Emilie Nayberg

Short presentation

Early cognitive and neuromotor development in high risk infants:

A high risk study of offspring of mothers with severe mental illness.

Children of parents with severe mental illness are at significantly increased risk of developing mental disorders themselves. Impairments and/or delays in the cognitive or motor development seem to be important early risk markers of later psychopathology, but research in this field is sparse and so far inconclusive, and even less is known of the psychosocial predictors of the child’s cognitive and motor development. 

This PhD project is part of The WARM Study (Wellbeing And Resilience: Mechanisms of transmission of health and risk in parents with complex mental health problems and their offspring). The WARM Study is a prospective high risk study including women with severe mental illness (schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or current or recurrent moderate or severe depression) and their children, starting in pregnancy.  

The purposes of this PhD project are:  

1. To examine the cognitive and motor development of offspring of mothers with severe mental illness at age 4 months and 12 months. 
2. To examine potential psychosocial predictors of the early cognitive development at age 12 months. 
3. 1.To provide new knowledge to guide preventive interventions in children at high risk of severe mental illness.