About

Laura Stroud is a Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Behavioral and Social Sciences at Brown University. She serves as Director and Senior Research Scientist at the Center for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine at The Miriam Hospital, where she is also the Director and Principal Investigator of the COBRE Center for Stress, Trauma, and Resilience (STAR). Additionally, she is the Founding Director of the Maternal-Infant Studies Laboratory and the Child and Adolescent Stress Laboratory at The Miriam Hospital. Dr. Stroud is dedicated to mentoring, co-directing the STAR T32 postdoctoral fellowship program focused on childhood stress, trauma, and resilience, and received the 2023 Faculty Mentoring Award from the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior. Her research centers on biobehavioral mechanisms of mood and addictive disorders, employing a transdisciplinary, developmental framework that integrates neurobiological and behavioral markers of risk, with particular focus on fetal-infant and adolescent/pubertal transitions. Her work includes novel ultrasound measures of fetal development, biological pathways of maternal stress, substance use, and depression transmission to the fetus and infant, as well as the impact of marijuana and tobacco products on pregnant mothers and infants. During adolescence, her research investigates neural and neuroendocrine biomarkers of depression risk. Dr. Stroud has been continuously funded by the NIH since 2001 and has received multiple awards and honors, including contributions to the 2016 Surgeon General Report and the 2022 Stephen E. Straus Distinguished Lecture. She holds secondary appointments in Obstetrics and Gynecology and in Behavioral and Social Sciences at Brown, with research areas spanning adolescence, cortisol, depression, e-cigarettes, epigenetics, fetal behavior, stress, trauma, and maternal substance use.

Research topics

• Psychology
• Environmental health
• Medicine
• Clinical psychology
• Developmental psychology
• Biology
• Psychiatry
• Genetics
• Engineering ethics
• Demography

Selected publications

• Race and Ethnicity Moderates the Relationship Between Family Income Level and Allostatic Load Among Adolescents in the United States

  Journal of Adolescent Health · 2025-05-30 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Menthol Cigarette Use in US Pregnancies: Prevalence, Racial and Ethnic Disparities, and Associated Characteristics from the 2010–2019 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH)

  Nicotine & Tobacco Research · 2025-01-26 · 3 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  INTRODUCTION: Pregnant people who smoke constitute a uniquely vulnerable population likely to be impacted by a menthol cigarette (MC) ban. However, there are no published reports of the prevalence of prenatal MC use in a nationally representative US sample including racial and ethnic disparities and associated characteristics. AIMS AND METHODS: Participants were 1245 US pregnant people who smoked MC or non-MC (NMC) in the past 30 days from the 2010-2019 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Prevalence of past 30-day MC use was determined; weighted sociodemographic characteristics, tobacco use, and substance co-use were compared across MC and NMC groups and in multivariable analyses. RESULTS: The prevalence of MC use among pregnant people who smoked was 52.29% (95% CI: 48.17, 56.41) overall and 92.23% (95% CI: 87.74 to 96.73) among non-Hispanic Black pregnant people who smoked. A greater proportion of pregnant people who used MCs (vs NMCs) were non-Hispanic Black or Hispanic, unmarried, sexual minorities, from a large metropolitan area, smoked fewer cigarettes per day and reported later age of initiation. In multivariable analyses, only non-Hispanic Black race remained a significant predictor of MC use; non-Hispanic Black (vs non-Hispanic White) pregnant people who smoked showed 13.88 times (95% CI: 6.30 to 30.58) greater odds of MC use (p < .01). CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study to determine the prevalence and correlates of prenatal MC use in a nationally representative US sample. Given the known causal impacts of prenatal smoking on maternal and infant morbidity, results suggest that the planned menthol ban offers opportunities for improving maternal and infant health. IMPLICATIONS: Using a nationally representative US sample, this study highlights that more than half of pregnant people who smoke and nearly all of Black pregnant people who smoke in the US use menthol cigarettes. Given high rates of menthol cigarette use and causal links between prenatal cigarette use and maternal and infant morbidity, the menthol cigarette ban proposed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) offers a potential opportunity to develop tailored education and intervention strategies to improve perinatal and infant health.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) use across the menstrual cycle and oral contraceptive regimen: A proof-of-concept intensive longitudinal study

