Shorter gestational age (GA) is a risk factor of developmental delay. GA is usually estimated cli... more Shorter gestational age (GA) is a risk factor of developmental delay. GA is usually estimated clinically from last menstrual period and ultrasound. DNA methylation (DNAm) estimates GA using sets of cytosine-guanine-sites coupled with a clock algorithm. Therefore, DNAm-estimated GA may better reflect biological maturation. A DNAm GA greater than clinical GA, known as gestational age acceleration (GAA), may indicate epigenetic maturity and holds potential as an early biomarker for developmental delay risk. We used data from the Upstate KIDS Study to examine associations of DNAm GA and developmental delay within the first 3 years based on the Ages & Stages Questionnaire® (n = 1010). We estimated DNAm GA using two clocks specific to the Illumina Methylation EPIC 850K, the Haftorn clock and one developed from the Effects of Aspirin in Gestation and Reproduction study, in which women were followed to detect pregnancy at the earliest time possible. Among singletons, each week increase in D...
Handbook of Applied Developmental Science in Sub-Saharan Africa, 2017
This chapter describes the contemporary situation of children in sub-Saharan Africa with successi... more This chapter describes the contemporary situation of children in sub-Saharan Africa with successive foci on child growth, the home environment, parenting, and discipline using data from the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS). The MICS is a nationally representative, internationally comparable household survey implemented to examine protective and risk factors of child development in developing countries. We address how 14 developing and under-researched countries in sub-Saharan Africa vary with respect to these central indicators of children’s experiences and development. The chapter concludes with some policy implications from these findings.
The experience of motherhood is one of the most salient events in a woman’s life. Motherhood is a... more The experience of motherhood is one of the most salient events in a woman’s life. Motherhood is associated with a series of neurophysiological, psychological, and behavioral changes that allow women to better adapt to their new role as mothers. Infants communicate their needs and physiological states mainly through salient emotional expressions, and maternal responses to infant signals are critical for infant survival and development. In this study, we investigated the whole brain functional response to emotional infant faces in 20 new mothers and 22 nulliparous women during functional magnetic resonance imaging scans. New mothers showed higher brain activation in regions involved in infant facial expression processing and empathic and mentalizing networks than nulliparous women. Furthermore, magnitudes of the activation of the left parahippocampal gyrus and the left fusiform gyrus, recruited during facial expression processing, were positively correlated with empathic concern (EC) ...
Theory of Mind (ToM) and the structure of intelligence were investigated in 115 4‐year‐olds. Spec... more Theory of Mind (ToM) and the structure of intelligence were investigated in 115 4‐year‐olds. Specifically, we asked whether children’s intelligence involves both general and specific aspects and whether standard ToM measures of false belief can serve as indicators of social intelligence. Psychometric intelligence and children’s domain‐specific understanding of number concepts and of mental states (false belief) were measured in the laboratory; communication and social skills were assessed through mothers’ report. A confirmatory factor analysis revealed poor fit for a one‐factor model, but good fit for a model with three correlated factors, suggesting that children’s intelligence involves both general and specific aspects. Numerate‐spatial and verbal intelligence were correlated (.70), and social intelligence correlated to a stronger degree with verbal (.66) than with numerate‐spatial intelligence (.37). Laboratory assessment of false belief and mothers’ reports about children’s soci...
Drawing stimulus from interpersonal acceptance‐rejection theory, this multicultural study examine... more Drawing stimulus from interpersonal acceptance‐rejection theory, this multicultural study examined relations between men's versus women's remembrances of maternal and paternal acceptance‐rejection in childhood and their current level of loneliness, as mediated by adults' self‐reported psychological maladjustment. Adults (N = 899) from five nations (Iraq, Italy, the Netherlands, Pakistan, and the United States) responded to the Adult version of the Parental Acceptance‐Rejection Questionnaire‐short form for mothers and fathers, the Adult version of the Personality Assessment Questionnaire‐short form, and the Interpersonal Acceptance‐Rejection Loneliness Scale. Adults' remembrances of maternal and paternal rejection in childhood significantly and independently predicted feelings of loneliness but remembered paternal rejection was more strongly related to these feelings than were remembrances of maternal rejection. Psychological maladjustment fully mediated the effect of...
