Postpartum Stress and Neural Regulation of Emotion among First-Time Mothers

Abstract

Early parenting relies on emotion regulation capabilities, as mothers are responsible for regulating both their own emotional state and that of their infant during a time of new parenting-related neural plasticity and potentially increased stress. Previous research highlights the importance of frontal cortical regions in facilitating effective emotion regulation, but few studies have investigated the neural regulation of emotion among postpartum women. The current study employed a functional neuroimaging (fMRI) approach to explore the association between perceived stress, depressive symptoms, and the neural regulation of emotion in first-time mothers. Among 59 postpartum mothers, higher perceived stress during the postpartum period was associated with less self-reported use of cognitive reappraisal in everyday life, and greater use of emotion suppression. While viewing standardized aversive images during the Emotion Regulation Task (ERT), mothers were instructed to experience their natural emotional state (Maintain) or to decrease the intensity of their negative emotion by using cognitive reappraisal (Reappraise). Whole-brain analysis revealed a two-way interaction of perceived stress x condition in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) at p < .05 cluster-wise corrected, controlling for postpartum months and scanner type. Higher levels of perceived stress were associated with heightened right DLPFC activity while engaging in cognitive reappraisal versus naturally responding to negative stimuli. Higher right DLPFC activity during Reappraise versus Maintain was further associated with elevated parenting stress. Findings suggest that stress and everyday reappraisal use is reflected in mothers' neural regulation of emotion and may have important implications for their adaptation to parenthood.

Keywords: Emotion regulation; Parenting stress; Perceived stress; Postpartum; fMRI.

Figure 1.

(a) Right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) activation (BA9 & 10; x,y,z = 26,56,26, k = 41) showing perceived stress condition interaction, p < .05, corrected; (b) Left caudate nucleus (x,y,z = −13,−4,20, k = 52) showing perceived stress main effect, p < .05 at corrected, whole-brain cluster-wise corrected.

Figure 2.

(a) A scatterplot describing the positive association between perceived stress and neural response in the right DLPFC in the contrast of Reappraise vs. Maintain. (b) a scatterplot describing the positive association between perceived stress and neural response in the left caudate nucleus during Maintain and Reappraise.

Figure 2.

(a) A scatterplot describing the positive association between perceived stress and neural response in the right DLPFC in the contrast of Reappraise vs. Maintain. (b) a scatterplot describing the positive association between perceived stress and neural response in the left caudate nucleus during Maintain and Reappraise.

Figure 3.

Associations between perceived stress and everyday use of (a) reappraisal (r = −.290, p =.027) and (b) suppression (r = .283, p = .031).

Figure 4.

Associations between dorsolateral PFC activation in the contrast of Reappraise vs. Maintain and parenting stress.