  Drug and Alcohol Dependence Reports · 2025-06-13

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Exogenous and endogenous ovarian hormones (e.g., estradiol, progesterone) may influence nicotine use. Prior research has focused on combustible cigarettes and yielded mixed results, which may be due to a lack of granular assessment of nicotine use across the menstrual cycle or oral contraceptive (OC) regimen. We conducted a small proof-of-concept study on Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS). Our goals were to examine the utility of intensive longitudinal methods to assess ENDS use in a ~month long protocol, and explore ENDS use levels and variability among naturally cycling (NC) individuals and those using OCs. There were 12 NC participants ( M age =22) and 7 participants using OCs (M age =21). ENDS occasions were assessed 4 times a day across the protocol. On average, the NC group completed 77% and the OC group completed 86% of ENDS assessments. The average number of missing data was 2.2 days ( SD =2.9). Time-Varying Effect Modeling (TVEM) examine changes in links between variables over time. TVEM revealed increases in ENDS use coinciding with rises in estradiol across the menstrual cycle. In contrast, ENDS use was consistent in the OC group. Preliminary evidence indicates that ENDS use among NC individuals varies as a function of natural fluctuations in ovarian hormones while OCs appear to lower and stabilize ENDS use. Despite the small sample, this study suggests that intensive longitudinal methods are useful for examining links between the menstrual cycle, OCs, and ENDS use. This proof-of-concept research may galvanize mechanistic and intervention research on ovarian hormones and ENDS use. • Preliminary evidence suggests that ENDS use varies as a function of naturally occurring fluctuations in estradiol across the menstrual cycle. • Tentative evidence suggests that oral contraceptives may lower and stabilize ENDS use. • Intensive longitudinal methods are useful for examining links between the menstrual cycle/oral contraceptive regimens and ENDS use.

  PublisherDOI

• Changes in prenatal cannabis use and perceptions during the COVID-19 pandemic

  Drug and Alcohol Dependence Reports · 2025-05-23 · 1 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  To understand the observed increase in prenatal cannabis use during the COVID-19 pandemic, this study compared differences in prenatal cannabis perceptions among pregnant people who used cannabis before versus during the pandemic. From 2018-2022, participants who ever used cannabis during pregnancy (N = 136, M age = 27.0 years, 29.9% white) were recruited in their first trimester and surveyed during their first and second trimesters. Participants responded to the Daily Sessions, Frequency, Age of Onset, and Quantity of Cannabis Use Inventory, Reasons for Using Marijuana measure, and Marijuana Perceptions Questionnaire. Compared to those responding before the pandemic, those responding during the pandemic were more likely to use cannabis to manage physical and psychological symptoms, including vomiting, depressed mood, chronic illness, pain, sleep, and appetite (RR’s > 2.0, p’s ≤ 0.020). Among those who reported medical use, participants responding during the pandemic were more likely to report physician-recommended use (RR=2.2, p=0.075). Participants responding during the pandemic were more likely to use edibles (RR=1.72, p=0.023), and less likely to smoke cannabis mixed with tobacco (RR=0.69, p=0.009), and they were more likely to have attempted to quit or reduce use (RR=1.14, p=0.047). The shift in cannabis use to treat pregnancy and pandemic-related symptoms during the pandemic underscores the necessity of enhancing prenatal support systems for managing physical and mental health symptoms in times of significant disruption to routine prenatal care and daily life. This may be particularly important given projected increases in the frequency of epidemics and pandemics. • During the COVID pandemic pregnant people used marijuana to manage health symptoms. • Edible use increased and mixing marijuana with tobacco decreased in the pandemic. • Quit attempts and reduction in marijuana use were more likely during the pandemic. • Prenatal care is critical for perinatal health in the context of marijuana use

  PublisherDOI

• Examining the moderating role of adverse childhood experiences on the link between executive functioning and depressive/anger rumination among adolescents

  Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology · 2025-09-02 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  INTRODUCTION: Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are theorized to amplify the effects of poor executive functioning (EF) leading to rumination. Though, few studies test this hypothesis among adolescents. Rumination is a transdiagnostic risk factor linked to mental health problems. We tested the moderating effect of ACEs (across informants) on the association between EF (measured using neutral and negative stimuli) and depressive and anger rumination. METHOD: = 14.86, SD = .50) who completed self-reports of lifetime ACEs, depressive and anger rumination, and the affective interference resolution task (a measure of EF). Additionally, a caregiver provided lifetime report of youth ACEs, and early childhood ACEs (3-5 years of age) were assessed using child protective records and caregiver interviews. RESULTS: = .046) after controlling for gender and current mental health problems; however, these effects were no longer significant when mental health problems were removed as a covariate. Furthermore, the interaction utilizing early childhood ACEs was not significant. Lastly, the interactions between ACEs and EF assessed with neutral information on depressive rumination and brooding were null. CONCLUSIONS: There is some support for the interactive relationship between EF and ACEs on rumination. However, statistical significance varies based on model specification and assessment of constructs. It is important to utilize multi-informants to assess ACEs, EF measured across valenced stimuli, and broad conceptualizations of rumination.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Multilevel and multimodal biobehavioral methods in the study of stress, trauma, and resilience: a systems approach

  Journal of Neural Transmission · 2025-06-09

  reviewOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Multi-site feasibility and fidelity of remote yoga intervention to improve management of type-2 diabetes: Design and methods of the HA1C (Healthy Active and In Control) study

  Contemporary Clinical Trials · 2025-02-10

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The Interactive Effects of Rejection and Rumination on Diurnal Cortisol among Adolescent Girls: A Preliminary Daily Diary Study

  Cognitive Therapy and Research · 2024-05-22 · 5 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Psyche: The 5th 'P' and its Associated Impact on the Second Stage of Labor.

  PubMed · 2024-01-04 · 1 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  OBJECTIVE: Patients with depression during labor display dysregulated patterns of oxytocin release and this may impact second stage of labor. The objective of this study was to evaluate the association between maternal preconception and antenatal depressive disorders on the duration of second stage of labor and perinatal outcomes. STUDY DESIGN: Secondary analysis of patients enrolled in the Behavioral and Mood in Mothers, Behavior in Infants study who reached the second stage of labor. Participants were assigned to: pre-conception only major depressive disorder (MDD), prenatal major depressive disorder, and non-depressed controls. Primary outcome was prolonged second stage of labor. Secondary outcomes included perinatal morbidities. RESULTS: 172 patients were included. 24.4% (42/172) participants had preconception-only MDD, 42.4% (73/172) patients had prenatal MDD, and 33.1% (57/172) patients had as non-depressed controls. The adjusted pair-wise analysis between groups showed no significant difference in the duration of second stage. No statistically significant differences were noted between groups for adverse neonatal outcomes. CONCLUSION: Maternal depressive disorders did not impact length of second stage of labor or immediate perinatal outcomes.

  PublisherOA PDF

• Supplemental Material for Use and Co-Use of Tobacco and Cannabis Before, During, and After Pregnancy: A Longitudinal Analysis of Waves 1–5 of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study

  Psychology of Addictive Behaviors · 2024-04-08

  articleOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant R01HD043844

  NIH · $432k · 2007

• Impact of Flavors and Design Features on Patterns of Waterpipe Use and Toxicity in Pregnant Mothers

  NIH · $1.6M · 2016–2022

• NIH Grant R03DA035896

  NIH · $228k · 2017

• NIH Grant R01MH079153

  NIH · $3.2M · 2014

• NIH Grant R01DA01955802S1

  NIH · $15k · 2010

Frequent coauthors

• Margaret H. Bublitz

  Providence College

  153 shared

• Chrystal Vergara‐Lopez

  Brown University

  149 shared

• Amy L. Salisbury

  Virginia Commonwealth University

  84 shared

• George D. Papandonatos

  Brown University

  73 shared

• Nancy C. Jao

  Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science

  56 shared

• Sharon Y. Lee

  Brown University

  55 shared

• Raymond Niaura

  New York University

  52 shared

• Natasha Sokol

  Providence College

  51 shared

Labs

• Maternal-Infant Studies Laboratory and the Child and Adolescent Stress LaboratoryPI

Education

• B.A., Human Biology

  Stanford University

• Ph.D., Psychology

  Yale University

  1999

• Other

  Brown University

  2001

Awards & honors

• 2023 Faculty Mentoring Award from the Department of Psychiat…
• Bruce Selya Research Excellence Award from Lifespan Hospital…
• Outstanding Early Career Investigator Award from the Nationa…
• 2022 Stephen E. Straus Distinguished Lecturer at the Nationa…