ORCID Profile
0000-0002-9723-1141
Current Organisation
Lady Davis Instititute - Jewish General Hospital
Does something not look right? The information on this page has been harvested from data sources that may not be up to date. We continue to work with information providers to improve coverage and quality. To report an issue, use the Feedback Form.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 2021
Publisher: Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health)
Date: 06-2017
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 26-08-2016
DOI: 10.1111/MCN.12359
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2019
DOI: 10.1016/J.JAD.2019.05.041
Abstract: It is well recognized that childhood sleep, attention and mood problems increase risk for multiple adverse outcomes across the life-span therefore, understanding factors, such as prenatal maternal stress, that underlie these types of childhood problems is critical for developing interventions that may optimize longer-term functioning. Our goal was to determine the association between disaster-related stress in pregnancy and young children's sleep, attention, and anxious/depressed symptoms. Soon after a major flood in Australia in 2011, we assessed various aspects of disaster-related prenatal maternal stress (PNMS) in women who had been pregnant at the time. Mothers rated several domains of their children's development with the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) at ages 2½ (n = 134) and 4 years (n = 118). The primary finding was that more severe objective flood-related hardship in pregnancy predicted higher sleep problem scores at 2½ years, and that a negative maternal cognitive appraisal of the flood predicted lower attention problem scores at 2½ years. A cross-lagged panel analysis examined the association between children's sleep, attention, and anxious/depressed symptoms within and across ages. Results showed that these problems were likely to co-occur at each age, and that they were stable from 2½ to 4 years. Additionally, anxious/depressed scores at age 2½ predicted sleep problem scores at 4 years, all else being equal. Limitations of the study include a relatively small s le size and the children's outcome data relied on maternal report using the CBCL, rather than independent observation of the children's functioning, which may have introduced reporter bias. These findings highlight the importance of early intervention for these childhood problems to optimize long-term mental health, particularly under conditions of prenatal stress.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 05-11-2019
DOI: 10.1017/S0954579418000871
Abstract: The 5-HTTLPR polymorphism of the serotonin transporter has been shown to play a role in autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Moreover, disaster-related prenatal maternal stress (PNMS) has also been shown to be associated with ASD. However, no study to date has examined whether these two factors, either in idually or in combination, are predictive of ASD traits in the same s le. We hypothesized that children, particularly boys, with the LL genotype exposed to high levels of disaster-related PNMS would exhibit higher levels of ASD traits compared to boys with the LS or SS genotypes and girls regardless of genotype. Genotype and ASD levels obtained using the Australian normed Autism Spectrum Rating Scales – Short Form were available for 105 30-month-old children exposed to varying levels of PNMS following the 2011 Queensland Flood. For boys, higher ASD traits were associated with the 5-HTTLPR LL genotype in combination with either a negative maternal appraisal of the flood, or high levels of maternal composite subjective stress, PSTD-like or peritraumatic dissociation symptoms. For girls, maternal peritraumatic dissociation levels in combination with the 5-HTTLPR LS or SS genotype were associated with higher ASD traits. The present findings are the first to demonstrate that children’s genotype moderates effects of disaster-related PNMS on ASD traits, with different pattern according to child sex.
Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA)
Date: 04-2017
DOI: 10.1037/DEV0000272
Abstract: Fetal exposure to prenatal maternal stress can have lifelong consequences, with different types of maternal stress associated with different areas of child development. Fewer studies have focused on motor skills, even though they are strongly predictive of later development across a range of domains. Research on mechanisms of transmission has identified biological cascades of stress reactions, yet links between psychological stress reactions are rarely studied. This study investigates the relationship between different aspects of disaster-related prenatal maternal stress and child cognitive and motor development, and proposes a cascade of stress reactions as a potential mechanism of transmission. Mothers in the Queensland Flood Study (QF2011) exposed to a major flood during pregnancy completed questionnaires assessing flood exposure, symptoms of peritraumatic distress, dissociation, and posttraumatic stress (PTSD), and cognitive appraisal of the overall flood consequences. At 16 months post-partum, children's (N = 145) cognitive and motor development was assessed using the Bayley-III. Flood exposure predicted child cognitive development and maternal PTSD symptoms and negative cognitive appraisal were significantly negatively related to child motor development, with all relationships moderated by timing of exposure. Together, a cascade of stress reactions linked maternal flood exposure to poorer fine motor development. These findings suggest that the way stress reactions operate together is as important as the way they operate in isolation, and identifies a potential psychological mechanism of transmission for the effects of prenatal stress. Results have implications for conceptualizing prenatal stress research and optimizing child development in the wake of natural disasters. (PsycINFO Database Record
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 24-03-2017
DOI: 10.1017/S2040174417000186
Abstract: Research shows that stress in pregnancy has powerful and enduring effects on many facets of child development, including increases in behavior problems and neurodevelopmental disorders. Theory of mind is an important aspect of child development that is predictive of successful social functioning and is impaired in children with autism. A number of factors related to in idual differences in theory of mind have been identified, but whether theory of mind development is shaped by prenatal events has not yet been examined. In this study we utilized a sudden onset flood that occurred in Queensland, Australia in 2011 to examine whether disaster-related prenatal maternal stress predicts child theory of mind and whether sex of the child or timing of the stressor in pregnancy moderates these effects. Higher levels of flood-related maternal subjective stress, but not objective hardship, predicted worse theory of mind at 30 months ( n =130). Further, maternal cognitive appraisal of the flood moderated the effects of stress in pregnancy on girls’ theory of mind performance but not boys’. These results illuminate how stress in pregnancy can shape child development and the findings are discussed in relation to biological mechanisms in pregnancy and stress theory.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 10-08-2018
