TY  - JOUR
A1  - Apanasewicz, Anna
A1  - Groth, Detlef
A1  - Scheffler, Christiane
A1  - Hermanussen, Michael
A1  - Piosek, Magdalena
A1  - Wychowaniec, Patrycja
A1  - Babiszewska, Magdalena
A1  - Barbarska, Olga
A1  - Ziomkiewicz, Anna
T1  - Traumatized women’s infants are bigger than children of mothers without traumas
JF  - Journal of biological and clinical anthropology : Anthropologischer Anzeiger
N2  - Life history theory predicts that experiencing stress during the early period of life will result in accelerated growth and earlier maturation. Indeed, animal and some human studies documented a faster pace of growth in the offspring of stressed mothers. Recent advances in epigenetics suggest that the effects of early developmental stress might be passed across the generations. However, evidence for such intergenerational transmission is scarce, at least in humans. Here we report the results of the study investigating the association between childhood trauma in mothers and physical growth in their children during the first months of life. Anthropometric and psychological data were collected from 99 mothers and their exclusively breastfed children at the age of 5 months. The mothers completed the Early Life Stress Questionnaire to assess childhood trauma. The questionnaire includes questions about the most traumatic events that they had experienced before the age of 12 years. Infant growth was evaluated based on the anthropometric measurements of weight, length, and head circumference. Also, to control for the size of maternal investment, the composition of breast milk samples taken at the time of infant anthropometric measurements was investigated. The children of mothers with higher early life stress tended to have higher weight and bigger head circumference. The association between infant anthropometrics and early maternal stress was not affected by breast milk composition, suggesting that the effect of maternal stress on infant growth was independent of the size of maternal investment. Our results demonstrate that early maternal trauma may affect the pace of growth in the offspring and, in consequence, lead to a faster life history strategy. This effect might be explained via changes in offspring epigenetics.
KW  - maternal trauma
KW  - early life trauma
KW  - breastfed infant development
KW  - POLS
Y1  - 2020
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1127/anthranz/2020/1285
SN  - 0003-5548
SN  - 2363-7099
VL  - 77
IS  - 5
SP  - 359
EP  - 374
PB  - Schweizerbart science publishers
CY  - Stuttgart
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Hermanussen, Michael
A1  - Scheffler, Christiane
A1  - Martin, Lidia
A1  - Groth, Detlef
A1  - Waxmonsky, James G.
A1  - Swanson, James
A1  - Nowak-Szczepanska, Natalia
A1  - Gomula, Aleksandra
A1  - Apanasewicz, Anna
A1  - Konarski, Jan M.
A1  - Malina, Robert M.
A1  - Bartkowiak, Sylwia
A1  - Lebedeva, Lidia
A1  - Suchomlinov, Andrej
A1  - Konstantinov, Vsevolod
A1  - Blum, Werner
A1  - Limony, Yehuda
A1  - Chakraborty, Raja
A1  - Kirchengast, Sylvia
A1  - Tutkuviene, Janina
A1  - Jakimaviciene, Egle Marija
A1  - Cepuliene, Ramune
A1  - Franken, Daniel
A1  - Navazo, Bárbara
A1  - Moelyo, Annang G.
A1  - Satake, Takashi
A1  - Koziel, Slawomir
ED  - Scheffler, Christiane
ED  - Koziel, Slawomir
ED  - Hermanussen, Michael
ED  - Bogin, Barry
T1  - Growth, Nutrition and Economy
BT  - Proceedings of the 27th Aschauer Soiree, held at Krobielowice, Poland, November 16th 2019
T2  - Human Biology and Public Health
N2  - Twenty-three scientists met at Krobielowice, Poland to discuss the role of growth, nutrition and economy on body size. Contrasting prevailing concepts, re-analyses of studies in Indonesian and Guatemalan school children with high prevalence of stunting failed to provide evidence for an association between nutritional status and body height. Direct effects of parental education on growth that were not transmitted via nutrition were shown in Indian datasets using network analysis and novel statistical methods (St. Nicolas House Analysis) that translate correlation matrices into network graphs. Data on Polish children suggest significant impact of socioeconomic sensitivity on child growth, with no effect of maternal money satisfaction. Height and maturation tempo affect the position of a child among its peers. Correlations also exist between mood disorders and height. Secular changes in height and weight varied across decades independent of population size. Historic and recent Russian data showed that height of persons whose fathers performed manual work were on average four cm shorter than persons whose fathers were high-degree specialists. Body height, menarcheal age, and body proportions are sensitive to socioeconomic variables. Additional topics included delayed motherhood and its associations with newborn size; geographic and socioeconomic indicators related to low birth weight, prematurity and stillbirth rate; data on anthropometric history of Brazil, 1850-1950; the impact of central nervous system stimulants on the growth of children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder; and pituitary development and growth hormone secretion. Final discussions debated on reverse causality interfering between social position, and adolescent growth and developmental tempo.
KW  - nutrition
KW  - stunting
KW  - socioeconomy
KW  - education
KW  - secular changes
KW  - pubertal timing
Y1  - 2021
U6  - https://doi.org/10.52905/hbph.v1.1
SN  - 2748-9957
VL  - 2021
IS  - 1
SP  - 1
EP  - 13
PB  - Universitätsverlag Potsdam
CY  - Potsdam
ER  -