About this paper symposium

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Panel information
Panel 14. Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships

Paper #1
Institutional Care Was Associated with High-risk Allostatic Load Profile in Adolescents 15 Years after Adoption
Author information	Role
Danruo Zhong, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, U.S.	Presenting author
Brie Reid, Northeastern University, U.S.	Non-presenting author
Bonny Donzella, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, U.S.	Non-presenting author
Megan Gunnar, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, U.S.	Non-presenting author
Abstract
Introduction: Early institutional care (i.e., orphanage care) is one of the most severe forms of early adversity, characterized by high harshness, deprivation, and unpredictability (McLaughlin, Sheridan, Humphreys, Belsky, and Ellis, 2021; Smith & Pollak, 2021). Allostatic Load (AL)—the cumulative physiological “wear and tear” of the body due to chronic stress—is a key predictor of long-term health outcomes. Despite its significance, there has been limited understanding of the impacts of early institutional care on allostatic load in adolescents. Hypothesis: Adolescents with a history of early institutional care would be more likely to exhibit high-risk allostatic load profiles compared to peers raised by their birth parents. Study population: Nighty-seven previously institutionalized (PI) adolescents, adopted internationally from orphanage-liked institutions (PI; 61 females; Age range 12.02-21.39 years; Mean age = 16.31, SD age = 2.4 years; Mean Age at adoption= 1.25 years), and 96 youth raised by socioeconomically comparable birth families (Non-adopted, NA; 50 females; Age range 12.11 to 21.92 years; Mean age =15.24, SD age = 2.35 years) (Table 1) were recruited from a large U.S. Midwestern metropolitan areas. Methods: Adolescent allostatic load was assessed through comprehensive health checks during clinic visits, where hair samples, fasting blood samples, and anthropometric measurements were collected. These samples were assayed to provide biomarkers from neuroendocrine (e.g., hair cortisol), immune (e.g., C-reactive protein, interleukin 6, & Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha), metabolic (e.g., high- and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglycerides, glucose, and insulin), cardiovascular (e.g., systolic and diastolic blood pressure) systems, and anthropometric measures (e.g., BMI and waist-to-hip ratio). Institutional care was operationalized as a dichotomous variable (PI =1; NA = 0). We also collected current life stress from the Stress and Adversity Inventory (Adolescent STRAIN; Slavich & Shields, 2018) and adolescents’ race and age as covariates through online questionnaires. We first performed a latent profile analysis (LPA) to identify AL profiles among our sample. To compare AL profiles between PI and NA groups, we then conducted a multinomial logistic regression with group membership (PI vs. NA) as the predictor and the estimated AL profiles as the outcome, while controlling for youth’s age, sex, race, and current life stress. Results: Three distinct AL profiles emerged, namely, “Low-Risk,” “Moderate-Risk,” and “High-Risk” AL profiles (Figure 1). Compared to NA youth, PI youth were 3.67 times more likely to have the “High-Risk” profile (Odds Ratio [OR] = 3.67, SE = 2.27, p = .04). Additionally, one-year increase in age was associated with a higher likelihood of having the “Moderate-Risk“ (OR = 1.17, SE = 0.04, p < .001) and “High-Risk” (OR= 1.21, SE = 0.06, p < .001) AL profiles. Furthermore, males were more likely to have the “High-Risk” profile than females (OR = 3.11, SE = 1.52, p = .02). Our findings revealed a significant association between institutional care and allostatic load in adolescents 15 years after adoption, underscoring the impact of early caregiving adversity on youth’s long-term health.

