Clinical Psychology Commons^™

Preconception Stress, Affect-Biased Attention, And Negative Affectivity: Assessing Pathways And Early Markers Of Psychopathological Risk In Infancy And Childhood, Danielle A. Swales

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

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 …