Jody M. Ganiban - US grants

Emotion Regulation (ER) is the ability to modulate the expression of emotion and accompanying arousal states. Deficits in this capacity severely compromise one's capacities to participate in social interactions and to adapt to one's environment. Over time, significant difficulties are likely to lead to psychopathology. The foundation of ER capabilities is established during infancy as Infants first face the task of ER. Therefore, delays or deficits during this time may foreshadow maladaptive or ineffective ER processes in childhood and adulthood. Previous research has described ER behaviors used by infants. However, significantly fewer studies have examined developmental changes in ER behaviors and the processes by which they are controlled. These issues are central to a comprehensive theory of ER development and to understanding how competent versus incompetent forms of ER may emerge. The proposed cross-sectional study will examine age-related changes in: 1) the specific ER behaviors used by infants and the impact these behaviors have upon distress; 2) the range and type of ER behaviors employed by infants; 3) ERA control processes. This study will provide the basis for a more comprehensive study that will explore the evolution of individual differences in ER competence. The proposed study is cross-sectional in design and will include 3 groups of healthy, full-term infants: 4-, 9-, 12-month-old infants. Each group will include 30 infants. Infants will be presented with a series of stimuli that typically evoke negative affect during the first year of life: 1) approach of a novel adult; 2) intrusive game with a novel adult (i.e. pattycake); 3) hat placement; 4) brief arm restraint. These situations will be used to elicit negative affect and ER behaviors within each age-group. Infants' affect expressions and ER behaviors will be coded in 1-second intervals as stimuli are presented. Sequential time analyses will be used to explore the links between specific ER behaviors and changes in the intensity of negative affect within and across the different age groups. Additional analyses will explore group differences in: 1) the range of ER behaviors displayed; 2) the type of ER behaviors displayed; 3) relative usage of individual ER behaviors. A fifth set of sequential time analyses will examine the extent to which changes in affect intensity are related to the initiation, maintenance, switching and termination of ER behaviors. This set of analyses will explore the flexibility of ER control processes within and across the different age groups.

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The number of obese children in the US has increased dramatically over the past thirty years. Most efforts to reverse this trend, however, have not been effective. Two factors may underlie their limited success. First, most programs do not take into account children's personal risk for obesity, including their genetic and prenatal risks. Second, there is little information about factors that predict weight trajectories during childhood. The proposed study tests a comprehensive developmental model of obesity that incorporates child-based (genetic, prenatal) and family-based (parenting practices and modeling) risk factors for obesity, and seeks to identify constellations of risk that predict unhealthy vs. healthy weight trajectories. Furthermore, the degree to which the postnatal environment mediates, mitigates or amplifies the expression of child-based risks for obesity is examined. As such, this study represents a first step in developing new prevention programs that can consider children's weight trajectories in light of their unique vulnerabilities and needs. The proposed research is an extension of the ongoing Early Growth and Development study (EGDS). EGDS is a prospective, longitudinal study of adoptive children, along with their birth parents and adoptive families. Because adoptive children's postnatal environments are distinct from their prenatal environments and genetic risk, the unique and interactive contributions of genes, prenatal, and postnatal factors to child development can be clarified in adoption studies. EGDS has focused on the origins of child emotional and behavioral problems and competence. This proposal seeks to extend the scope of EGDS to include childhood obesity EGDS is comprised of two participant cohorts, for a total sample of 561 sets of adopted children, and their birth and adoptive parents. Cohort I includes 361 sets (birth dates between January 2003 - January 2006;R01-HD042608, PI Leve), and Cohort II includes 200 sets (birth dates between May 2007 and May 2009;R01- DA020585, PI Neiderhiser). EGDS has been funded to assess Cohort I children and adoptive families from child age 9 months through 8 years, and Cohort II children and adoptive families from child age 9 months to 6 years (R01-MH92118, PIs Leve, Neiderhiser). Birth parents from both Cohorts have also been assessed on an ongoing basis since 3 months post-partum. The specific aims of the proposed extension of EGDS are to: (1) Identify genetic, prenatal, and postnatal environmental predictors of weight trajectories from 2-9 years of age;and (2) Test postnatal environmental mediation and moderation models for children's weight trajectories. The proposed research will use growth and prenatal data collected during previous assessments, and gather new data related to children's growth, and behavioral, genetic and postnatal family risks for obesity when children are between 7 and 9 years of age. Analyses will combine data from both Cohorts. This research will enhance understanding of the contributions of genetic, prenatal and postnatal risks to weight trajectories, and of postnatal environments that are most likely to foster healthy weights in the presence of genetic or prenatal risk. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The proposed adoption study examines the relative impacts of genetic, prenatal and environmental obesity risk factors on young children's weight trajectories. This study will enhance knowledge of the origins of childhood obesity, and the impact of environmental factors on the expression of genetic and prenatal risks.

7. Project Summary/Abstract Increasing evidence suggests that exposures from pregnancy through age 5 can result in health deficits and lead to life-long consequences. We propose to leverage and build upon a unique existing ?dual-family? adoption design to isolate early environmental exposures from heritable influences on familial clustering of health problems to contribute to ECHO's overall goal of investigating the role of early life exposures and underlying biological mechanisms in childhood health and disease. Our pediatric sample will be drawn from three cohorts of children (N = 1,201 children) who have been followed prospectively since birth in the Early Growth and Development Study (EGDS). The EGDS cohorts consist of two types of families: adoptive families in which the child is not genetically related to either rearing parent (n = 790 children), and biological families in which the child is genetically related to the rearing parent (n = 411 children). Within these families, we have n = 927 sibling pairs of two types: (1) siblings living apart, in which one sibling was adopted at birth and reared with genetically unrelated parents and the other sibling remained in the biological home and was reared by the biological parent from birth (n = 365 pairs), and (2) siblings living together either in the adoptive home or the biological home (n = 562 pairs). We have established a reliable research infrastructure, exceptional measurement of the early childhood family social environment, medical records data, DNA and salivary cortisol samples, high retention rates, and reliable and transparent data-sharing methods. We will use our well- established prospective adoption sample to (a) help clarify causal inferences about environmental influences on neurodevelopment and obesity, and (b) explore the unfolding interplay between inherited child characteristics and environmental influences from birth to adolescence. In cohorts in which children are reared by biological parents, it is difficult to differentiate the role of the social environment from that of genetic influences. Our dual-family design addresses this fundamental confound. In this application, we emphasize the Focus Area of Neurodevelopment; however, our sample and approach are also well suited for examining environmental influences on Obesity and Airways Focus Areas, as secondary and tertiary foci. In the UG3 phase, we will (1) demonstrate the feasibility of rerecruiting families into ECHO by rerecruiting and consenting families of 1,000 children; (2) prepare for the UH3 period by conducting pilot scale coding of adult medical records, piloting our geocoding system, conducting preliminary analyses, and developing and testing a brief measure of social environmental adversity; and (3) collaborate and plan with the ECHO Steering Committee. In the UH3 period, we will (1) build on the UG3 activities by enhancing our assessment of environmental and inherited risks in the EGDS cohort through in-home and phone assessments of neurodevelopment, obesity, airway function, and the social environment; and (2) conduct ECHO consortium-wide activities as determined by the ECHO Steering Committee.