International Journal of Behavioral Development, 2019
Despite the robust link between dispositional optimism and well-being across the lifespan, the de... more Despite the robust link between dispositional optimism and well-being across the lifespan, the developmental origins of dispositional optimism are unknown. Understanding the pathways that lead to greater optimism during the transition from adolescence into young adulthood may be important given that this stage of the life course involves the navigation of multiple simultaneous psychosocial demands. Maternal attachment security may contribute to greater optimism by promoting perceptions of internal control. Participants were 218 European American children (98 females; 120 males), who completed self-report measures across four waves. A path analysis tested the associations between maternal attachment security (ages 10 and 14), locus of control (age 14), dispositional optimism (ages 18 and 23), and psychological well-being (age 23). Tests of indirect effects showed that greater perceptions of internal control at age 14 mediated the association between age 10 maternal attachment securit...
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Nov 23, 2017
This report coordinates assessments of five types of behavioral responses in new mothers to their... more This report coordinates assessments of five types of behavioral responses in new mothers to their own infants' cries with neurobiological responses in new mothers to their own infants' cries and in experienced mothers and inexperienced nonmothers to infant cries and other emotional and control sounds. We found that 684 new primipara mothers in 11 countries (Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Cameroon, France, Kenya, Israel, Italy, Japan, South Korea, and the United States) preferentially responded to their infants' vocalizing distress by picking up and holding and by talking to their infants, as opposed to displaying affection, distracting, or nurturing. Complementary functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) analyses of brain responses to their own infants' cries in 43 new primipara US mothers revealed enhanced activity in concordant brain territories linked to the intention to move and to speak, to process auditory stimulation, and to caregive [supplementary motor area...
Journal of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease, 2016
Zinc is an essential micronutrient for the development of the fetal renal, cardiovascular and met... more Zinc is an essential micronutrient for the development of the fetal renal, cardiovascular and metabolic systems; however, there is limited evidence of its effects on the postnatal cardiometabolic function. In this study, we evaluated the effect of maternal zinc supplementation during pregnancy on the cardiometabolic profile of the offspring in childhood. A total of 242 pregnant women were randomly assigned to receive a daily supplement containing iron+folic acid with or without zinc. A follow-up study was conducted when children of participating mothers were 4.5 years of age to evaluate their cardiometabolic profile, including anthropometric measures of body size and composition, blood pressure, lipid profile and insulin resistance. No difference in measures of child cardiometabolic risk depending on whether mothers received supplemental zinc during pregnancy. Our results do not support the hypothesis that maternal zinc supplementation reduces the risk of offspring cardiometabolic d...
Journal of Child & Adolescent Substance Abuse, 2003
ABSTRACT This study examined age differences in, and associations among, children's attitudes... more ABSTRACT This study examined age differences in, and associations among, children's attitudes and intentions regarding alcohol and cocaine use and possible cognitive underpinnings of such orientations (basic familiarity with each substance, expectancies about short-term psychological and behavioral effects, beliefs about long-term health effects, and causal understanding of drug action). Among 217 first through sixth graders, attitudes and intentions were negative and became less negative with age for alcohol, but more negative with age for cocaine. The cognitive predictors contributed to the prediction of attitudes toward cocaine, but not alcohol. Negative attitudes toward cocaine were associated with being familiar with it, knowing its true long-term effects, and endorsing correct explanations of its behavioral effects. The cognitive predictors failed to significantly predict intentions to use alcohol or cocaine. Findings suggest that fostering accurate beliefs and understandings may promote stronger anti-drug orientations toward less familiar drugs such as cocaine.
