Child Study Center, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, USA.
Department of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, USA.
Infant Ment Health J. 2022 Jul;43(4):519-532. doi: 10.1002/imhj.21991. Epub 2022 Jun 14.
Maternal substance use is associated with altered neural activity and poor offspring outcomes, which may be facilitated by suboptimal caregiving in the form of impaired parental reflective functioning (PRF). To investigate these associations, the resting-state frontal electroencephalography (EEG) power of 48 substance-using mothers and 37 non-substance-using mothers were examined, specifying seven frequency bands: delta, theta, alpha, alpha1, alpha2, beta, and gamma. Substance-using mothers exhibited enhanced beta and gamma spectral power compared to non-substance-using mothers, potentially reflecting higher arousal states in substance-using mothers. There were no between-group differences in any component of PRF (i.e., levels of pre-mentalizing, certainty, and interest and curiosity). Whole-sample analyses revealed significant positive correlations between pre-mentalizing and delta spectral power. Taken together, these findings suggest potential neural correlates of maternal substance use and PRF, providing an important next step into examining associations between maternal substance use and poor child outcomes.
母亲物质使用与改变的神经活动和不良后代结局有关，这可能通过以下形式的不良养育而得到促进：父母反射功能受损（PRF）。为了研究这些关联，研究人员检查了 48 名物质使用母亲和 37 名非物质使用母亲的静息状态额部脑电图（EEG）功率，指定了七个频带：delta、theta、alpha、alpha1、alpha2、beta 和 gamma。与非物质使用母亲相比，物质使用母亲表现出增强的 beta 和 gamma 光谱功率，这可能反映了物质使用母亲更高的唤醒状态。在 PRF 的任何组成部分（即前心理化、确定性以及兴趣和好奇心的水平）中，两组之间均无差异。全样本分析显示，前心理化与 delta 光谱功率之间存在显著正相关。总之，这些发现表明了母亲物质使用和 PRF 的潜在神经关联，为研究母亲物质使用与不良儿童结局之间的关联提供了重要的下一步。
