EEG frontal alpha asymmetry mediates the association between maternal and child internalizing symptoms in childhood

Background Anxiety and depression are highly prevalent in youth and can cause significant distress and functional impairment. The presence of maternal anxiety and depression are well-established risk factors for child internalizing psychopathology, yet the responsible mechanisms linking the two remain unclear.

We examined the potential mediating and moderating roles of EEG frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA) in the intergenerational transmission of internalizing symptoms in a longitudinal sample of N = 323 mother-child dyads. Self-report maternal internalizing symptoms were evaluated at child age 3 years and 5 years, child EEG at 5 years, and parent-report child internalizing symptoms at age 7 years. Mediation was evaluated via bootstrapped (N = 5000) confidence intervals.

We found significant associations among maternal internalizing (anxiety, depressive) symptoms at child ages 3 and 5 years, child FAA at age 5 years, and child internalizing symptoms at age 7 years. There was a significant mediation effect, whereby greater maternal anxiety and depressive symptoms at age 3 years were significantly associated with greater relative right FAA in children at age 5 years, which, in turn, was significantly associated with greater child internalizing symptoms at age 7 years (ps<.001). There was no moderating effect of FAA on the association between maternal internalizing symptoms at age 5 years and child internalizing symptoms at age 7 years.

Greater right frontal asymmetry may be a neurophysiological mechanism that mediates the intergenerational transmission of internalizing symptoms. Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. Funding Statement This research was supported by grants from the National Institute of Mental Health (MH078829) to CAN and MBE and from the Tommy Fuss Center for Neuropsychiatric Disease Research at Boston Children's Hospital to MBE. Study data were collected and managed using Research Electronic Data Capture (REDCap) tools hosted at Boston Children's Hospital. We are extremely grateful for the parents and infants who participated in this study, without whom this research would not be possible. Author Declarations I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained. Yes The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below: The Institutional Review Board at Boston Children's Hospital approved all methods and procedures used in this study. I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals. Yes I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance). Yes I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines, such as any relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material, if applicable. Yes Data Availability The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.