NEW YORK, April 24, 2026 – Researchers from the City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Center and Queens College suggest that building strong adaptive skills in early childhood may serve as a buffer against the detrimental effects of prenatal stress on a child's developing brain.
Adaptive skills refer to everyday abilities that help children function independently and interact effectively with others, such as communication, social skills, and the ability to manage daily tasks like self-care.
The study, published in Developmental Neuroscience , examined children whose mothers were pregnant during Superstorm Sandy, a powerful and devastating Category 3 hurricane that struck New York City and surrounding areas as a post-tropical cyclone in October 2012. Researchers used the storm as a natural model of prenatal stress exposure to explore how the development of adaptive skills across early childhood years may help to maintain neural responsiveness in exposed children.
Behavioral Skills and Brain Development
As a part of the Stress in Pregnancy (SIP) Study , mothers and their children completed yearly behavioral visits between ages 2 and 6. These assessments measured children's adaptive behaviors, everyday developmental skills that help them function independently, including self-care, communication, and social interaction.
Later in childhood, at around age 8, a subgroup of 34 children also participated in a pilot brain imaging study at the Advanced Science Research Center at the CUNY Graduate Center (CUNY ASRC). Researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans to measure the children's brain activation while they completed a task that required them to view and select matching emotional facial expressions.
The brain scans revealed that early adaptive skills influenced how prenatal stress later affected brain activation in emotional-processing regions of the limbic system, which is involved in emotional regulation, sensory processing, and memory formation.
"The brain scans showed something striking," said Donato DeIngeniis , M.A., a Ph.D. candidate in the CUNY Graduate Center's Psychology program. "Children exposed to prenatal stress but who developed stronger adaptive skills early in childhood showed brain activation patterns comparable to their unexposed peers. This suggests that what happens in those early developmental years really matters for how the brain responds later."
Children with lower adaptive skills in early childhood showed significantly reduced limbic brain activation if they were exposed to prenatal stress. However, children with stronger adaptive skills showed brain activation patterns like those of children not exposed to prenatal stress, which suggests that these everyday skills may help protect brain function.
"This research grew out of my master's thesis, and what drew me to this question was the idea that children are not passive recipients of early adversity," said Monika Baldyga , M.A., a researcher at Queens College. "The skills they build in everyday life may shape how their brains develop. Seeing that reflected in the imaging data was incredibly meaningful."
Implications for Interventions
Although replicated studies with larger samples are needed, the current findings suggest that building adaptive skills in early childhood may serve as a safeguard against the harmful effects of exposure to stress during pregnancy.
"As natural disasters intensify with climate change, more women will face significant stress during pregnancy," said the study's principal investigator Yoko Nomura , Ph.D., distinguished professor of Psychology at Queens College and the CUNY Graduate Center. "These findings give us reason to focus early intervention efforts on building adaptive skills in young children, not just for their behavioral development, but as a potential safeguard for their brain health."
"From a neuroimaging standpoint, these findings highlight the brain's remarkable capacity for resilience," said Duke Shereen, Ph.D., director of Neuroimaging Core at the CUNY ASRC. "Even after exposure to significant prenatal stress, children who built strong adaptive skills maintained healthy patterns of limbic activation, which are the very circuits that regulate emotion and stress response."
Translating these findings into practice will require collaboration among research scientists, clinicians, and policymakers to implement strategies that protect children's brain health and mental well-being following prenatal adversity.
About the Graduate Center of The City University of New York
The CUNY Graduate Center is a leader in public graduate education devoted to enhancing the public good through pioneering research, serious learning, and reasoned debate. The Graduate Center offers ambitious students over 50 doctoral, master's, and certificate programs of the highest caliber, taught by top faculty from throughout CUNY — the nation's largest urban public university. Through its nearly 40 centers, institutes, initiatives, and the Advanced Science Research Center, the Graduate Center influences public policy and discourse and shapes innovation. The Graduate Center's extensive public programs make it a home for culture and conversation.
