Using Daily Diaries to Trace Spillover Effects of Maternal Trauma on Children’s Stress Regulation

/ABSTRACT Maternal posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) are a key factor explaining why maternal trauma has long- lasting adverse effects on child development, even in circumstances where children do not directly experience trauma. Mothers of color face elevated rates of trauma exposure and PTSS due to racism. Yet, there is virtually no research examining the dual effects of racism and maternal PTSS on child development in families of color. Better characterizing pathways by which maternal PTSS and racism experiences contribute to adverse child outcomes is critical to disrupt the intergenerational transmission of trauma and advance health equity in communities of color. Importantly, research on the spillover effects of maternal trauma on parenting and child outcomes has focused solely on cumulative effects over months/years despite evidence that maternal PTSS and parenting change daily. Daily inconsistency produced by these fluctuations may be an important mechanism underlying intergenerational effects of maternal trauma, yet this is understudied. Moreover, increasing attention is being paid to biological effects of maternal trauma given evidence that changes in physiological systems such as the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal gland (HPA) axis precede the emergence of behavior problems. The proposed study examines associations between maternal experiences of racism, daily maternal PTSS and parenting, and child HPA axis functioning. Participants are mothers of color with PTSS with a child aged 3-5 years (N = 100). Mothers will complete an initial survey assessing her baseline PTSS, parenting, and experiences of racism, followed by a 14-day daily diary collection regarding daily PTSS symptoms and parenting. At the end of the daily diary period, three saliva samples per day for three days will be collected from the child to assess diurnal cortisol. In Aim 1, we will explore same-and next-day associations between PTSS severity and parenting, as well as how daily variability in PTSS relates to parenting inconsistency. Aim 2 will examine how daily maternal factors (PTSS, parenting) relate to child HPA axis functioning (diurnal cortisol slopes). Aim 3 explores the moderating effects of maternal racism experiences on pathways between daily PTSS and child HPA axis functioning, as well as daily PTSS and parenting. The research team (MPIs Stein and Galano; Co-Is Mercado, Miller, and Laws; Consultant: Levendosky) is uniquely positioned to address study aims given expertise in the intergenerational transmission of trauma in early development, HPA axis functioning, and intensive longitudinal designs with traumatized women of color. The proposed research is innovative in its focus on daily processes of the intergenerational transmission of trauma and on contextual moderators relevant to families of color. Given the pervasive effects of maternal trauma on child outcomes this work has important public health significance. Findings will inform an R01 submission to test full mediational pathways between daily PTSS and child HPA axis functioning. Project Number: 1R21HD116166-01A1 | Fiscal Year: 2025 | NIH Institute/Center: Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) | Principal Investigator: Sara Stein (+1 co-PI) | Institution: UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR, ANN ARBOR, MI | Award Amount: $211,935 | Activity Code: R21 | Study Section: Psychosocial Development, Risk and Prevention Study Section[PDRP] View on NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/1R21HD11616601A1