The overarching goal of my research program is to elucidate how early environments influence long-term mental and physical health. To accomplish this, I examine the biological and behavioral pathways through which the family environment influences health trajectories. Informed by lifespan and intergenerational approaches, I focus centrally on sensitive developmental windows for parent, child, and family health — particularly from the prenatal period through early childhood.
My research to date broadly falls into three related areas of research, described below. For the most up-to-date information on my work, please visit my Google Scholar page.
Research Themes
Preconception and prenatal biopsychosocial influences on biobehavioral health
Although decades of cross species evidence demonstrates that a range of factors before birth (e.g., parental undernutrition, stress, and mental health) can shape offspring developmental trajectories, the mechanisms through which this occurs are not clear. My first area of research aims to identify the biopsychosocial mechanisms through which preconception and prenatal factors influence health trajectories. Findings from this research area have highlighted a central role for stress physiology (e.g., cortisol, inflammation, corticotropin-releasing hormone) in linking prenatal factors to maternal-child health outcomes (e.g., birth outcomes, physiological regulation). Results have also provided novel evidence of parental preconception influences on offspring developmental trajectories — including proximal preconception factors (6-12 months before pregnancy) and distal preconception factors in a parent’s own childhood.
Representative Publications
Barclay, M., Rinne, G.R., Somers, J.A., Lee, S.S., Coussons-Read, M., Dunkel Schetter, C. (2022). Maternal early life adversity and infant stress regulation: Intergenerational associations and mediation by maternal prenatal mental health. Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-022-01006-z
Holland, M.L., Condon, E.M., Rinne, G.R., Good, M.M., Bleicher, S., Taylor, R.M., Sadler, L.S. (2022). Birth-related outcomes for second children following home visiting program enrollment for new parents of first children. Maternal and Child Health Journal. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-021-03365-3
Holland, M.L., Taylor, R.M., Condon, E., Rinne, G.R., Bleicher, S., Li, C., Seldin, M.L., Younts, C.W., Sadler, L.S. (2022). An innovative use of probabilistic record linkage and propensity-score matching to identify a community-based comparison population. Research in Nursing and Health. http://doi.org/10.1002/nur.22226
Rinne, G.R., Barclay, M., Somers, J.A., Mahrer, N.E., Shalowitz, M.U., Ramey, S.L., Dunkel Schetter, C., Lee, S.S. (2024). Developmental cascades from maternal preconception stress to child behavior problems: Testing multi-level preconception, prenatal, and postnatal influences. Developmental Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0001728
Rinne, G.R., Carroll, J.E., Guardino, C.M., Shalowitz, M.U., Ramey, S.L., Dunkel Schetter, C. (2023). Elevated parental PTSD symptoms prior to conception and maternal inflammation in pregnancy predict shorter child telomere length. Psychosomatic Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1097/psy.0000000000001241
Rinne, G.R., Guardino, C.M., Soriano, M.*, Dunkel Schetter, C. (2024). Chronic stress and hair cortisol concentration in mothers: A two-study investigation. Stress and Health.
Rinne, G.R., Hartstein, J., Guardino, C.M., Dunkel Schetter, C. (2023). Stress before conception and during pregnancy and maternal cortisol during pregnancy: A scoping review. Psychoneuroendocrinology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2023.106115
Ross, K.M., Mander, H., Rinne, G.R., Okun, M., Hobel, C., Coussons-Read, M., Dunkel Schetter, C. (2023). Pregnancy-specific anxiety and gestational length: The mediating role of diurnal cortisol indices. Psychoneuroendocrinology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2023.106114
Interactive effects of early and ongoing adversity
Despite compelling evidence that preconception and prenatal factors shape biobehavioral health, there is substantial heterogeneity in outcomes following stress early in development (i.e., multifinality). To improve traction on this heterogeneity, my second research area evaluates the independent and interactive effects of stress across sensitive developmental periods on health outcomes. Because the family environment is a primary context for developing biobehavioral regulatory systems, I focus on how early life family environment modifies associations of prenatal and adulthood stress with health outcomes. Results from this area of research implicate that the early family environment calibrates biology and behavior in a manner that can mitigate risk following early life stress and influence responses to stress later in development. Crucially, these results underscore the importance of the family environment as a protective factor.
Representative Publications
Rinne, G.R., Mahrer, N.E., Guardino, C.M., Shalowitz, M.U., Ramey, S.L., Dunkel Schetter, C. (2023). Childhood family climate modifies the association between perinatal stressful life events and depressive symptoms. Journal of Family Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/fam0001076
Rinne, G.R., Cha, L., Carroll, J.E., Mahrer, N.E., Guardino, C.M., Shalowitz, M.U., Ramey, S.L., Dunkel Schetter, C. Sumner, J. (in prep). A lifespan approach to biological aging: Early life adversity modifies the association between past-year traumatic events and telomere length.
Rinne, G.R., Podosin, M., Mahrer, N.E., Guardino, C.M., Shalowitz, M.U., Ramey, S.L., Dunkel Schetter, C. (2024). Prospective associations of prenatal stress with child behavior: Moderation by the early childhood caregiving environment. Development and Psychopathology. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0954579424000920
Somers, J.A., Winstone-Weide, L.K., Rinne, G.R., Curci, S.G., Barclay, M.E. (2024). Leveraging the interpersonal context of child development to promote family resilience: A universal prevention approach from preconception through early childhood. Mental Health and Prevention. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mhp.2024.200331
Dynamic influences on biobehavioral development
The early environmental cues driving development are dynamic. Importantly, measures of environmental dynamics such as variability, predictability, and stability uniquely shape biobehavioral development compared to levels of the same environmental cue. The third area of my research focuses on characterizing dynamics of environmental cues across timescales and elucidating links with child outcomes. Findings from this research have generated critical knowledge as to how dynamics of early environments may uniquely shape biological and behavioral development. My doctoral dissertation evaluates how the dynamics of maternal cues during the prenatal and early postnatal period relate to infant biobehavioral reactivity and regulation.
Representative Publications
Rinne, G.R., Davis, E.P., Mahrer, N.E., Guardino, C.M., Charalel, J.M., Shalowitz, M.U., Ramey, S.L., Dunkel Schetter, C. (2022a). Maternal depressive symptom trajectories from preconception through postpartum: Associations with offspring developmental outcomes in early childhood. Journal of Affective Disorders. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2022.04.116
Rinne, G.R., Somers, J.A., Ramos, I.F., Ross, K.M., Coussons-Read, M., Dunkel Schetter, C. (2022b). Increases in maternal depressive symptoms during pregnancy and infant cortisol reactivity: Mediation by placental corticotropin-releasing hormone. Development and Psychopathology. https://www.doi.org/10.1017/S0954579422000621
Rinne, G.R., O’Brien, M.P., Miklowitz, D.J., Addington, J., Cannon, T.D. (2020). Depression, family interaction, and family intervention in adolescents at clinical high-risk for psychosis. Early Intervention in Psychiatry. 15(2), 360-366. https://doi.org/10.1111/eip.12954
Rinne, G.R. & Somers, J.A. (in prep). Dynamic caregiver influences on offspring biobehavioral functioning: Transdiagnostic pathways to psychopathology risk.