Observed genetic associations with educational attainment may be due to direct or indirect genetic influences. Recent work highlights "genetic nurture," the potential effect of parents' genetics on their child's educational outcomes via rearing environments. To date, few mediating childhood environments have been tested. We used a large…

Identifying children at the risk of developmental delay can improve their long-term prognosis. In this case--control study, mothers and infants aged 6--18 months referred to healthcare centres affiliated with Qazvin University of Medical Sciences were recruited from August to December 2017. The sample size consisted of 197 individuals in…

Depression is associated with dietary factors and epigenetics. Serum cholesterol, which is prone to dietary influences, has been linked to symptoms of depression. This relationship may be (in part) due to altered epigenetic regulation of Methylenetetrahydrofolate Reductase (MTHFR). MTHFR codes for the MTHFRenzyme, which has diverse metabolic…

Opioid use during pregnancy is associated with suboptimal pregnancy outcomes. Little is known about child neurodevelopmental outcomes. We examined associations between maternal opioid prescriptions preconception to delivery (peri-pregnancy) and child's risk of ASD, developmental delay/disorder (DD) with no ASD features, or ASD/DD with autism…

The assessment of fine motor skills in preschoolers becomes a determining indicator of a child's health conditions. The objective of the present study was to determine the prenatal, perinatal and postnatal risk factors of children with delayed development of fine motor skills. The participants were 240 boys and girls from 2 to 5 years old from the…

Emerging evidence suggests that prenatal stress does not solely undermine child functioning but increases developmental plasticity to both negative and positive postnatal experiences. Here we test this proposition using the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort study while implementing an extreme-group (i.e., high vs. low prenatal stress) design (n =…

In order to examine (1) the stability of the mother-child-bond and (2) associations between mother-child-bonding and aspects of maternal-well-being, pregnant women (N = 170) completed measures on well-being and mother-child-bonding at two antepartum and two postpartum time points. We found relatively weak associations between mother-child-bonding…

Self-recognition emerges during the second year of life and represents the emergence of a reflective self, a metacognition which underlies self-conscious emotions such as embarrassment and shame, perspective taking, and emotional knowledge of others. In a longitudinal study of 171 children, two major questions were explored from an extant…

Prior research studies suggest that maternal polyunsaturated fatty acids could have protective effects on neurodevelopmental outcomes. The objective of this study was to examine associations between maternal polyunsaturated fatty acid intake during pregnancy and risk for autism spectrum disorder and other non-typical development in a prospective…

Objective: Fetal testosterone (fT) has organizational effects on the developing human nervous system and can be reliably estimated by the ratio between the length of the second and fourth digits -- 2D:4D. Previous studies reported altered patterns of fT in some developmental disabilities (e.g. ASD) relative to typically developing individuals…

Background: Although plausible links between language development and personality have been suggested, longitudinal studies of these associations into adulthood have not been conducted. Aim: To investigate whether children's age at attaining language milestones is associated with later adult personality. Methods: Mothers' of 8,400 children from…

Epigenetics provides the opportunity to revolutionize our understanding of the role of genetics and the environment in explaining human behavior, although the use of epigenetics to study human behavior is just beginning. In this introduction, the authors present the basics of epigenetics in a way that is designed to make this exciting field…

This dissertation consists of three independent chapters in applied microeconomics. In the first chapter, I study the causal effect impact of early life circumstances on adult psychological well-being using the property reform in China as a positive and policy driven change in economic resources in early life. Exploiting the staggered adoption of…

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex neurodevelopmental disorder with poorly understood etiology. Many maternal exposures during pregnancy and breastfeeding potentially interfere with neurodevelopment. Using data from two age- and sex-matched case-control studies in Jamaica (n = 298 pairs), results of conditional logistic regression…

We investigated health-related quality of life in preterm children in association with birth weight, breastfeeding and maternal emotional state. A cross-sectional study was carried out involving 97 mothers of 2-year-old children born below 2500 g. Participants completed the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory and a comprehensive psychological…