Date of Award
2021
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Organizational Unit
College of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences, Psychology
First Advisor
Elysia P. Davis
Second Advisor
Julia Dmitrieva
Third Advisor
Erika Manczak
Fourth Advisor
Paige Lloyd
Fifth Advisor
Jenn Bellamy
Keywords
Affect-biased attention, Infancy, Intergenerational transmission, Negative affectivity, Post-traumatic stress disorder, Preconception stress
Abstract
The developmental origins of mental health likely begin early in life and perhaps even prior to conception. Research is needed to elucidate pathways of risk and resilience in the development of psychopathology. The goal of the current dissertation was to explore how both preconception and postnatal experiences influence negative affectivity, a robust and transdiagnostic risk factor for later psychiatric symptoms. The present dissertation accomplished this goal by completing two independent studies, each of which are presented in the format of standalone journal articles. Study one focused on evaluating how preconception experiences, specifically maternal symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), impact negative affectivity in early childhood. Study two explored how affect-biased attention, another transdiagnostic indicator of psychopathological risk, relates to negative affectivity in infancy. Findings of the current dissertation suggest that children of mothers who experience elevated symptoms of post-traumatic stress prior to conception demonstrate greater negative affectivity in early childhood. Additionally, infants who exhibited heightened affect-biased attention in infancy (e.g., biases in the holding of attention on emotional faces) similarly were more likely to be high in negative affectivity. These findings have important implications for understanding the preconception and perinatal determinants of mental health. Implications of these findings, limitations, as well as future directions are discussed in detail.
Publication Statement
Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.
Rights Holder
Danielle A Swales
Provenance
Received from ProQuest
File Format
application/pdf
Language
en
File Size
98 pgs
Recommended Citation
Swales, Danielle A., "Preconception Stress, Affect-Biased Attention, and Negative Affectivity: Assessing Pathways and Early Markers of Psychopathological Risk in Infancy and Childhood" (2021). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 2002.
https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd/2002
Copyright date
2021
Discipline
Clinical psychology