk
and resilience pathways of psychiatric disorders in premature children. Infants born very preterm (VPT; <30
weeks gestation) are 2-4 times more likely than Term Control (TC) children to report ADHD, anxiety, and social-
communication deficits as adolescents. VPT children also show higher rates of internalizing and socioemotional
problems, which are known precursors to later risk for psychiatric disorders. However, a developmental account
of how internalizing symptoms change over time is missing from this literature. Understanding how VPT children
progress along trajectories of internalizing symptoms is necessary to identify sensitive windows when clinical
interventions may be most effective. I propose to use a longitudinal cohort of VPT and TC children followed from
birth to age 10 to examine individual trajectories of internalizing symptoms as a function of neural organization
and individual and environmental factors that may predict risk or resilience. Specifically, I will 1) examine
internalizing trajectories as a function of infant neural organization and dyadic caregiver-child interactions at age
2, 2) model stability and change in dyadic caregiver-child interactions from age 2 to 5 as a function of infant
health risk and maternal stress, and 3) use an autoregressive Cross-Lagged Panel Model to model longitudinal
and transactional relations across internalizing symptoms, neural organization, and dyadic caregiver-child
interactions from birth to age 10. By examining these brain-behavior-context associations with a developmental
lens, we will better capture neurodevelopmental and environmental mechanisms of risk and resilience
translatable for prevention and intervention across typical and atypical populations.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 11055546
- **Project number:** 3K00MH135485-04S1
- **Recipient organization:** WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Berenice Anaya
- **Activity code:** K00 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $49,501
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2021-01-01 → 2025-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11055546

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 11055546, The neural foundations of regulation in infancy and the role of individual and environmental factors over time (3K00MH135485-04S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/11055546. Licensed CC0.

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