TY - JOUR
T1 - Maternal self-esteem, exposure to lead, and child neurodevelopment
AU - Surkan, Pamela J.
AU - Schnaas, Lourdes
AU - Wright, Rosalind J.
AU - Téllez-Rojo, Martha M.
AU - Lamadrid-Figueroa, Héctor
AU - Hu, Howard
AU - Hernández-Avila, Mauricio
AU - Bellinger, David C.
AU - Schwartz, Joel
AU - Perroni, Estela
AU - Wright, Robert O.
N1 - Funding Information:
We would like to thank the American British Cowdray Hospital for hosting this study. We are also grateful to Hongshu Guan and Maritsa Solano González for assistance with data management. This study was supported by U.S. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), NIH grant number P42-ES05947 Superfund Basic Research Program, NIEHS P01ES012874, NIEHS RO1-013744, NIEHS RO1 ES014930, NIEHS Center Grant 2 P30-ES 00002, NIEHS grant number K23ES000381, NIEHS RO1 ES 007821 and NIH grant 5 T32 MH073122-04. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the NIEHS, NIH or EPA.
PY - 2008/3
Y1 - 2008/3
N2 - The notion that maternal personality characteristics influence cognitive development in their children has been grounded in stress moderation theory. Maternal personality traits, such as self-esteem, may buffer maternal stressors or lead to improved maternal-child interactions that directly impact neurodevelopment. This can be extended to suggest that maternal personality may serve to attenuate or exacerbate the effects of other neurotoxicants, although this has not been studied directly. We examined whether mothers' self-esteem had a direct or main effect on their children's cognitive outcomes. We also explored the modifying effects of maternal self-esteem on the association between exposure to lead and neurodevelopment in these children. Study participants included 379 mother-child pairs from Mexico City. Data included the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Scale in mothers, children's Bayley's Scale of Infant Development (BSID) scores, and sociodemographic information. Linear regression was used to model the relationship between maternal self-esteem and the Bayley's Mental Development Index (MDI) and Psychomotor Development Index (PDI) scores at age 24 months using models stratified by levels of maternal self-esteem. In adjusted models, each point increase in maternal self-esteem was associated with children having 0.2 higher score on the Bayley's MDI (p = 0.04). Similar results were observed using the PDI outcome. Moreover, there was evidence that maternal self-esteem attenuated the negative effects of lead exposure, although the interaction fell short of conventional levels of statistical significance.
AB - The notion that maternal personality characteristics influence cognitive development in their children has been grounded in stress moderation theory. Maternal personality traits, such as self-esteem, may buffer maternal stressors or lead to improved maternal-child interactions that directly impact neurodevelopment. This can be extended to suggest that maternal personality may serve to attenuate or exacerbate the effects of other neurotoxicants, although this has not been studied directly. We examined whether mothers' self-esteem had a direct or main effect on their children's cognitive outcomes. We also explored the modifying effects of maternal self-esteem on the association between exposure to lead and neurodevelopment in these children. Study participants included 379 mother-child pairs from Mexico City. Data included the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Scale in mothers, children's Bayley's Scale of Infant Development (BSID) scores, and sociodemographic information. Linear regression was used to model the relationship between maternal self-esteem and the Bayley's Mental Development Index (MDI) and Psychomotor Development Index (PDI) scores at age 24 months using models stratified by levels of maternal self-esteem. In adjusted models, each point increase in maternal self-esteem was associated with children having 0.2 higher score on the Bayley's MDI (p = 0.04). Similar results were observed using the PDI outcome. Moreover, there was evidence that maternal self-esteem attenuated the negative effects of lead exposure, although the interaction fell short of conventional levels of statistical significance.
KW - Child
KW - Cognition
KW - Lead
KW - Mother-child relations
KW - Neurotoxicology
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=39749127704&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=39749127704&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.neuro.2007.11.006
DO - 10.1016/j.neuro.2007.11.006
M3 - Article
C2 - 18261800
AN - SCOPUS:39749127704
SN - 0161-813X
VL - 29
SP - 278
EP - 285
JO - NeuroToxicology
JF - NeuroToxicology
IS - 2
ER -