Summary

The purpose of this project is to examine the role of epigenetic changes in the link between prenatal risks and child psychopathology. In this study we will examine the role of DNA methylation in the association between prenatal stress birth outcomes and child psychopathology from infancy to middle childhood, in a discordant sibling design. Thus, exposed children will be compared with their non-exposed sibling.

We expect that our findings will extend current knowledge on the role of prenatal programming and DNA methylation on pathways to healthy and aberrant development, and provide new knowledge about how epigenetic mechanisms may render some infants more susceptible to adversity and simultaneously more likely to benefit from supportive experience.