Citation

Buthmann J, Finik J, Ventura G, Zhang W, Shereen AD, Nomura Y. Biol. Psychol. 2019; 146: 107716.

Affiliation

CUNY Graduate Center, Department of Psychology, 365 5th Avenue, New York, NY 10016, USA; CUNY Queens College, Department of Psychology, 65-30 Kissena Blvd, Flushing, NY 11367, USA; CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, 55 W 125th St., New York, NY 10027, USA; CUNY Advanced Science Research Center, Graduate Center, 85 St Nicholas Terrace, New York, NY 10031, USA; Mount Sinai School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, 1 Gustave Levy Pl, New York, NY 10029, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.biopsycho.2019.107716

PMID

31176750

Abstract

We set out to examine the relations between prenatal exposure to the natural disaster Superstorm Sandy, maternal depression, and offspring electrodermal activity (EDA). EDA was measured via skin conductance response (SCR) magnitude in 198 children (M = 42.54 months, SD = 12.76) during a startle paradigm. In keeping with prior research, we expected prenatal depression to be associated with hyporeactive EDA and prenatal stress to be associated with hyperreactive EDA. SCR magnitude was lower in children prenatally exposed to depression alone, when compared to Superstorm Sandy, and controls. SCR magnitude of children prenatally exposed to both maternal depression and the storm was lower than that of all other groups. Our results emphasize the influence of maternal prenatal mental health, support targeted risk assessment for children who experienced an adverse prenatal environment, and highlight the need for a deeper understanding of the interactions between maternal mood and stress on the developing child.

Copyright © 2019. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Language: en

Keywords

depression; electrodermal activity; natural disasters; stress