Transmission of Discrimination-Related Stress Reactivity and Reduction From Mother to Infant

This investigation examines a distal maternal stressor on the quality of interaction in mother-infant dyadic communication. Assessments include behavioral, physiological, and affective indices under conditions where distal stressors may not be directly detectable by the infant. The present research examines mother-infant interactions to test the hypothesis of whether maternal stress may be transduced to their infants via multiple pathways. The secondary aim is to explore effective emotion regulation strategies for the mother as potential buffers to stress and additionally reducing early life stress effects on the infant's regulatory development.

While the emotion regulation literature posits that reappraisal may be associated with decreased in physiological and psychological stress, this type of regulation strategy may be ineffective when interfacing with discrimination. The regulation strategy needs to be titrated to the stressor in order to be effective. These findings will have notable social, clinical, and psychological significance,