Christine Guardino

Dickinson College · Department of Psychology

Objective: Parental trauma exposure and trauma-related distress can increase risk for adverse health outcomes in offspring, but the pathways implicated in intergenerational transmission are not fully explicated. Accelerated biological aging may be one mechanism underlying less favorable health in trauma-exposed individuals and their offspring. Thi...

Objective: Interdependence with family is considered a core element of collectivistic cultures, and it is routinely endorsed by people of ethnic/racial minority backgrounds in the United States. In contrast, a preference for independence from family is characteristic of individualistic cultures, and of European Americans, who are considered protot...

Resilience resources refer to factors that protect against the physical and mental health effects of stress exposure. This study used a cross-sectional design to test whether three individual-level resilience resources-mastery, self-esteem, and perceived social support-moderated associations between prenatal major life stressors and postpartum depr...

Background: Stress before conception and during pregnancy is associated with less favorable maternal and child health. Alterations in prenatal cortisol levels may serve as a central biological pathway linking stress to adverse maternal and child health. Research examining associations between maternal stress from childhood through pregnancy and pr...

The childhood family environment can influence long-term well-being in part by modifying how individuals' respond to and cope with stress across the life span. Theoretical models propose that childhood stress will either exacerbate (stress sensitization) or attenuate (steeling effect) the effects of adult stress on mental health. This study tests w...

The current study investigates whether prepregnancy maternal posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, depressive symptoms, and stress predict children's cortisol diurnal slopes and cortisol awakening responses (CARs) adjusting for relevant variables. Mothers were enrolled after delivering a baby and followed through their subsequent pregnancy...

Background Two theoretical frameworks, the cumulative stress and match-mismatch model, propose that patterns of maternal depressive symptoms over early periods of offspring development predict outcomes in opposing ways. Studies have yet to test these theories across the preconception, prenatal, and early postnatal period. Study 1 identified trajec...

The developmental origins of psychopathology begin before birth and perhaps even prior to conception. Understanding the intergenerational transmission of psychopathological risk is critical to identify sensitive windows for prevention and early intervention. Prior research demonstrates that maternal trauma history, typically assessed retrospectivel...

Objective: Subjective social status (SSS) refers to an individual's perception of relative social rank. We tested associations between SSS and allostatic load, a multisystem index of physiological dysregulation, in a sample of women 1 year after the birth of a child. Method: Participants (n = 1,168) in the Community Child Health Network study we...

Background and aim Resilience resources are associated with positive mental and physical health outcomes. However, we know little about protective factors in low-income or racially or ethnically diverse populations of men. This study examined socioeconomic status and racial/ethnic differences in resilience resources among low-income Black, Latino,...

Background Stress in pregnancy predicts adverse birth outcomes. Stressors occurring prior to conception may also pose risk for the mother and child. The few published studies on preconception stress test a single stress measure and examine only linear associations with birth outcomes. Purpose Guided by findings in the prenatal stress literature, t...

This prospective longitudinal study evaluated multiple maternal biomarkers from the preconception and prenatal periods as time‐sensitive predictors of child executive functioning (EF) in 100 mother–child dyads. Maternal glycated hemoglobin (HbA1C), C‐reactive protein (CRP), and blood pressure (BP) were assayed before pregnancy and during the second...

Background Maternal stress during pregnancy can influence the trajectory of fetal development, shaping offspring physiology and health in enduring ways. Some research implicates fetal programming of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis as a mediator of these effects. The present study is the first to examine child hair cortisol conc...

Objective: Using a conceptual model of postpartum depression risk in Latinas including both contextual and cultural stressors, we tested contributions to depressive symptom levels and trajectories over the course of 1 year following birth in a community sample of Latinas. Method: A multisite sample of low-income U.S.-born and foreign-born Latina...

Background: Pregnancy anxiety predicts adverse developmental outcomes in offspring from infancy through late childhood, but studies have not examined associations with outcomes in early childhood, nor clarified ethnic or cultural variations in these processes. Aims: (1) To examine differences in pregnancy anxiety and related concerns between non...

Maternal psychosocial stress during pregnancy can adversely influence child development, but few studies have investigated psychosocial stress during the postpartum period and its association with risk of toddler developmental delays. Moreover, given the expanding diversity of the U.S. population, and well‐documented health and stress disparities f...

Objective: Weight stigma adversely affects the health of the general population, but almost no studies have examined possible negative consequences of weight stigma in the context of pregnancy. The present study tested whether experiencing weight stigma in pregnancy is inversely related to mental and physical health in mothers during the first pos...

Physical activity promotes better health outcomes across the lifespan, and provides physical and mental health benefits for women who have recently given birth. However, research has not adequately characterized physical activity levels or risk factors for inadequate physical activity during the postpartum period. The objective of the present study...

Intimate partner relationship quality during the child-bearing years has implications for maternal health. The purpose of this study was to test whether partner satisfaction, partner conflict, and their interaction predicted maternal cardio-metabolic health at 12-months postpartum. Women were recruited in 5 U.S. sites. Partner conflict and satisfac...

Objective: Previous research has shown that a woman's anxiety about her pregnancy predicts gestational length. Placental corticotrophin-releasing hormone (CRH) is a stress-responsive peptide proposed as a mechanism. We examined placental CRH as a physiological mediator of the association between pregnancy anxiety and gestational length in Latina a...

Background: Prenatal health disparities exist for African Americans and low socioeconomic status (SES) individuals when compared to non-Hispanic Whites and people of higher SES, particularly in cardio-metabolic diseases. Furthermore, having had a pregnancy-specific cardio-metabolic disease, e.g. preeclampsia, increases risk for future cardio-metabo...

