Prenatal Psychosocial Determinants of Neonatal Brain Structure
(2025) PSYP01 20251Department of Psychology
- Abstract
- Accumulating research shows that maternal mental health during pregnancy is linked to early neurodevelopmental changes in the offspring. Yet, there is a gap in examining how multiple prenatal risk and resilience factors are associated with early brain development. Therefore, this study explored multiple maternal and paternal psychosocial factors during pregnancy, and their link to neonatal brain structure. Using data from the FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study, this study examined the associations between parental psychosocial factors and neonatal intracranial volume, hippocampus, and amygdala grey-matter volumes and white matter microstructure, obtained using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans of 174 neonates. A range of parental... (More)
- Accumulating research shows that maternal mental health during pregnancy is linked to early neurodevelopmental changes in the offspring. Yet, there is a gap in examining how multiple prenatal risk and resilience factors are associated with early brain development. Therefore, this study explored multiple maternal and paternal psychosocial factors during pregnancy, and their link to neonatal brain structure. Using data from the FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study, this study examined the associations between parental psychosocial factors and neonatal intracranial volume, hippocampus, and amygdala grey-matter volumes and white matter microstructure, obtained using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans of 174 neonates. A range of parental psychosocial self-reported measures were first analyzed using exploratory factor analysis resulting in four latent factors for mothers (mental health and well-being, early relationships, pregnancy-related anxiety, attachment) and two latent factors for fathers (mental health and well-being, social bonding). The relationship between latent factors and neonatal brain metrics were investigated through structural equation modeling. Corrected for multiple comparisons, we found that better maternal mental health and well-being was associated with larger neonatal intracranial volume, while better paternal mental health and well-being was correlated with lower fractional anisotropy in the cingulum hippocampus and inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus, and higher mean diffusivity in the inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus. These findings suggest that both maternal and paternal psychological health during pregnancy influence neonatal brain architecture, which may impact neuropsychiatric risk or resilience. The study reinforces the need for holistic prenatal care models that integrate parental psychosocial well-being, promoting better health outcomes across generations. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9187221
- author
- Kovacs, Boglarka Zsofia LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- PSYP01 20251
- year
- 2025
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- prenatal programming, prenatal psychosocial exposure, neonatal brain structure, neonatal brain microstructure, structural equation modeling
- language
- English
- id
- 9187221
- date added to LUP
- 2025-04-03 08:11:20
- date last changed
- 2025-04-03 08:11:20
@misc{9187221,
abstract = {{Accumulating research shows that maternal mental health during pregnancy is linked to early neurodevelopmental changes in the offspring. Yet, there is a gap in examining how multiple prenatal risk and resilience factors are associated with early brain development. Therefore, this study explored multiple maternal and paternal psychosocial factors during pregnancy, and their link to neonatal brain structure. Using data from the FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study, this study examined the associations between parental psychosocial factors and neonatal intracranial volume, hippocampus, and amygdala grey-matter volumes and white matter microstructure, obtained using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans of 174 neonates. A range of parental psychosocial self-reported measures were first analyzed using exploratory factor analysis resulting in four latent factors for mothers (mental health and well-being, early relationships, pregnancy-related anxiety, attachment) and two latent factors for fathers (mental health and well-being, social bonding). The relationship between latent factors and neonatal brain metrics were investigated through structural equation modeling. Corrected for multiple comparisons, we found that better maternal mental health and well-being was associated with larger neonatal intracranial volume, while better paternal mental health and well-being was correlated with lower fractional anisotropy in the cingulum hippocampus and inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus, and higher mean diffusivity in the inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus. These findings suggest that both maternal and paternal psychological health during pregnancy influence neonatal brain architecture, which may impact neuropsychiatric risk or resilience. The study reinforces the need for holistic prenatal care models that integrate parental psychosocial well-being, promoting better health outcomes across generations.}},
author = {{Kovacs, Boglarka Zsofia}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Prenatal Psychosocial Determinants of Neonatal Brain Structure}},
year = {{2025}},
}