Shorter gestational age (GA) is a risk factor of developmental delay. GA is usually estimated cli... more Shorter gestational age (GA) is a risk factor of developmental delay. GA is usually estimated clinically from last menstrual period and ultrasound. DNA methylation (DNAm) estimates GA using sets of cytosine-guanine-sites coupled with a clock algorithm. Therefore, DNAm-estimated GA may better reflect biological maturation. A DNAm GA greater than clinical GA, known as gestational age acceleration (GAA), may indicate epigenetic maturity and holds potential as an early biomarker for developmental delay risk. We used data from the Upstate KIDS Study to examine associations of DNAm GA and developmental delay within the first 3 years based on the Ages & Stages Questionnaire® (n = 1010). We estimated DNAm GA using two clocks specific to the Illumina Methylation EPIC 850K, the Haftorn clock and one developed from the Effects of Aspirin in Gestation and Reproduction study, in which women were followed to detect pregnancy at the earliest time possible. Among singletons, each week increase in D...
Handbook of Applied Developmental Science in Sub-Saharan Africa, 2017
This chapter describes the contemporary situation of children in sub-Saharan Africa with successi... more This chapter describes the contemporary situation of children in sub-Saharan Africa with successive foci on child growth, the home environment, parenting, and discipline using data from the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS). The MICS is a nationally representative, internationally comparable household survey implemented to examine protective and risk factors of child development in developing countries. We address how 14 developing and under-researched countries in sub-Saharan Africa vary with respect to these central indicators of children’s experiences and development. The chapter concludes with some policy implications from these findings.
The experience of motherhood is one of the most salient events in a woman’s life. Motherhood is a... more The experience of motherhood is one of the most salient events in a woman’s life. Motherhood is associated with a series of neurophysiological, psychological, and behavioral changes that allow women to better adapt to their new role as mothers. Infants communicate their needs and physiological states mainly through salient emotional expressions, and maternal responses to infant signals are critical for infant survival and development. In this study, we investigated the whole brain functional response to emotional infant faces in 20 new mothers and 22 nulliparous women during functional magnetic resonance imaging scans. New mothers showed higher brain activation in regions involved in infant facial expression processing and empathic and mentalizing networks than nulliparous women. Furthermore, magnitudes of the activation of the left parahippocampal gyrus and the left fusiform gyrus, recruited during facial expression processing, were positively correlated with empathic concern (EC) ...
Theory of Mind (ToM) and the structure of intelligence were investigated in 115 4‐year‐olds. Spec... more Theory of Mind (ToM) and the structure of intelligence were investigated in 115 4‐year‐olds. Specifically, we asked whether children’s intelligence involves both general and specific aspects and whether standard ToM measures of false belief can serve as indicators of social intelligence. Psychometric intelligence and children’s domain‐specific understanding of number concepts and of mental states (false belief) were measured in the laboratory; communication and social skills were assessed through mothers’ report. A confirmatory factor analysis revealed poor fit for a one‐factor model, but good fit for a model with three correlated factors, suggesting that children’s intelligence involves both general and specific aspects. Numerate‐spatial and verbal intelligence were correlated (.70), and social intelligence correlated to a stronger degree with verbal (.66) than with numerate‐spatial intelligence (.37). Laboratory assessment of false belief and mothers’ reports about children’s soci...
Drawing stimulus from interpersonal acceptance‐rejection theory, this multicultural study examine... more Drawing stimulus from interpersonal acceptance‐rejection theory, this multicultural study examined relations between men's versus women's remembrances of maternal and paternal acceptance‐rejection in childhood and their current level of loneliness, as mediated by adults' self‐reported psychological maladjustment. Adults (N = 899) from five nations (Iraq, Italy, the Netherlands, Pakistan, and the United States) responded to the Adult version of the Parental Acceptance‐Rejection Questionnaire‐short form for mothers and fathers, the Adult version of the Personality Assessment Questionnaire‐short form, and the Interpersonal Acceptance‐Rejection Loneliness Scale. Adults' remembrances of maternal and paternal rejection in childhood significantly and independently predicted feelings of loneliness but remembered paternal rejection was more strongly related to these feelings than were remembrances of maternal rejection. Psychological maladjustment fully mediated the effect of...
