The effects of experience of discrimination and acculturation during pregnancy on the developing offspring brain

Abstract

The experience of ethnic, racial, and structural inequalities is increasingly recognized as detrimental to health, and early studies suggest that its experience in pregnant mothers may affect the developing fetus. We characterized discrimination and acculturation experiences in a predominantly Hispanic sample of pregnant adolescent women and assessed their association with functional connectivity in their neonate's brain. We collected self-report measures of acculturation, discrimination, maternal distress (i.e., perceived stress, childhood trauma, and depressive symptoms), and socioeconomic status in 165 women. Then, we performed a data-driven clustering of acculturation, discrimination, perceived stress, depressive symptoms, trauma, and socioeconomic status variables during pregnancy to determine whether discrimination or acculturation clustered into distinct factors. Discrimination and acculturation styles loaded onto different factors from perceived stress, depressive symptoms, trauma, and socioeconomic status, suggesting that they were distinct from other factors in our sample. We associated these data-driven maternal phenotypes (discrimination and acculturation styles) with measures of resting-state functional MRI connectivity of the infant amygdala (n = 38). Higher maternal report of assimilation was associated with weaker connectivity between their neonate's amygdala and bilateral fusiform gyrus. Maternal experience of discrimination was associated with weaker connectivity between the amygdala and prefrontal cortex and stronger connectivity between the amygdala and fusiform of their neonate. Cautiously, the results may suggest a similarity to self-contained studies with adults, noting that the experience of discrimination and acculturation may influence amygdala circuitry across generations. Further prospective studies are essential that consider a more diverse population of minoritized individuals and with a comprehensive assessment of ethnic, racial, and structural factors.

Fig. 1. Acculturation factors projected onto Berry’s model of acculturation.

In Berry’s multidimensional model of acculturation (see Supplementary), not all four types may be present in any given population [93], which is reflected in our factor analyses. ASSIMILATION-INTEGRATION and ASSIMILATION-SEPARATION each project into two categories with Berry’s model of acculturation. Higher scores in either factor converge to higher assimilation, but lower scores on ASSIMILATION-INTEGRATION and ASSIMILATION-SEPARATION diverge to separation and integration, respectively. MARGINALIZED reflected only the marginalized type of acculturation.

Fig. 2. Associations between prenatal acculturation factors and offspring amygdala connectivity.

Higher ASSIMILATION-SEPARATION in mothers during pregnancy was associated with weaker infant connectivity between the amygdala and bilateral fusiform gyrus in in their offspring. No significant correlations between the ASSIMILATION-INTEGRATION factor and amygdala connectivity were observed. Scatterplots next to the images visualize the distribution of the observed data points for average infant connectivity in the detected regions plotted against the ASSIMILATION-SEPARATION factor. Models adjusted for other stressors (PSS, RADS, CTQ, SES) remained significant.

Fig. 3. Associations prenatal experiences of discrimination and offspring amygdala connectivity.

Neonates born to mothers experiencing discrimination had weaker connectivity between the amygdala and the medial and anterior prefrontal cortices and stronger connectivity the amygdala and the left fusiform gyrus. Scatterplots next to the images visualize the distribution of the observed data points for average infant connectivity in the detected regions plotted against EOD. Models adjusted for other stressors (PSS, RADS, CTQ, SES) remained significant.