Contributions of maternal prenatal infection and antibiotic exposure to offspring infection and risk for allergic respiratory conditions through age 5.

Objectives: To determine if maternal prenatal infection increases risk of offspring postnatal infections through age 5 or diagnosis of respiratory allergy at age 5, independent of prenatal/postnatal antibiotic exposure. To evaluate if frequency of offspring infections mediates an association between prenatal infection and respiratory allergy at age 5.

Study Design: Secondary data analyses were performed from the Child Health and Development Studies (CHDS), a prospective, longitudinal birth cohort that enrolled pregnant women from 1959 to 1966 (N = 19,044 live births).

Behavioural inhibition system sensitivity is no longer associated with psychotic-like experiences after controlling for depression and anxiety symptoms.

Aim: Elevated behavioural inhibition system sensitivity has been reported among schizophrenia patients. Yet, no study has investigated the relationship between behavioural inhibition system sensitivity and the occurrence of psychotic-like experiences (subthreshold psychotic symptoms considered to be less severe or impairing), despite evidence that behavioural inhibition system sensitivity is related to other forms of psychopathology known to co-occur with psychotic-like experiences, such as depression and anxiety. Thus, the aim of this study was to assess the relationship between behavioural inhibition system levels and psychotic-like experiences while controlling for depression and anxiety symptoms.

Factor Structure, Convergent, and Divergent Validity of the Prodromal Questionnaire-Negative Symptom Subscale.

Negative symptoms such as anhedonia are associated with psychosis risk and poorer outcomes. The Prodromal Questionnaire (PQ) is a self-report questionnaire used to screen for psychosis spectrum symptoms. However, the convergent and divergent validity and underlying factor structure of the PQ-negative symptom subscale (PQ-N) have yet to be examined.

Maternal cortisol during pregnancy and offspring schizophrenia: Influence of fetal sex and timing of exposure.

Introduction: Maternal stress during pregnancy has been repeatedly linked to increased risk for schizophrenia; however, no study has examined maternal cortisol during pregnancy and risk for the disorder. Study aims were to determine whether prenatal cortisol was associated with risk for schizophrenia and risk for an intermediate phenotype-decreased fetal growth-previously linked to prenatal cortisol and schizophrenia. Timing of exposure and fetal sex also were examined given previous findings.

Maternal inflammation during pregnancy and offspring psychiatric symptoms in childhood: Timing and sex matter.

Objective: Maternal infection during pregnancy has been associated with increased risk of offspring psychopathology, including depression. As most infections do not cross the placenta, maternal immune responses to infection have been considered as potentially contributing to this relationship. This study examined whether gestational timing of maternal inflammation during pregnancy is associated with offspring internalizing and/or externalizing symptoms during childhood and, further, whether fetal sex moderated this relationship.

Pre- and Perinatal Risk Factors for Serious Mental Disorders: Ethical Considerations in Prevention and Prediction Efforts.

Repeated findings have linked pre- and perinatal risk factors to a variety of mental disorders. Some studies have found large magnitudes of association, suggesting that fetal development represents an important period for understanding neurodevelopmental sequelae. Nevertheless, it remains unclear how best to translate the existing findings into early identification, prevention, and treatment strategies that would be useful for pregnant populations and/or for their offspring.

Maternal infection and stress during pregnancy and depressive symptoms in adolescent offspring.

Maternal infection during pregnancy has been linked to increased risk of offspring depression. Additionally, maternal stress during pregnancy has been consistently linked with adverse offspring outcomes associated with depression. Relatedly, stress has been associated with increased risk of infection; however no study has investigated stress-infection interactions during pregnancy and risk for offspring depression.

Maternal Prenatal Stress and Other Developmental Risk Factors for Adolescent Depression: Spotlight on Sex Differences.

Maternal stress during pregnancy has been linked to premorbid abnormalities associated with depression (e.g., difficult temperament, cognitive deficits) in offspring.

Fetal exposure to maternal stress and risk for schizophrenia spectrum disorders among offspring: Differential influences of fetal sex.

Exposure to adverse life events during pregnancy has been linked to increased risk of schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD) in offspring. Nevertheless, much of the previous work inferred maternal stress from severe life events rather than directly assessing maternal reports of stress. The present study aimed to examine maternal reports of stress during pregnancy and risk for offspring SSD.

Anxiety mediates the association between cannabis use and attenuated positive psychotic symptoms.

Cannabis use has been associated with a continuum of psychotic experiences. However, it is unclear whether mood and anxiety symptoms account for increases in attenuated positive psychotic symptoms (APPS) among cannabis users. We predicted that depression and anxiety symptoms would mediate the relation between cannabis use and APPS, and between cannabis use and endorsement of eight or more distressing APPS (D-APPS), a potentially more clinically meaningful group.

Stress sensitivity mediates the relationship between traumatic life events and attenuated positive psychotic symptoms differentially by gender in a college population sample.

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether stress sensitivity mediates the relationship between traumatic life events and total attenuated positive psychotic symptoms, as well as the relationship between traumatic life events and endorsement of 8 or more attenuated positive psychotic symptoms as distressing (a threshold that has been associated with higher risk for psychosis in clinical groups). Participants (n = 671, aged 17-35, 29% male) were college students who were administered the Prodromal Questionnaire, the Perceived Stress Scale and the Life Events Checklist. Bootstrapping results indicated that stress sensitivity significantly mediated the relationships between traumatic life events and the number of attenuated positive psychotic symptoms endorsed and between traumatic life events and those who endorsed 8 or more distressing attenuated positive psychotic symptoms.