Prenatal and parenting influences on school-age executive function: separate and joint maternal and paternal contributions

The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development awarded the University of Southern California $236,202 on April 9, 2026, under the Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research Program (CFDA 93.865) to conduct research on prenatal and parenting influences on school-age executive function.

The research examines separate and joint maternal and paternal contributions to child development from the prenatal period through middle childhood. Aim 1 tests how maternal and paternal prenatal stress independently and jointly affect child executive function. Aim 2 analyzes associations between triadic family interactions during infancy and childhood with executive function outcomes. Aim 3 examines triadic parent-child interactions as a pathway linking prenatal stress to child executive function. The work leverages a longitudinal family sample followed from the prenatal period through middle childhood in the sponsor's laboratory.

The award runs through April 8, 2029, with place of performance in Los Angeles, California. The recipient is classified as a project grant, an assistance type providing support for discrete, time-limited research projects.

Abstract

Research project: parents make essential contributions to children's development, even before birth. Although mothers and fathers both influence child development, fathers' contributions are often overlooked within research. Leveraging a sample of families followed from the prenatal period through middle childhood in my sponsor's lab, the present proposal will elucidate pathways through which mothers and fathers jointly and uniquely influence child development beginning before birth. The first aim tests separate (aim 1A) and joint (aim 1B) contributions of paternal and maternal prenatal stress to child school-age executive function. The second aim focuses on postnatal caregiving and tests associations of triadic family interactions during infancy (aim 2A) and childhood (aim 2B) with child executive function. The final aim tests triadic parent-child interactions as a novel pathway linking prenatal stress to child executive function by testing prospective associations of maternal and paternal prenatal stress with triadic family interactions (aim 3). This research will advance scientific knowledge of how mothers and fathers independently and jointly shape child executive function, a critical transdiagnostic indicator of lifespan well-being and functioning. These results may have broader impacts on prevention, intervention, and policy efforts to promote child and family health. Training plan and environment: my long-term career goal is to become an independent research scientist with a program of research focused on the biopsychosocial mechanisms through which early environments shape developmental trajectories. The proposed project and training plan will provide essential training that strongly supports this career goal. This proposal will build my knowledge and skills in (1) fathers' contribution to child development before and after birth, (2) triadic family interactions, (3) longitudinal developmental study designs and primary data collection, and (4) grant writing and professional skills. These training goals address critical gaps in my training and will be accomplished through mentorship, research, coursework, and workshops. By completing this proposal at the university of southern california under the mentorship of sponsor DR. Darby saxbe, i will have access to exceptional training opportunities and unique data that is well- suited to address my research questions of interest that are not available elsewhere. I will be well-equipped to successfully execute the proposed research aims and training goals in this training environment. Upon completing this proposal, i will be ideally situated to advance my career goal of becoming an independent researcher and apply these findings to an independent research program addressing foundational questions on how families shape development using longitudinal designs that include mothers, fathers, and children.