Department of Psychology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA.
Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, New York, USA.
Dev Psychobiol. 2024 Apr;66(3):e22476. doi: 10.1002/dev.22476.
Prenatal maternal internalizing psychopathology (depression and anxiety) and socioeconomic status (SES) have been independently associated with higher risk for internalizing and externalizing problems in children. However, the pathways behind these associations are not well understood. Numerous studies have linked greater right frontal alpha asymmetry to internalizing problems; however, findings have been mixed. Several studies have also linked maternal internalizing psychopathology to children's frontal alpha asymmetry. Additionally, emerging studies have linked SES to children's frontal alpha asymmetry. To date, only a limited number of studies have examined these associations within a longitudinal design, and the majority have utilized relatively small samples. The current preregistered study utilizes data from a large prospective study of young children (N = 415; Mean = 7.27 years; Range = 5-11 years) to examine the association between prenatal maternal internalizing symptoms, children's frontal alpha asymmetry, and behavior problems. Prenatal maternal internalizing symptoms did not predict children's frontal alpha asymmetry, and there was no association between frontal alpha asymmetry and behavior problems. However, mothers' internalizing symptoms during pregnancy predicted children's internalizing and externalizing outcomes. Non-preregistered analyses showed that lower prenatal maternal SES predicted greater child right frontal alpha asymmetry and internalizing problems. Additional non-preregistered analyses did not find evidence for frontal alpha asymmetry as a moderator of the relation between prenatal maternal internalizing psychopathology and SES to children's behavior problems. Future research should examine the impact of SES on children's frontal alpha asymmetry in high-risk samples.
产前母亲的内化心理病理学（抑郁和焦虑）和社会经济地位（SES）与儿童内化和外化问题的风险增加独立相关。然而，这些关联背后的途径尚不清楚。许多研究将更大的右额前 alpha 不对称与内化问题联系起来；然而，研究结果喜忧参半。一些研究还将母亲的内化心理病理学与儿童的额前 alpha 不对称联系起来。此外，新兴研究将 SES 与儿童的额前 alpha 不对称联系起来。迄今为止，只有少数研究在纵向设计中检查了这些关联，而且大多数研究使用的样本相对较小。本研究利用了一项对幼儿的大型前瞻性研究的数据（N=415；Mean=7.27 岁；范围=5-11 岁），以检验产前母亲的内化症状、儿童的额前 alpha 不对称和行为问题之间的关联。产前母亲的内化症状并不能预测儿童的额前 alpha 不对称，额前 alpha 不对称与行为问题之间也没有关联。然而，母亲在怀孕期间的内化症状预测了儿童的内化和外化结果。非预注册分析显示，产前母亲 SES 较低预测了更大的儿童右额前 alpha 不对称和内化问题。其他非预注册分析并未发现额前 alpha 不对称作为产前母亲内化心理病理学和 SES 与儿童行为问题之间关系的调节因素的证据。未来的研究应该在高风险样本中检查 SES 对儿童额前 alpha 不对称的影响。
