Thanks for your comments Sherry. We have all kinds of social policies - set by the federal, state, or local governments as well as institutions such as hospitals or employers - that shape parental behaviors, from hospital policies about what happens after birth to maternity leave policies, family sick leave, job sharing policies, TANF, EITC and so on. These policies for the most part were developed without a lot of information on the likely health consequences - it would potentially be valuable in evaluating and modifying those policies if we understood the biological consequences for children's health. Thus the motivation for this line of research. Although it is fair to say we don't need to understand the biological mechanisms for some types of adversity to affect health for us to know that children should not be exposed to those adversities.
Maria