# Mood, mother, and child: The psychobiology of dyadic resilience

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL · 2020 · $616,875

## Abstract

ABSTRACT: MOOD, MOTHER AND CHILD: THE PSYCHOBIOLOGY OF DYADIC RESILIENCE
Perinatal depression (PND) affects more than 400,000 mother-infant dyads in the US each year, with
devastating consequences. Mothers with PND exhibit reduced sensitivity to infant needs, increasing infant risk
for impaired emotional regulation and insecure attachment. These dysregulated interactions in the first year of
life are associated with impaired cognitive and socioemotional development, including child psychopathology
and impaired executive function (EF). Mothers who experience PND are more likely to have continuing or
relapsing depression and anxiety disorders, conferring further risk. Nevertheless, despite exposure to PND,
some dyads emerge intact. The long-term goal of this research is to identify the psychobiological
underpinnings of resilience among mother-child dyads exposed to PND and longer-term maternal depression
and anxiety trajectories (MDATs). The objectives of this proposal are to characterize MDAT heterogeneity
during the first 5 years of the child’s life, to identify mediators that explain the mechanisms through which
MDATs influence child outcomes, and identify moderators that may serve as intervention points for promoting
dyadic resilience. We will leverage an existing pool of participants in the Mood, Mother and Infant (MMI) study
(R01HD073220, mmi.web.unc.edu, PI Stuebe), an ongoing longitudinal cohort study that we have led of
mother-infant dyads (N=222) who have been extensively phenotyped during the first postpartum year. Our
central hypothesis is that oxytocin plays a central role in dyadic development, indexed by associations between
OT psychobiology, genetics and epigenetics and both MDATs and child development outcome. The rationale
for this work is that our findings will inform targeted interventions to facilitate resilience and diminish the
sequelae of maternal depression. We will accomplish the objective of our application by pursuing the following
specific aims via an MMI follow-up study, the Mood, Mother and Child (MMC) study: 1) Elucidate the role of OT
in the maternal psychobiological underpinnings of MDATs and parenting behavior, including effects of
exogenous oxytocin (OT) on HPA axis reactivity; 2) Determine psychosocial mediators and moderators of
associations between MDATs and child developmental outcome; and 3) Determine the extent to which child
OXT and OXTR genotype moderates associations between MDATs, sensitivity, attachment quality, and
developmental outcome; quantify the extent to which child epigenetic changes in OT and OXTR mediate
associations between MDATs and developmental outcome. The expected outcomes of this work will be the
determination of both predictive and protective factors for mother-infant dyads affected by depression and
anxiety, laying the groundwork for novel approaches to promote resilience. Such results will have a positive
impact by informing interventions to prevent intergenerational transmission of...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9979927
- **Project number:** 5R01HD093901-03
- **Recipient organization:** UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL
- **Principal Investigator:** William Roger Mills-Koonce
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $616,875
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-09-07 → 2023-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9979927

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9979927, Mood, mother, and child: The psychobiology of dyadic resilience (5R01HD093901-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9979927. Licensed CC0.

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