Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
ReviewIntergenerational Transmission of Maternal Childhood Maltreatment Exposure: Implications for Fetal Brain Development
Section snippets
Prevalence and long-term consequences of exposure to childhood maltreatment and biological pathways
The term childhood maltreatment is commonly used to refer to specific traumatic events that occur in childhood such as different forms of childhood abuse (physical, sexual, emotional) or neglect (physical, emotional). Large population-based surveys have suggested many children in the United States are exposed to CM,19, 20 and that 30% to 40% of adult women have experienced at least 1 and 15% to 25% have experienced more than 1 type of abuse or neglect in their childhood.21, 22, 23 Similar
Intergenerational transmission of effects of maternal exposure to childhood maltreatment
Increasing evidence suggests that the detrimental consequences of CM exposure might not be restricted to the exposed individual alone but might be transmitted to the next generation, thus significantly extending the long-term reach of CM. Several studies have reported that children of mothers with a history of CM exposure exhibit a higher prevalence of adverse birth outcomes,46 neurodevelopmental and behavioral problems (e.g., conduct disorders, antisocial behavior, externalizing and
Mechanisms of intergenerational transmission of childhood maltreatment
Broadly, the intergenerational transmission of characteristics and states (phenotypes) can be mediated through genetic and/or environmental mechanisms. The independent contribution of genetic (DNA base pair sequence) variation for most complex common traits including psychopathology appears to be relatively modest.49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54 Specifically in the context of CM-related phenotypes, intergenerational transmission of these sequelae through inheritance of genetic variants would imply the
Questions, issues, considerations, and future research directions
Our framework and the empirical findings discussed earlier support the plausibility that maternal CM exposure might alter the gestational environment in ways that program offspring phenotypes to increase susceptibility for psychopathology. In this context, it is apparent that the efficacy of potential interventions would be enhanced by the extent to which they can target earlier rather than later stages of brain development. Currently, there are many open questions on the extent of
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An interview with the author is available by podcast at www.jaacap.org or by scanning the QR code to the right.
The preparation of this article was supported by US Public Health Service (National Institutes of Health) grants R01 MH-091351 to C.B. and P.D.W.; R01 MH-105538 to C.B., D.A.F., and P.D.W.; and R01 HD-060628 to P.D.W.
Drs. Buss and Wadhwa, the first and senior authors, respectively, contributed equally to the preparation of this article.
Disclosure: Drs. Buss, Entringer, Fair, Simhan, Heim, Wadhwa, Ms. Moog, and Mr. Toepfer report no biomedical financial interests or potential conflicts of interest.