Associations between Social Adversity and Biomarkers of Inflammation, Stress, and Aging in Children.

Background: Prior work has found relationships between childhood social adversity and biomarkers of stress, but knowledge gaps remain. To help address these gaps, we explored associations between social adversity and biomarkers of inflammation (interleukin-1β [IL-1β], IL-6, IL-8, tumor necrosis factor-alpha [TNF-α], and salivary cytokine hierarchical "clusters" based on the three interleukins), neuroendocrine function (cortisol, cortisone, dehydroepiandrosterone, testosterone, and progesterone), neuromodulation (N-arachidonoylethanolamine, stearoylethanolamine, oleoylethanolamide, and palmitoylethanolamide), and epigenetic aging (Pediatric-Buccal-Epigenetic clock).

Methods: We collected biomarker samples of children ages 0-17 recruited from an acute care pediatrics clinic and examined their associations with caregiver-endorsed education, income, social risk factors, and cumulative adversity.

Parental sensitivity modifies the associations between maternal prenatal stress exposure, autonomic nervous system functioning and infant temperament in a diverse, low-income sample.

Evidence suggests that adversity experienced during fetal development may shape infant physiologic functioning and temperament. Parental sensitivity is associated with child stress regulation and may act as a buffer against risk for intergenerational health effects of pre- or postnatal adversity. Building upon prior evidence in a racially and ethnically diverse sample of infants (M infant age = 6.

Association between maternal eating and young child feeding in a community sample.

Background: Early childhood is a pivotal period for the development of healthy eating practices. One way to promote child health is to identify early modifiable factors that affect child eating and weight. Given the intergenerational transmission of eating behaviors, this study examined how mothers' eating behaviors were associated with child feeding practices, and whether child weight-for-length (z-WFL) moderated this relation, in a community sample.

Convenient falsehoods and inconvenient truths: Not what leaders thought they would learn.

The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent global economic meltdown severely challenged the world. What leadership lessons did we learn? What should we have learned? As global managers and international human-resource-management thought leaders, have we undervalued the role of humility? Have we overemphasized leaders' impact while markedly underestimating the often-decisive influence of context? Have we embraced convenient illusions and rejected inconvenient truths? Whereas we are excellent at learning, are we equally good at unlearning-at dropping prior approaches and assumptions that either no longer work or have proven false? Have we succeeded in transcending the limiting vocabulary of economic efficiency and embraced a wider range of values and priorities to guide our most important strategies? How skilled are we at learning from each other, when 'the other' differs markedly from us in what they look like, in the languages they speak, and in their most cherished beliefs? What roles are historic parochialism, ethnocentrism, and exceptionalism continuing to play in the 21st century? There is no single heroic expert who can give us the answers or guide us in reaching the future we yearn for. Rather, we need the best thinking, reflection, and creativity of all of us.

Long-term effects of a prenatal mindfulness intervention on depressive symptoms in a diverse sample of women.

Objective: Depression is a public health crisis, and scalable, affordable interventions are needed. Although many psychosocial interventions are effective, there is little research investigating their sustained, long-term influence on well-being. The purpose of this study was to examine whether a prenatal mindfulness intervention with demonstrated benefit for women's depressive symptoms during the early postpartum period would exert effects through 8 years.

The Effects of a Prenatal Mindfulness Intervention on Infant Autonomic and Behavioral Reactivity and Regulation.

Objective: Maternal health and wellness during pregnancy are associated with long-term health outcomes in children. The current study examined whether infants of women who participated in a mindfulness-based intervention during pregnancy that reduced levels of stress and depression, increased physical activity, and improved glucose tolerance differed on biobehavioral markers of psychopathological and physical health risk compared with infants of women who did not.

Methods: Participants were 135 mother-infant dyads drawn from a racially and ethnically diverse, low-income sample experiencing high stress.

Association of Food Insecurity and Food Addiction Symptoms: A Secondary Analysis of Two Samples of Low-Income Female Adults.

Background: Household food insecurity persists in the United States and has important implications for health and well-being. Food insecurity in female-identified caregivers is particularly concerning, given its association with their mental health and adverse health outcomes for their children. Food insecurity is associated with disordered eating but, to our knowledge, no prior studies have examined an association between food insecurity and food addiction.

The Psychological Distress of Food Insecurity: A Qualitative Study of the Emotional Experiences of Parents and Their Coping Strategies.

Background: Food insecurity increases the risks of diet-related chronic disease and mental health outcomes in low-income adults; however, the pathways underlying these associations have not been clearly identified. Chronic, psychological distress may represent an important pathway between food insecurity and health.

Objective: To identify types of psychological distress, experiential descriptions, and the array of emotional responses and coping strategies specific to food insecurity among parents with children DESIGN: A phenomenological qualitative study using one-on-one, in-depth interviews.

Heterogeneous treatment effects in social policy studies: An assessment of contemporary articles in the health and social sciences.

Purpose: Social policies are important determinants of population health but may have varying effects on subgroups of people. Evaluating heterogeneous treatment effects (HTEs) of social policies is critical to determine how social policies will affect health inequities. Methods for evaluating HTEs are not standardized.

Association of 2 Social Needs Interventions With Child Emergency Department Use and Hospitalizations: A Secondary Analysis of a Randomized Clinical Trial.

