When mothering goes awry: Challenges and opportunities for utilizing evidence across rodent, nonhuman primate and human studies to better define the biological consequences of negative early caregiving.
This article is part of a Special Issue "Parental Care".Across mammalian species, mothers shape socio-emotional development and serve as essential external regulators of infant physiology, brain development, behavior patterns, and emotional regulation. Caregiving quality, consistency and predictability shape the infant's underlying neurobiological processes. Although the requirements for "optimal" caregiving differ across species, the negative long-term consequences of the absence of needed caregiving (e.g. neglect) or the presence of harmful/aversive caregiving (e.g. physical abuse), are translatable across species. Recognizing the significant potential of cross species comparisons in terms of defining underlying mechanisms, effective translation requires consideration of the evolutionary, ecological, and fundamental biological and developmental differences between and among species. This review provides both an overview of several success stories of cross-species translations in relation to negative caregiving and a template for future studies seeking to most effectively define the underlying biological processes and advance research dedicated to mitigating the lasting negative health consequences of child maltreatment.
Tulane University School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, 1430 Tulane Ave, #8055, New Orleans, LA 70112, United States. Electronic address: sdrury@tulane.edu.
Stacy S
SS
Drury
Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Science, School of Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 20322, United States; Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 20329, United States.
Mar M
MM
Sánchez
Offord Centre for Child Studies, McMaster University, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON, L8S 4K1, Canada. Electronic address: gonzal74@gmail.com.
Andrea
A
Gonzalez
D000818:Animals; D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000523:psychology*; D002657:Child Development / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008425:Maternal Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D011323:Primates
Cross-species; Development; Epigenetics; HPA axis; Maltreatment; Neurobiology