Growing Up in Multifactorial Risk Conditions

Plain-language summary

The perinatal period brings significant physiological and emotional changes in mothers, linked to pregnancy, childbirth, and caring for a newborn. While pregnancy is often experienced positively, various stressors can impact maternal well-being and child health. Maternal stress can lead to vascular issues (e.g., hypertension, preeclampsia) or mental health concerns like depression and anxiety. Recent studies show depressive symptoms occur in 41.45% of women in the first trimester, with clinical depression in 9.85%. Postpartum depression has an estimated incidence of 10-20%, with strong continuity from prenatal depression. Stressors, including adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and maternal psychological issues, often lead to emotional dysregulation. This, through intergenerational transmission, can impact a child's emotional regulation into adolescence. Intergenerational transmission involves both biological mechanisms (endocrine, neurophysiological, epigenetic) and social mechanisms (parenting style, early relationship quality). Sensitive, reciprocal adult-child interactions are essential for socio-emotional and cognitive development, and a child's emotional regulation abilities predict later emotional-behavioral issues. Understanding perinatal risk predictors is key to developing programs that reduce such risks. For example, factors like ACEs, unfavorable conditions, complications during pregnancy, and neurodevelopmental challenges in children can negatively affect the child's cognitive, emotional, and behavioral functioning, maternal well-being, epigenetic changes, and dyadic synchrony. Yet, risk factors do not prevent adaptation and may coexist with protective factors that support maternal well-being and child development. Early parenting support is thus essential, particularly in cases with multiple risks. Research indicates that challenges in implementing support programs often arise from insufficient identification of women at risk of psychological distress during pregnancy and postpartum. In many cases, these issues go unrecognized and untreated, or intervention happens late. It is crucial that prenatal screenings assess potential risk factors to identify women who could benefit from psychological and parenting support starting early in pregnancy. Such multidisciplinary interventions aim to limit intergenerational transmission of mental health issues, reducing impact on a child's emotional, behavioral, and cognitive development. Evidence increasingly supports that Home Visiting (HV) programs benefit both maternal mental health and child development. These programs help mothers manage psychopathological risks and parenting stress while fostering strong attachment and interactions that promote the child's emotional-behavioral development. Primary Objectives To investigate, at 18 months of child age (adjusted for prematurity), whether for mothers with perinatal risk, an HV-based parenting support intervention affects: 1.1. The child's emotional-behavioral profile, using the Child Behavioral Checklist 1.5/5 (CBCL); 1.2. Maternal mental well-being, using the Mental Health Continuum-Short Form (MHC-SF). Secondary Objectives Considering cumulative perinatal risk factors, examine if the HV program: 2.1. Increases maternal well-being for the ACE+ group from T0 (pre-intervention, first trimester) to T8 (post-intervention, child at 18 months); 2.2. Promotes mother-child synchrony at 3 months, in relational functioning (mother-child behavior) and cardio-respiratory activity (HRV and RSA); 2.3. Enhances child developmental competencies at 3 and 18 months (domains: (1) motor, (2) adaptive behaviors, (3) socio-emotional, (4) cognitive, (5) communication). Exploratory Objectives Examine if the HV program influences the epigenetic status of mothers (pre- and postnatal) and children (at 3 months). DNA methylation variations will be assessed in mothers and children in the HV program group versus controls, focusing on target genes related to stress regulation (SLC6A4, NR3C1, BDNF), neural plasticity (BDNF), social interaction (DRD4, OXTR), and tactile stimulation perception (Piezo1, Piezo2, TRPV1, TRPM8, MRGPRB4). Additional candidate genes will be identified through computational research.

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