The influence of maternal childhood maltreatment on the neural and endocrinological determinants of maternal caregiving

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Felix Bermpohl; Professorin Dr. Claudia Buß, Ph.D.; Dr. Kristina Meyer
• Subject Area: Biological Psychiatry
• Term: since 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 522461514

Childhood maltreatment (CM) represents a pernicious stressor with widespread prevalence and devastating short- and long-term health consequences for the exposed individual. Growing evidence suggests that the consequences of exposure to CM are not restricted to the exposed person alone but may also get transmitted to the next generation. Children of CM-exposed mothers are at increased risk for mental and physical health disorders. Unfavorable circumstances experienced during infancy and childhood by the offspring of CM-exposed mothers, including suboptimal maternal caregiving, have been postulated as the primary pathways of intergenerational transmission. Mothers exposed to CM carry a higher risk for parenting problems, which constitute a well-established risk factor for adverse mental and physical health development in the offspring. To allow for sensitive parenting, mothers must be able to understand their children’s cues and to react appropriately. Empathy (the sharing of others’ feelings) and theory of mind (ToM, the representation of others’ mental states) have therefore been discussed as major determinants of sensitive parenting. Pregnancy-related endocrine changes shape these parenting behaviors. Of particular interest in this context is estrogen. Estrogen influences the pregnancy-related neural changes in the maternal brain that facilitate sensitive parenting. Animal models suggest that early life stress can reduce estrogen sensitivity. If the same is true in humans and CM-exposed women have lower estrogen sensitivity, a hypothesis we will test in the current study, the CM-associated reduced estrogen sensitivity may inhibit adaptive peripartal changes in empathy and ToM that prepare for motherhood. To characterize CM-related differences in pregnancy physiology that may drive adaptive neural changes underlying empathy and ToM with consequences for maternal sensitivity, we ask the following questions in the present project: 1) Is the severity of CM associated with empathy and ToM at the behavioral and neural level, and does this association mediate the relationship between CM and sensitive parenting? 2) Does CM-associated variation in estrogen sensitivity during pregnancy mediate the association between CM and empathy and ToM (behavioral and neural level) and, consequently, parenting behavior? 3) Can we identify endocrine and neural patterns or clinical profiles predicting vulnerability versus resilience towards insensitive parenting among CM-exposed mothers? In this project, we seek to promote public health care for women exposed to CM and their offspring. By identifying resilience and vulnerability factors of insensitive parenting in CM-exposed mothers, we will contribute to shaping future interventions and prevention programs to help women at risk of parenting problems to counteract the negative effect of their CM experiences on their own parenting behavior.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants