COVID-19 Pandemic Exposure and Toddler Behavioral Health in the ECHO Program.

Importance: Studies suggest developmental concerns for infants born during the COVID-19 pandemic, but evidence on its impact on toddler behavioral and emotional well-being remains limited.

Objective: To assess whether birth timing relative to the COVID-19 pandemic is associated with toddler internalizing and externalizing problems.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This retrospective cohort study utilized Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) cohort data collected between September 27, 2009, and July 21, 2023.

Longitudinal Trajectories of Aperiodic EEG Activity in Early to Middle Childhood.

Aperiodic electroencephalography (EEG) activity is hypothesized to index biological mechanisms that underpin brain functioning. This longitudinal study characterized the developmental trajectories of the aperiodic slope (i.e.

Maternal caregiving moderates relations between maternal childhood maltreatment and infant cortisol regulation.

Background: Children of maltreated mothers are at increased risk for adverse physical and psychological health. Both prenatal and postnatal alterations in offspring biological stress systems have been proposed as mechanisms contributing to such transmission. The aim of the current study was to assess whether maternal postnatal care of the infant moderated any effect of maternal childhood maltreatment on infant cortisol output during a mild stressor at 4 months of age.

Child Opportunity Index at birth and asthma with recurrent exacerbations in the US ECHO program.

Background: Environmental exposures and social determinants likely influence specific childhood asthma phenotypes.

Objective: We hypothesized that the Child Opportunity Index (COI) at birth, measuring multiple neighborhood opportunities, influences incidence rates (IRs) for asthma with recurrent exacerbations (ARE).

Methods: We tested for COI associations with ARE IRs in 15,877 children born between 1990 and 2018 in the ECHO (Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes) program.

The association between temperament and polygenic score for psychopathology from infancy to middle childhood.

Background: Certain temperament characteristics, such as low effortful control and high negative affectivity, are linked to an elevated likelihood for later psychopathology. Although genetic vulnerability has been associated with a number of psychiatric conditions, little work has examined the genetic architecture underlying temperament or the genetic overlap between early temperament profiles and later mental health outcomes. The present study examined associations of polygenic scores for anxiety (PGS-Anxiety) and ADHD (PGS-ADHD) with temperament characteristics in a longitudinal sample of children assessed from infancy through age 7 years.

EEG frontal alpha asymmetry mediates the association between maternal and child internalizing symptoms in childhood.

Background: Anxiety and depression are highly prevalent in youth and can cause significant distress and functional impairment. The presence of maternal anxiety and depression are well-established risk factors for child internalizing psychopathology, yet the responsible mechanisms linking the two remain unclear.

Methods: We examined the potential mediating and moderating roles of EEG frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA) in the intergenerational transmission of internalizing symptoms in a longitudinal sample of N = 323 mother-child dyads.

Childhood maltreatment and brain aging during adulthood.

Importance: Childhood maltreatment (CM) is associated with the early onset of psychiatric and medical disorders and accelerated biological aging.

Objective: To identify types of maltreatment and developmental sensitive periods that are associated with accelerated adult brain aging.

Design: Participants were mothers of infants recruited from the community into a study assessing the effects of CM on maternal behavior, infant attachment, and maternal and infant neurobiology.

Children's executive functioning and health behaviors across pediatric life stages and ecological contexts.

Executive functioning (EF) has been linked to chronic disease risk in children. Health behaviors are thought to partially explain this association. The current cross-sectional study evaluated specific domains of EF and varied health behaviors in three pediatric life stages.

Associations Among EEG Aperiodic Slope, Infant Temperament, and Maternal Anxiety/Depression Symptoms in Infancy.

The aperiodic "slope" of the EEG power spectrum (i.e., aperiodic exponent, commonly represented as a slope in log-log space) is hypothesized to index the cortical excitatory-inhibitory balance.

Forming Connections: Functional Brain Connectivity is Associated With Executive Functioning Abilities in Early Childhood.

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies with adults provide evidence that functional brain networks, including the default mode network and frontoparietal network, underlie executive functioning (EF). However, given the challenges of using fMRI with infants and young children, little work has assessed the developmental trajectories of these networks or their associations with EF at key developmental stages. More recently, functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) has emerged as a promising neuroimaging tool which can provide information on cortical functional networks and can be more easily implemented with young children.

Unraveling the relationship between stress exposure and childhood anxiety: Considering accumulation, impact, and type in the first five years of life.

