Reciprocal relationships between a child's engagement with faces and mother-child interaction at 8, 30, and 60 months.

Prioritized attention to faces can be viewed as an early-developing marker of social engagement. This behavior is closely linked with early interactions, but there has been little research examining the longitudinal associations between social engagement and parent-child interaction. We examined the reciprocal relations between mother-child interaction and child engagement with faces from infancy to preschool age.

Mother-Infant Interaction and Maternal Postnatal Psychological Distress Associate with Child's Social-Emotional Development During Early Childhood: A FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study.

We studied the effects of mother-infant interaction and maternal pre- and postnatal psychological distress on children's social-emotional problems and competences, as well as whether interaction quality moderates the association between distress and children's outcomes. Maternal pre- and postnatal psychological distress were measured using the SCL and EPDS questionnaires, whereas mother-infant interaction was measured when the child was 8 months old using the EA Scales. Children's social-emotional development was measured using the BITSEA questionnaire at 2 years old and using the SDQ questionnaire at 4 years old, where higher maternal structuring was associated with fewer social-emotional problems in children and higher maternal sensitivity was associated with greater social-emotional competence in children at 2 years old.

Prepandemic to early COVID-19: Changes in couple functioning and links with harsh parenting.

Research has revealed a rise in family relationship problems during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially among couples with young children. However, longitudinal studies spanning the prepandemic and pandemic periods are rare. In this study, we examined changes in couple functioning during these periods.

Antecedents of maternal pregnancy-related anxiety trajectories: The FinnBrain birth cohort study.

Objective: Little is known about the normative courses of pregnancy-related anxiety throughout pregnancy and their antecedents. We examined in a large scale pregnancy cohort which potentially distinct trajectories of pregnancy-related anxiety across pregnancy can be identified, and which factors predict these trajectories.

Methods: A general sample of pregnant women (n = 2928) from the FinnBrain Birth Cohort participated in this study.

Trajectories of maternal depressive and anxiety symptoms and child's socio-emotional outcome during early childhood.

Maternal symptoms of depression and anxiety during pregnancy and early postnatal years are suggested to impose differential negative effects on child's socio-emotional development depending on the characteristics of the symptoms, such as timing, intensity, and persistence. The aim of this study was to identify trajectories of maternal depressive and anxiety symptoms from pregnancy until 2 years postpartum and to examine their relationship with child socio-emotional problems and competence at 2 and 5 years of age. The sample included 1208 mother-infant dyads from FinnBrain Birth Cohort study.

Across ages and places: Unpredictability of maternal sensory signals and child internalizing behaviors.

Background: Patterns of sensory inputs early in life play an integral role in shaping the maturation of neural circuits, including those implicated in emotion and cognition. In both experimental animal models and observational human research, unpredictable sensory signals have been linked to aberrant developmental outcomes, including poor memory and effortful control. These findings suggest that sensitivity to unpredictable sensory signals is conserved across species and sculpts the developing brain.

Lower maternal emotional availability is related to increased attention toward fearful faces during infancy.

It has been suggested that infants' age-typical attention biases for faces and facial expressions have an inherent connection with the parent-infant interaction. However, only a few previous studies have addressed this topic. To investigate the association between maternal caregiving behaviors and an infant's attention for emotional faces, 149 mother-infant dyads were assessed when the infants were 8 months.

Trait reactance as psychological motivation to reject vaccination: Two longitudinal studies and one experimental study.

Anti-science attitudes can be resilient to scientific evidence if they are rooted in psychological motives. One such motive is trait reactance, which refers to the need to react with opposition when one's freedom of choice has been threatened. In three studies, we investigated trait reactance as a psychological motivation to reject vaccination.

Trajectories of COVID-19 pandemic-related depressive symptoms and potential predictors: the FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study.

Purpose: In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, mental health problems have been reported, and parents of young children may be more vulnerable to psychological distress due to increased caregiving responsibilities. However, research on the heterogeneity of the longitudinal course of psychological symptoms during the pandemic and the predispositions linked with these courses is still scarce. This study aimed to identify differential trajectories of depressive symptoms among the parents of young children and investigate the role of temperament traits, alexithymia, and coping styles in the heterogeneity of the symptom trajectories.

Structural brain correlates of non-verbal cognitive ability in 5-year-old children: Findings from the FinnBrain birth cohort study.

Non-verbal cognitive ability predicts multiple important life outcomes, for example, school and job performance. It has been associated with parieto-frontal cortical anatomy in prior studies in adult and adolescent populations, while young children have received relatively little attention. We explored the associations between cortical anatomy and non-verbal cognitive ability in 165 5-year-old participants (mean scan age 5.

Latent profile analysis of diurnal cortisol patterns at the ages of 2, 3.5, and 5 years: Associations with childcare setting, child individual characteristics, and maternal distress.

This study performed latent profile analysis from more than 4000 saliva cortisol samples collected from children at the ages of 2 (T1), 3.5 (T2), and 5 years (T3). Three clearly different cortisol profiles were identified.

Longitudinal patterns of alcohol use and psychological symptoms during COVID-19 pandemic and role of alexithymia: A latent transition analysis in the FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has been posing widespread influence on mental well-being. However, research on the dynamic relations between alcohol use and psychological symptoms in the context of the pandemic and the role of alexithymic traits in predicting the development of mental health problems longitudinally remains scarce.

