Project
Maternal Drinking and Infant Stress: Hyper Stress Reactivity in 6 Month Old Infants Exposed Prenatally to Alcohol
Principal Investigator(s): Dr. David W. Haley, phone: 604-875-2000 ext.6528, email: dhaley@cw.bc.ca; Nancy Handmaker, and Jean Lowe
Start/End Date: ends June 30, 2005
Location: University of New Mexico
Brief Description:
Background: Animal studies have shown that prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) is linked to alterations in the stress systems. To date, little is known about the impact of PAE on stress response systems in human infants. The current study examined PAE effects on the activation of limbic-hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (L-HPA) axis, sympathetic adrenal medulla, and negative affect during a social-emotional challenge in human infants.
Methods: Measures of cortisol, heart rate, and negative affect were obtained during a modified version of Tronick’s StillFace (1978), a standardized developmental paradigm used to study emotion and stress regulation, among 55 six-to-seven month-old infants whose mothers were enrolled in an alcohol intervention study. Maternal alcohol consumption was assessed using Timeline Follow Back procedures in interviews while the mothers were pregnant and following the delivery of their babies at 1 and 6 months.
Results: Maternal drinking was significantly reduced after the mothers learned of their pregnancies. Alcohol consumption from conception to awareness, the period before women decreased drinking, was moderately related to multiple stress response systems in the infant. Greater PAE during this early period in gestation predicted elevated cortisol responses, increased heart rate, and negative affect during a social challenge. Post-awareness alcohol consumption was not found to be predictive of infant stress responses.
Conclusions: Alcohol exposure in early gestation is related to hyper-activation of stress response systems. Findings suggest that PAE alters the normal infant development of stress systems. These alterations in stress response systems may underlie problems in cognitive and social-emotional functioning that are common among persons exposed to alcohol prenatally.
Time Frame: completed
Type Of Project: research
Population Served: all
Publications: Haley DW, Handmaker NS and Lowe J (2006). Infant stress reactivity and prenatal alcohol exposure. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 30(12):2055-2064.
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