Exposure to stressful events is linked to anxiety symptoms in children, although research examining this association in the first five years of life is limited. We sought to examine the role of various aspects of family stressful experiences such as the total accumulation, impact, and type (measured longitudinally in the first five years of life) on child anxiety symptoms at age 5 years. A community sample of children and their parents (N = 399) enrolled in a longitudinal study of emotion processing were assessed when the children were infants and at ages 2 years, 3 years, and 5 years.

Correction: Using machine learning to understand age and gender classification based on infant temperament.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.

The role of children's neural responses to emotional faces in the intergenerational transmission of anxiety symptomatology.

Children's neural responses to emotions may play a role in the intergenerational transmission of anxiety. In a prospective longitudinal study of a community sample of = 464 mother-child dyads, we examined relations among maternal anxiety symptoms when children were infants and age 5 years, child neural responses to emotional faces (angry, fearful, happy) at age 3 years, and child internalizing symptoms at age 5 years. Path analyses tested whether amplitudes of event-related potential (ERP) components selected a priori (N290, Nc, P400) (a) mediated associations between maternal anxiety symptoms in infancy and child internalizing symptoms at 5 years and/or (b) moderated associations between maternal anxiety symptoms at 5 years and child internalizing symptoms at 5 years.

The influence of early childhood education and care on the relation between early-life social adversity and children's mental health in the environmental influences for Child Health Outcomes Program.

Early adversity increases risk for child mental health difficulties. Stressors in the home environment (e.g.

Stress timing, trauma exposure, and family resilience differentially affect internalizing and externalizing symptoms at 3, 5, and 7 years of age.

Mental health disorders are associated with decreased quality of life, economic productivity loss, and increased mortality. The association between stressful experiences and psychopathology is well documented. However, studies are needed to understand the impact of timing of stressful events, types of traumatic experiences, and of family resilience on internalizing and externalizing symptoms in early childhood.

EEG frontal alpha asymmetry mediates the association between maternal and child internalizing symptoms in childhood.

Background: Anxiety and depression are highly prevalent in youth and can cause significant distress and functional impairment. The presence of maternal anxiety and depression are well-established risk factors for child internalizing psychopathology, yet the responsible mechanisms linking the two remain unclear.

Methods: We examined the potential mediating and moderating roles of EEG frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA) in the intergenerational transmission of internalizing symptoms in a longitudinal sample of = 323 mother-child dyads.

Longitudinal interactions between maternal depression symptoms and familial stressful life events on child anxiety symptoms at 5 years of age.

In the current study we identified salient parental factors for child anxiety symptoms by considering the role of stressful life events, maternal anxiety symptoms, maternal depressive symptoms, and maternal neuroticism. Families (N = 399) in an urban area in the United States were participants in a longitudinal study beginning in infancy. Mothers completed measures of stressful life events (Revised Life Events Questionnaire at all visits), maternal anxiety and depressive symptoms (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and Beck Depression Inventory, respectively, at infancy between 5 and 12 months, at 2 years, and at 3 years), maternal neuroticism (NEO Five-Factor Inventory at infancy), and child anxiety symptoms (Child Behavior Checklist 1.

The Influence of Temperament, Theory of Mind, Inhibitory Control, and Prosocial Behavior on Child Anxiety Symptoms in the First Five Years of Life.

Anxiety disorders are among the most prevalent of all mental health disorders, often originating in early childhood and extending into later childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. Determining salient risk factors that precede their development is important for prevention and intervention efforts. Towards this end, we examined the role of temperament, theory of mind, inhibitory control, and prosocial behavior on child anxiety symptoms in the first 5 years of life.

Capturing the complexity of child behavior and caregiver-child interactions in the HEALthy Brain and Child Development (HBCD) Study using a rigorous and equitable approach.

The HEALthy Brain and Child Development (HBCD) Study, a multi-site prospective longitudinal cohort study, will examine human brain, cognitive, behavioral, social, and emotional development beginning prenatally and planned through early childhood. This article outlines methodological considerations and the decision-making process for measurement selection for child behavior, parenting/caregiver-child interactions, and the family/home environment for HBCD. The decision-making process is detailed, including formation of a national workgroup (WG-BEH) that focused on developmentally appropriate measures that take a rigorous and equitable approach and aligned with HBCD objectives.

Caregiving stress and maternal mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic.

It has now been extensively documented that parental mental health has deteriorated since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although pandemic-related stress has been widespread, parents faced the unique challenge of navigating remote schooling. Parental oversight of children's education, loss of access to school supportive resources, and the challenges of remote learning may have been most problematic for parents of children with or at elevated risk for mental health difficulties.