Paper #2
Youth Exposed to Caregiving Adversity Exhibit Altered Associations Between Diet and the Gut-Microbiome-Brain Axis
Author information	Role
Naomi Gancz, University of California, Los Angeles, U.S.	Presenting author
Jennifer Silvers, University of California, Los Angeles, U.S.	Non-presenting author
Tricia Choy, University of California, Riverside, U.S.	Non-presenting author
Michelle VanTieghem, Columbia University, U.S.	Non-presenting author
Nim Tottenham, Columbia University, U.S.	Non-presenting author
Anne-Catrin Uhlemann, Columbia University, U.S.	Non-presenting author
Bridget Callaghan, University of California, Los Angeles, U.S.	Non-presenting author
Abstract
Introduction: Exposure to early caregiving-related adversity (CRA), defined as significant separation from or maltreatment by a caregiver, increases risks for internalizing symptoms, even years after the adversity has occurred (Juffer & van IJzendoorn, 2005; Yap & Jorm, 2015). Dysregulation of the gut-microbiome-brain axis – the system of crosstalk between the brain and the microorganisms inhabiting the gut – may contribute to this increased risk. However, much remains unknown about the mechanisms by which the gut-microbiome-brain axis imparts risk for or resilience against internalizing symptoms, especially in youth with a history of CRA. Elucidating these mechanisms is imperative to exploring gut microbiome-based treatments to promote mental health in CRA-exposed youth. This is especially true of mechanisms, such as diet, that could be manipulated by low-cost, noninvasive interventions. Hypotheses: We hypothesized that beneficial gut bacteria (e.g., Butyricimonas) would be reduced in the CRA group; that bacteria reduced in the CRA group would be negatively associated with internalizing symptoms; and that high-fiber and low-sugar diets would increase levels of beneficial gut bacteria in the CRA group. Study population: We recruited 102 youth aged 1-17 (54% female, 67% non-White) from a U.S. Northeastern metropolitan area. Among them, the CRA group (n =49) had a history of CRA exposure (e.g., maltreatment leading to foster care or adoption) but no ongoing CRA, and the comparison group (n =53) had never been exposed to any significant CRA. Methods: Gut microbiome data were assessed using 16S rRNA sequencing of stool samples. First, we conducted an exploratory analysis to identify bacterial genera associated with CRA or the interaction between CRA and age. Then, we tested these bacteria’s association with internalizing symptoms, measured via parent-reported Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL; Achenbach, 2004). As a final step, we tested whether diet (assessed via caregiver-reported food diary) could moderate the link between CRA and these microbiome features. All analyses were completed using the MaAsLin2 pipeline (Mallick et al., 2021). Results: Several microbes (e.g., Butyricimonas) reduced in the CRA group were negatively associated with internalizing symptoms (q < .25) (Figure 1), suggesting that the gut microbiome might be a link to the CRA-mental health pathway. Additionally, we found that CRA-exposed youth consuming high-fiber and low-sugar diets exhibited elevated levels of several microbes (Figure 2), such as Butyricimonas, which were negatively associated with internalizing symptoms. These findings suggest that the gut-microbiome-brain axes of CRA-exposed youth may derive unique benefits from diet, highlighting the importance of examining diet as a potential target for preventing or treating internalizing symptoms from CRA exposure. Future work should employ longitudinal designs, higher-resolution microbiome sequencing, and improved diet measures to probe the causality underlying these findings.

Paper #3
Lifelong Health Impacts of Early Life Adversity: Evidence from Nonhuman Primates
Author information	Role
Dr. Amanda Dettmer, Yale University, U.S.	Presenting author
Abstract
Introduction: Accumulating evidence in humans and nonhuman animals indicates that early life adversity can impact health outcomes across the life course (Bhutta et al., 2023; Dettmer & Chusyd, 2023). However, examining health outcomes in older age requires decades of data collection in humans, introduces numerous sociocultural confounds, and makes establishing causal relationships challenging. Nonhuman primate studies thus offer an invaluable comparative complement to human studies to examine the lifelong health impacts of early life-disrupted attachments. Hypothesis: This research incorporates three decades of data on rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) to test the hypothesis that early life adversity in the form of experimentally assigned nursery rearing (NR) negatively impacts social, biological, and physical health in adulthood and older age. Study population: Rhesus macaques aged 8-15 years (N=28-130, depending on the outcome) housed at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Animal Center. Methods: Monkeys were either randomly assigned to the experimental NR condition or the socially-housed mother-reared (MR) control group for the first 8-10 months of life; after differential rearing, NR and MR monkeys were housed and treated identically through adulthood. In adulthood (ages 8-15 years), blood samples were collected during routine health exams. Plasma was analyzed for soluble urokinase plasminogen activator receptor (suPAR), an emerging biomarker of chronic inflammation, and white blood and peripheral blood mononuclear cells were analyzed for DNA methylation (DNAm). A composite health score was calculated based on monkeys’ weight and the number of medical interventions owing to poor health conditions. Rearing group differences in these outcomes were analyzed with t-tests, and correlations were used to analyze relations between biological markers and composite health scores. Results: Despite NR monkeys having significantly lower plasma suPAR concentrations in adulthood than MR monkeys (p =0.035, d =0.33), only NR monkeys showed a significant positive correlation between plasma suPAR concentrations and composite health scores (r=0.039, p =0.04) whereas there was no such correlation for MR controls. Rearing groups did not differ on DNAm measures, but only NR monkeys showed a significant positive correlation between epigenetic age acceleration (i.e., biologically aging faster than chronological age) and composite health scores in adulthood (r =0.80, p =0.01; Figure 1). This finding indicates that for NR monkeys, faster biological aging is associated with poorer health. Additionally, from young adulthood to older age, NR monkeys showed imbalances in substantially more primary metabolites, lipid metabolites, and biogenic amines than MPR monkeys (Figure 2). This research provides initial causal evidence in an evolutionarily relevant animal model of the lifelong health impacts of early life adversity in the form of disrupted attachment. These findings have important implications for future scientific research examining the causal mechanisms underlying the biological embedding of early adversity, and important policy implications related to supports for the caregiver-infant dyad during critical developmental periods.

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