DOI: 10.1002/DEV.21767
Abstract: This prospective, longitudinal cohort study examined the effects of flood-related stress in pregnancy on the trajectory of children's motor development and the moderating effects of gestational timing of the flood or sex of the child. Women who were pregnant during a severe flood reported on their objective flood-related experiences, emotional reactions, and cognitive appraisal of the disaster. At 2-, 6-, 16-months, 2½- and 4-years postpartum, mothers' assessed their children's fine and gross motor development using the Ages and Stages-3 Questionnaire. High objective flood-exposure, or a negative appraisal, especially in later pregnancy, predicted poorer gross motor skills which rapidly improved across early childhood. Children's fine motor skill was influenced by the sex of the child with improvements in girls' fine motor skills over time, but not boys'. This demonstrates that stress in pregnancy has enduring influences on gross, but not fine, motor skills. Results are discussed in relation to fetal programming and stress appraisal theory.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2017
DOI: 10.1016/J.INFBEH.2017.10.005
Abstract: Prenatal maternal stress exposure has been linked to sub-optimal developmental outcomes in toddlers, while maternal emotional availability is associated with better cognitive and language abilities. It is less clear whether early care-giving relationships can moderate the impact of prenatal stress on child development. The current study investigates the impact of stress during pregnancy resulting from the Queensland Floods in 2011 on toddlers' cognitive and language development, and examines how maternal emotional availability is associated with these outcomes. Data were available from 131 families. Measures of prenatal stress (objective hardship, cognitive appraisal, and three measures of maternal subjective stress) were collected within one year of the 2011 Queensland floods. Maternal emotional availability was rated from video-taped mother-child play sessions at 16 months: sensitivity (e.g., affective connection, responsiveness to signals) and structuring (e.g., scaffolding, guidance, limit-setting). The toddlers' cognitive and language development was assessed at 30 months. Interactions were tested to determine whether maternal emotional availability moderated the relationship between prenatal maternal stress and toddler cognitive and language functioning. Prenatal stress was not correlated with toddlers' cognitive and language development at 30 months. Overall, the higher the maternal structuring and sensitivity, the better the toddlers' cognitive outcomes. However, significant interactions showed that the effects of maternal structuring on toddler language abilities depended on the degree of prenatal maternal subjective stress: when maternal subjective stress was above fairly low levels, the greater the maternal structuring, the higher the child vocabulary level. The current study highlights the importance of maternal emotional availability, especially structuring, for cognitive and language development in young children. Findings suggest that toddlers exposed to higher levels of prenatal maternal stress in utero may benefit from high maternal structuring for their language development.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2018
DOI: 10.1016/J.PSYNEUEN.2018.04.027
Abstract: We investigated the effects of a natural disaster (a sudden flood) as a source of prenatal maternal stress (PNMS) on the placental glucocorticoid system and glucose transporters. Whether the gestational age at the time of the flood moderated these effects was also evaluated. Placental s les were collected from participants in the 2011 Queensland Flood Study (QF2011) who were pregnant in the first or second trimester at the onset of the flood. Detailed questionnaire results for objective hardship and composite subjective distress were obtained to assess stress levels. Subjective distress was significantly associated with a reduction in placental NR3C1-β mRNA levels for males only (β = -0.491, p = 0.005). In female placentas, objective hardship was marginally linked with lower SLC2A1 mRNA levels while subjective distress was a marginally significant predictor of higher placental SLC2A4 mRNA levels. Gestational age at the time of the flood was a significant moderator of the effect of subjective distress on placental mRNA levels for NR3C1-α (p = 0.046) and HSD11B1 (p = 0.049) in male placentas: if the flood occurred in mid-pregnancy, lower subjective distress predicted higher HSD11B1 while higher subjective distress predicted lower NR3C1-α placental mRNA level. While results did not show any PNMS effects on placental HSD11B2 mRNA and protein levels, and activity, we showed a reduction in placental NR3C1-β mRNA level in male placentas. Our results show evidence of distinct placental glucocorticoid and glucose systems adaptations to PNMS as a function of fetal sex and gestational timing of exposure, with high subjective PNMS in mid-pregnancy associated with lower levels of expression of glucocorticoid-promoting gene in males, leaving the fetus less protected against maternal stress. The exact mechanism by which natural disaster-related PNMS acts on the placenta and the impact on fetal programming requires further investigation.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2020
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-2018
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 22-03-2016
DOI: 10.1002/DEV.21407
Abstract: The current study examined the effects of a natural disaster (a sudden onset flood) as a stressor in pregnancy on infant fine and gross motor development at 2, 6, and 16 months of age. Whether the timing of the stressor in pregnancy or sex of the infant moderated the impact of the prenatal maternal stress on motor development was also explored. Mothers' objective experiences of the flood, emotional reactions and distress, and their cognitive appraisal of the event were assessed retrospectively. Infants' fine and gross motor skills were assessed with the Ages and Stages Questionnaire, and results showed age-related changes in the effects of prenatal maternal stress on these domains. At 2 months, higher levels of prenatal maternal stress was positively related to infant motor development, yet at 6 and 16 months of age there was a negative association, particularly if flood exposure occurred later in pregnancy and if mothers had negative cognitive appraisals of the event. Results also showed differential effects of the maternal stress responses to the floods on infants' fine and gross motor development at each age and that infant sex did not buffer these effects. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 58: 640-659, 2016.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 26-09-2016
DOI: 10.1111/INFA.12166
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2020
No related grants have been discovered for David P. Laplante.