Methods: Latent profile and transition analyses were conducted to model the longitudinal patterns of transitions in the profiles of alcohol use and psychological symptoms across 10 months during the pandemic (from May 2020 to March 2021) and to investigate the role of alexithymia and its dimensions Difficulty Identifying and Describing Feelings (DIF and DDF), and Externally Oriented Thinking (EOT) in 720 parents from the FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study.

Investigating the role of relationship satisfaction and paternal psychological distress during pregnancy on offspring health in early life.

Background: The research on the role of father in the foetal programming of health and behaviour has received increasing attention. However, the influences of paternal depressive symptoms and couple relationship satisfaction during pregnancy - potentially mediated via maternal well-being - on the offspring's risk of infections in early life is still seldom assessed.

Aims: The aim was to investigate if paternal psychological distress during pregnancy is associated with elevated risk of recurrent respiratory infections (RRIs) for offspring at 12 months of age, and whether maternal distress mediates the association between paternal distress and offspring RRIs.

Spillover effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on attitudes to influenza and childhood vaccines.

The current study sought to determine whether public perceptions of other vaccines and diseases than COVID-19 have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. We longitudinally examined whether there had been a change from before the COVID-19 pandemic to during the pandemic in: (a) influenza vaccination behaviour and intentions; (b) the perceived benefit of childhood vaccines and influenza vaccines; (c) the perceived safety of childhood vaccines and influenza vaccines; (d) the perceived severity of measles and influenza; and (e) trust in healthcare professionals in two samples of Finnish adults (N = 205 in Study 1 and N = 197 in Study 2). The findings showed that during the pandemic, more people than before had received or wanted to receive the influenza vaccine.

Association of cumulative prenatal adversity with infant subcortical structure volumes and child problem behavior and its moderation by a coexpression polygenic risk score of the serotonin system.

Prenatal adversity has been linked to later psychopathology. Yet, research on cumulative prenatal adversity, as well as its interaction with offspring genotype, on brain and behavioral development is scarce. With this study, we aimed to address this gap.

Higher attention bias for fear at 8 months of age is associated with better socioemotional competencies during toddlerhood.

Background: In previous studies, an attention bias for signals of fear and threat has been related to socioemotional problems, such as anxiety symptoms, and socioemotional competencies, such as altruistic behaviors in children, adolescents and adults. However, previous studies lack evidence about these relations among infants and toddlers.

Aims: Our aim was to study the association between the individual variance in attention bias for faces and, specifically, fearful faces during infancy and socioemotional problems and competencies during toddlerhood.

Prenatal Stress and the Developing Brain: Postnatal Environments Promoting Resilience.

Heightened maternal stress during pregnancy is associated with atypical brain development and an elevated risk for psychopathology in offspring. Supportive environments during early postnatal life may promote brain development and reverse atypical developmental trajectories induced by prenatal stress. We reviewed studies focused on the role of key early environmental factors in moderating associations between prenatal stress exposure and infant brain and neurocognitive outcomes.

Course of child social-emotional and sleep symptoms, parental distress and pandemic-related stressors during COVID-19.

Research on the longitudinal courses of child social-emotional symptoms and sleep during the COVID-19 pandemic within societies would be of key value for promoting child well-being in global crises. We characterized the course of children's social-emotional and sleep symptoms before and throughout the pandemic in a Finnish longitudinal cohort of 1825 5- to 9-year-old children (46% girls) with four follow-up points during the pandemic from up to 695 participants (spring 2020-summer 2021). Second, we examined the role of parental distress and COVID-related stressful events in child symptoms.

Maternal pre-pregnancy body mass index is associated with newborn offspring hypothalamic mean diffusivity: a prospective dual-cohort study.

Background: An extensive body of animal literature supports the premise that maternal obesity during pregnancy can alter the development of the fetal hypothalamus (HTH, a critical regulator of energy balance) with implications for offspring obesity risk (i.e., long-term energy imbalance).

Polygenic risk for neuroticism is associated with externalizing symptoms in 2-year-old boys.

Recent advances in genome-wide association studies have enabled the estimation of genetic risk of complex traits, including neuroticism, with polygenic risk scores (PRS). Neuroticism PRS has been associated with psychiatric disorders and symptoms in adults, but studies in children are scarce. We studied whether neuroticism PRS, and its subscales, worry PRS and depressive affect PRS, were associated with externalizing and internalizing symptoms in 2-year-olds.

Early pathways of maternal mentalization: Associations with child development in the FinnBrain birth cohort study.

Parental mentalization refers to a parents' capacity and interest to consider the individual experience and mental state underlying the behaviors of the child. Higher mentalization is considered a key aspect for parental sensitivity in interaction, fostering child's socioemotional and self-regulatory development. Yet, previous studies have not examined the dynamic pathways through which the maternal mentalization may develop, nor their effects on child development.

Unpredictable maternal sensory signals in caregiving behavior are associated with child effortful control.

Emerging evidence suggests that exposure to unpredictable patterns of maternal sensory signals during infancy is associated with child neurodevelopment, including poorer effortful control. However, longitudinal effects on child development and possible sex differences are understudied. The aims of the present study were to explore whether exposure to unpredictable maternal sensory signals during infancy is related to child effortful control at 5 years of age and whether child sex moderates these associations.