International Journal of Behavioral Development, 2019
Despite the robust link between dispositional optimism and well-being across the lifespan, the de... more Despite the robust link between dispositional optimism and well-being across the lifespan, the developmental origins of dispositional optimism are unknown. Understanding the pathways that lead to greater optimism during the transition from adolescence into young adulthood may be important given that this stage of the life course involves the navigation of multiple simultaneous psychosocial demands. Maternal attachment security may contribute to greater optimism by promoting perceptions of internal control. Participants were 218 European American children (98 females; 120 males), who completed self-report measures across four waves. A path analysis tested the associations between maternal attachment security (ages 10 and 14), locus of control (age 14), dispositional optimism (ages 18 and 23), and psychological well-being (age 23). Tests of indirect effects showed that greater perceptions of internal control at age 14 mediated the association between age 10 maternal attachment securit...
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Nov 23, 2017
This report coordinates assessments of five types of behavioral responses in new mothers to their... more This report coordinates assessments of five types of behavioral responses in new mothers to their own infants' cries with neurobiological responses in new mothers to their own infants' cries and in experienced mothers and inexperienced nonmothers to infant cries and other emotional and control sounds. We found that 684 new primipara mothers in 11 countries (Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Cameroon, France, Kenya, Israel, Italy, Japan, South Korea, and the United States) preferentially responded to their infants' vocalizing distress by picking up and holding and by talking to their infants, as opposed to displaying affection, distracting, or nurturing. Complementary functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) analyses of brain responses to their own infants' cries in 43 new primipara US mothers revealed enhanced activity in concordant brain territories linked to the intention to move and to speak, to process auditory stimulation, and to caregive [supplementary motor area...
Journal of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease, 2016
Zinc is an essential micronutrient for the development of the fetal renal, cardiovascular and met... more Zinc is an essential micronutrient for the development of the fetal renal, cardiovascular and metabolic systems; however, there is limited evidence of its effects on the postnatal cardiometabolic function. In this study, we evaluated the effect of maternal zinc supplementation during pregnancy on the cardiometabolic profile of the offspring in childhood. A total of 242 pregnant women were randomly assigned to receive a daily supplement containing iron+folic acid with or without zinc. A follow-up study was conducted when children of participating mothers were 4.5 years of age to evaluate their cardiometabolic profile, including anthropometric measures of body size and composition, blood pressure, lipid profile and insulin resistance. No difference in measures of child cardiometabolic risk depending on whether mothers received supplemental zinc during pregnancy. Our results do not support the hypothesis that maternal zinc supplementation reduces the risk of offspring cardiometabolic d...
Journal of Child & Adolescent Substance Abuse, 2003
ABSTRACT This study examined age differences in, and associations among, children's attitudes... more ABSTRACT This study examined age differences in, and associations among, children's attitudes and intentions regarding alcohol and cocaine use and possible cognitive underpinnings of such orientations (basic familiarity with each substance, expectancies about short-term psychological and behavioral effects, beliefs about long-term health effects, and causal understanding of drug action). Among 217 first through sixth graders, attitudes and intentions were negative and became less negative with age for alcohol, but more negative with age for cocaine. The cognitive predictors contributed to the prediction of attitudes toward cocaine, but not alcohol. Negative attitudes toward cocaine were associated with being familiar with it, knowing its true long-term effects, and endorsing correct explanations of its behavioral effects. The cognitive predictors failed to significantly predict intentions to use alcohol or cocaine. Findings suggest that fostering accurate beliefs and understandings may promote stronger anti-drug orientations toward less familiar drugs such as cocaine.
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Papers by Diane Putnick