This secondary analysis of a randomized clinical trial compares the use of a social resources handout alone vs a handout plus guidance for children’s health and health services use.

Association of subjective social status with epigenetic aging among Black and White women.

Objective: Subjective social status (SSS), an individual's assessment of their own social status in relation to others, is associated with health and mortality independently of objective SES; however, no studies have tested whether SSS influences epigenetic aging. The current study examines if SSS is associated with epigenetic age acceleration in both Black and White women, independently of objective SES measured during both childhood and adulthood.

Method: For 9- and 10-year-old Black and White girls, parental education and annual household income was obtained.

The Revolution Will Be Hard to Evaluate: How Co-Occurring Policy Changes Affect Research on the Health Effects of Social Policies.

Extensive empirical health research leverages variation in the timing and location of policy changes as quasi-experiments. Multiple social policies may be adopted simultaneously in the same locations, creating co-occurrence that must be addressed analytically for valid inferences. The pervasiveness and consequences of co-occurring policies have received limited attention.

The association between depression and contraceptive behaviors in a diverse sample of new prescription contraception users.

Objective: Among women initiating new prescription contraception, we investigated the relationship between recent depression and a range of contraceptive behaviors.

Study Design: We used medical and pharmacy records of 52,325 women ages 19 to 29 who initiated prescription contraception (pills, patches or rings, injectables, and long-acting reversible contraceptives) in 2014-2016 at a large integrated healthcare system in Northern California. Women had continuous enrollment for a year before and after initiating, and no records of prescription contraceptive use in the year before initiating.

Powering population health research: Considerations for plausible and actionable effect sizes.

Evidence for Action (E4A), a signature program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, funds investigator-initiated research on the impacts of social programs and policies on population health and health inequities. Across thousands of letters of intent and full proposals E4A has received since 2015, one of the most common methodological challenges faced by applicants is selecting realistic effect sizes to inform calculations of power, sample size, and minimum detectable effect (MDE). E4A prioritizes health studies that are both (1) adequately powered to detect effect sizes that may reasonably be expected for the given intervention and (2) likely to achieve intervention effects sizes that, if demonstrated, correspond to actionable evidence for population health stakeholders.

Salivary cytokine cluster moderates the association between caregivers perceived stress and emotional functioning in youth.

Some individuals exposed to early life stress show evidence of enhanced systemic inflammation and are at greater risk for psychopathology. In the current study, caregivers and their offspring (0-17 years) were recruited at a pediatric clinic visit at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Mothers and seven-year-old children from the Growing Up inSingaporeTowards healthy Outcomes (GUSTO) prospective birth cohort were used as a replication cohort.

Persistent organic pollutants and maternal glycemic outcomes in a diverse pregnancy cohort of overweight women.

Background: Animal and human studies suggest certain persistent organic pollutants (POPs) may impact glucose metabolism; however, few epidemiologic studies have examined environmental determinants of glycemic outcomes during pregnancy. Our objective is to evaluate associations between exposures to individual and mixture of POPs and measures of prenatal fasting glucose, insulin, and insulin resistance during pregnancy in overweight women.

Methods: A cohort of overweight and obese pregnant women (N = 95) was recruited from California.

A call for social informatics.

As evidence of the associations between social factors and health outcomes continues to mount, capturing and acting on social determinants of health (SDOH) in clinical settings has never been more relevant. Many professional medical organizations have endorsed screening for SDOH, and the U.S.

Assessment of Social Risk Factors and Interest in Receiving Health Care-Based Social Assistance Among Adult Patients and Adult Caregivers of Pediatric Patients.

Importance: Health care organizations are increasingly incorporating social risk screening into patient care. Studies have reported wide variations in patients' interest in receiving health care-based assistance for identified social risks. However, no study to date has examined the factors associated with patients' interest in receiving assistance, including whether interest in receiving assistance varies based on specific patient demographic characteristics.

Maternal Stress During Pregnancy Predicts Infant Infectious and Noninfectious Illness.

Objectives: To examine the association between prenatal stress and infant physical health in the first year of life within an understudied, racially and ethnically diverse, highly stressed community sample. We expected that greater stress exposure would predict higher rates of infant illness.

Study Design: Low-income, racially/ethnically diverse, overweight women with low medical risk pregnancies were recruited (2011-2014) during pregnancy.

Effects of In-Person Navigation to Address Family Social Needs on Child Health Care Utilization: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: While many organizations endorse screening for social risk factors in clinical settings, few studies have examined the health and utilization effects of interventions to address social needs.

Objective: To compare the acute care utilization effects of a written resources handout vs an in-person navigation service intervention to address social needs.

Design, Settings, And Participants: In this secondary analysis of a randomized clinical trial, 1809 adult caregivers of pediatric patients seen in primary and urgent care clinics of 2 safety-net hospitals in northern California were recruited between October 13, 2013, and August 27, 2015.

Prenatal Maternal Objective and Subjective Stress Exposures and Rapid Infant Weight Gain.

Objectives: To evaluate the associations between 3 prenatal stress exposures and rapid infant weight gain.

Study Design: Participants were 162 maternal-child dyads drawn from a nonrandomized controlled trial evaluating a prenatal intervention for reducing women's stress and excessive gestational weight gain and subsequent longitudinal observational study of offspring outcomes. Participants were predominantly low-income and racial or ethnic minorities, and mothers were overweight or obese prepregnancy.