Attachment theory posits that working models of close relationships developed early in life inform expectations of adult partner relationships. Attachment anxiety (i.e. fear of abandonment or rejection) is associated with poorer outcomes, and could be detrimental during the postpartum period when the partner relationship is central to navigating ph...

Blacks and the poor experience cardio-metabolic health disparities relative to Whites and higher socioeconomic status (SES) persons. Few studies assess how race and SES together predict cardio-metabolic health, and if gender is a moderator. The purpose of this study was to explore the link between a race/ethnicity by SES interaction and cardio-meta...

Poor and Black persons experience cardio-metabolic health disparities relative to White and higher socioeconomic status (SES) persons. Few studies consider how race/ethnicity and SES together predict cardio-metabolic health, and if gender is a moderator. Purpose: To test a race/ethnicity by SES interaction effect on cardio-metabolic health in men a...

Background. Partner relationships that can be characterized as relatively low in both positive and negative qualities (i.e., support and conflict) have been associated with greater increases in inflammatory markers toward the end of pregnancy, in a manner consistent with risk for preterm birth. Although this prior work suggests that partner relatio...

Health disparities affect individuals of non-White race and lower socioeconomic status (SES). Pregnancy metabolic complications, although sometimes resolved when pregnancy ends, may “program” a woman’s physiology to increase postpartum cardiovascular disease risk. How factors implicated in health disparities interact with pregnancy metabolic compli...

Background. Health disparities in pregnancy and birth are well documented for African American/Black versus other races, and for those of lower socioeconomic status. Cardio-metabolic complications of pregnancy may leave a “residue” postpartum so as to increase future cardiovascular disease risk. Identifying at-risk women during the postpartum requi...

Background. Metabolic diseases that develop in pregnancy increase risk of cardiometabolic disease thereafter. Black race, poverty and prenatal metabolic diseases each predict increased cardiometabolic risk but past studies have not tested synergistic effects. Our objective was to test interactions of these three factors in predicting cardiometaboli...

Objectives: Elevated levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) are associated with increased risk of cardiovascular and metabolic disease. The current study tested associations between psychosocial stress and CRP in a large sample of women during the first postpartum year. Methods: We analyzed data collected by the five-site Community Child Health Netw...

In the present research, we examined the effects of childhood experiences of racism-both directly and vicariously experienced when directed at family members or close others-on postpartum depressive symptoms one month after the birth of a child. The sample included 1,349 African American women, who were predominantly low-income. Data were collected...

Background: Racial and ethnic inequalities in women's health are widely documented, but not for the postpartum period, and few studies examine whether neighborhood, psychosocial, and biological factors explain these gaps in women's health. Methods: Using prospective longitudinal data collected from 1766 low to middle income women between 2008 an...

Background Early parenthood is a time of chronic sleep disturbance and also of heightened depression risk. Poor sleep quality has been identified both as a predictor of postpartum depressive symptoms and as a consequence. PurposeThis study sought to clarify causal pathways linking sleep and postpartum depression via longitudinal path modeling. Slee...

Postpartum depression is a major mental health issue for women and society. We examined stability and change in symptoms of depression over two consecutive pregnancies and tested life stress as a potential mechanism. The Community Child Health Network followed an ethnically/racially diverse sample from 1 month after a birth for 2 years. A subset of...

Objective: Parental depression influences family health but research on low-income African American fathers is limited. The primary goal of the present study was to examine the role of paternal risk factors and resilience resources in predicting depressive symptoms in the year after birth of a child in a sample of African American fathers. We hypo...

Background: Pregnancy anxiety is associated with risk of preterm birth and an array of other birth, infant, and childhood outcomes. However, previous research has not helped identify those pregnant women at greatest risk of experiencing this specific, contextually-based affective condition. Methods: We examined associations between demographic,...

Objective: Elevated maternal psychosocial stress during pregnancy and accompanying changes in stress hormones may contribute to risk of adverse birth outcomes such as low birth weight and preterm birth. Relatedly, research on fetal programming demonstrates intriguing associations between maternal stress processes during pregnancy and outcomes in o...

Chronic stress is implicated in many theories as a contributor to a wide range of physical and mental health problems. The current study presents an adaptation of a chronic stress measure based on the UCLA Life Stress Interview (LSI; Hammen et al., 1985; 1987) that was developed with community partners for use in a large community health study of l...

Postpartum depression (PPD) adversely affects the health and well being of many new mothers, their infants, and their families. A comprehensive understanding of biopsychosocial precursors to PPD is needed to solidify the current evidence base for best practices in translation. We conducted a systematic review of research published from 2000 through...

Laboratory research has found that individuals will consume more calories and make unhealthy food choices when in the presence of an overweight individual, sometimes even regardless of what that individual is eating. This study expanded these laboratory paradigms to the field to examine how weight salience influences eating in the real world. More...

Familism is a cultural value that emphasizes interdependent family relationships that are warm, close, and supportive. We theorized that familism values can be beneficial for romantic relationships and tested whether (a) familism would be positively associated with romantic relationship quality and (b) this association would be mediated by less att...

Extensive evidence documents that prenatal maternal stress predicts a variety of adverse physical and psychological health outcomes for the mother and baby. However, the importance of the ways that women cope with stress during pregnancy is less clear. We conducted a systematic review of the English-language literature on coping behaviors and copin...

This randomised controlled pilot trial tested a six-week mindfulness-based intervention in a sample of pregnant women experiencing high levels of perceived stress and pregnancy anxiety. Forty-seven women enrolled between 10 and 25 weeks gestation were randomly assigned to either a series of weekly Mindful Awareness Practices classes (n = 24) with h...