Happy Mommy! Happy Baby! Study

The objectives of this study are to further our understanding of maternal prepubertal adversity on fetal and infant neuroendocrine development. This study utilizes 3-D ultrasound to measure fetal adrenal gland volume, a battery of psychosocial/behavioral assessments to determine the degree of maternal stress and prepubertal adversity, and an acoustic startle paradigm and Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) to assess maternal arousal. This study also utilizes an infant stress test to assess infant arousal.

Inclusion criteria

• Aged 18 to 45 years;
• Able to give written informed consent;
• Between 8 to 17 weeks at time of recruitment;
• Attendance at 20 week ultrasound at a UPHS site;
• Healthy full term (35 6/7 weeks) infants;
• Fluency in written and spoken English.

Exclusion criteria

• Presence of a known abnormality in the present fetus, twin pregnancy or a multiple pregnancy;
• Presence of a serious medical or neurological illness, requiring treatment during pregnancy;
• Use of an antipsychotic or antidepressant medication anytime within 2 months prior to the last menstrual period;
• Drug or alcohol abuse history within previous 2 years;
• Life-time history of psychotic disorder including, schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder; major depression with psychotic features and bipolar disorder
• Active psychiatric illness requiring treatment based upon the clinical judgement of the study psychiatrist;
• Hamilton Depression Rating Scale Score > 14;
• Suicidal ideation within the previous 6 months;
• Use of steroids drugs of antihypertensives during pregnancy as they could alter physiologic arousal;
• A history of preterm birth or history of preterm labor in the active pregnancy.