Greater psychosocial risk in childhood and adolescence predicts poorer cardiometabolic outcomes in adulthood. We assessed whether the timing of psychosocial risk from infancy through adolescence predicts cardiometabolic outcomes in young adulthood. Young adults and their mothers participated in a longitudinal study beginning in infancy in Santiago, Chile (N = 1040). At infancy, 5 years, 10 years, and adolescence, mothers reported on depressive symptoms, stressful experiences, support for child development in the home, father absence, parental education, and socioeconomic status (SES) to create a psychosocial risk composite at each time point. Young adults (52.1% female; 21–27 years) provided fasting serum samples and participated in anthropometric and blood pressure (BP) assessments, including a dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scan for measuring body fat. Greater infant psychosocial risk was associated with a greater young adult metabolic syndrome score (β = 0.07, 95% confidence intervals (CI): 0.01 to 0.13, p = 0.02), a higher body mass index and waist circumference composite (β = 0.08, 95% CI: 0.03 to 0.13, p = 0.002), and a higher body fat (DXA) composite (β = 0.07, 95% CI: 0.01 to 0.12, p = 0.02). No psychosocial risk measure from any time point was associated with BP. Infant psychosocial risk predicted cardiometabolic outcomes in young adulthood better than psychosocial risk at 5 years, 10 years, or adolescence, mean of psychosocial risk from infancy through adolescence, and maximum of psychosocial risk at any one time. Consistent with the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease model, findings suggest that infancy is a sensitive period for psychosocial risk leading to poorer cardiometabolic outcomes in young adulthood.

Exposure to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) is not only associated with one's adverse health outcomes in adulthood but also increases the risk of child developmental problems in offspring. However, the mechanisms involved in the transmission of the effects of maternal ACEs to the offspring largely remain unexplored. This study sought to identify possible psychosocial pathways of intergenerational effects of maternal ACEs on child development at 6 months. Data from a longitudinal study on maternal childhood adversity and maternal psychosocial risk during pregnancy as well as maternal mental health problems and child development at 6 months postnatal were used. Structural equation modeling with bootstrapping was used to estimate the indirect effects of maternal ACEs on child development at 6 months. The model showed that maternal ACEs indirectly influenced offspring's development via maternal stressful events during pregnancy and pre- and postnatal mental health problems. This finding highlights the possible interventions at the prenatal and postnatal periods. Early identification of women who have ACEs or who are at psychosocial risk during pre- and postnatal periods is critical to provide interventions to buffer those negative effects on offspring's development. Future studies are needed to longitudinally assess the effects of maternal ACEs on child development over time.

Objective: The aim of this study was to explore the acute psychosocial risk in families with infants undergoing surgery for a congenital heart disease and, secondarily, to explore the psychosocial impact of antenatal versus post-natal diagnoses. Method: The study sample comprised 39 caregivers (28 mothers) of 29 children diagnosed with a congenital heart disease and requiring surgery within the first 4 weeks of life. Psychosocial risk was measured using the Psychosocial Assessment Tool, which was adapted to include four novel items examining infant risk factors, namely, sleeping, feeding, crying, and bonding difficulties. Parents’ psychosocial risk was measured within 4 weeks after their child's surgery and stratified into a three-tiered framework: Universal, Targeted, and Clinical risk. Results: Of the total sample, 61.5% of parents were classified as Universal, that is, at lowest risk; 35.9% as Targeted, and 2.6% as Clinical. The within-family parent total Psychosocial Assessment Tool score correlations were non-significant, and there were no differences between families of infants who received post-natal versus antenatal diagnosis or single ventricle versus biventricular repair. Linear regression found that a higher parent education significantly predicted a lower total Psychosocial Assessment Tool score. Conclusions: Findings indicate that, although the majority of parents adapt to the acute stress of surgery for a serious cardiac illness in their infant, the remaining 38.5% report an increased psychosocial risk associated with higher rates of emotional distress, which may impact on the parental quality of life and capacity for optimal parenting. The distribution of psychosocial risk in parents of children undergoing surgery for a congenital heart disease is consistent with that described for parents of children with other serious paediatric diagnoses.