Maternal Stress-Related Neural Reactivity and Caregiving Sensitivity in Early Childhood: Associations with Disruptive Behavior During Peri-Pubertal Development

Disruptive behaviors among youth are a pressing public-health concern and a key pathway of intergenerational risk. In the 8-year longitudinal Geneva Early Childhood Stress Project (child age at Phase 1 = 12–44 months; Phase 3 = 9–15 years), we tested whether maternal psychological, behavioral, and neurobiological factors assessed in toddlerhood predicted peri-pubertal disruptive behaviors. Mother–child dyads (N = 28) completed clinical interviews; mothers underwent fMRI while viewing emotion-related (prosocial/romantic and threatening vs. neutral) and threat-related (threatening vs. prosocial/romantic) adult interactions; maternal sensitivity was coded from filmed play; child disruptive behavior symptoms were assessed with the Kiddie Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia at follow-up. Ten a priori neural clusters were reduced via principal component analysis, yielding a theory-consistent Neural-Threat component and a Neural-Preoccupation component reflecting precuneus activity. In exploratory forward stepwise regression adjusted for child age, sex, and socioeconomic status, Neural-Threat and maternal sensitivity each uniquely predicted fewer disruptive behaviors (i.e., protective), whereas Neural-Preoccupation predicted more symptoms (i.e., risk). A moderation test showed that maternal sensitivity buffered the Neural-Threat–behavior association, with stronger protection at higher sensitivity. Maternal post-traumatic stress severity in early childhood showed no direct association with later disruptive behaviors. These findings suggest that stress-responsive maternal brain function relates to children’s disruptive behaviors and that sensitive caregiving in early childhood may mitigate risk for those behaviors. Results are preliminary and warrant replication in larger samples, but they highlight neurobehavioral targets for early, trauma-informed prevention (e.g., enhancing maternal sensitivity and supporting adaptive threat monitoring in mothers).