Research article summary (published 29 Apr 2005):

Cortisol reactivity is positively related to executive function in preschool children attending head start.

Full Abstract

This study examined relations among cortisol reactivity and measures of cognitive function and social behavior in 4- to 5-year-old children (N = 169) attending Head Start. Saliva samples for the assay of cortisol were collected at the beginning, middle, and end of an approximately 45-min testing session. Moderate increase in cortisol followed by down-regulation of this increase was positively associated with measures of executive function, self-regulation, and letter knowledge but not with measures of receptive vocabulary, emotion knowledge, or false belief understanding. Regression analysis indicates that executive function accounted for the association between cortisol reactivity and self-regulation and letter knowledge.

Author information

Author/s: Blair, Clancy (C); Granger, Douglas (D); Peters Razza, Rachel (R);

Affiliation: Human Development and Family Studies, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, 16802, USA. cbb11(-atsign-)psu.edu

Grants: P01 HD39667 (Agency:NICHD NIH HHS) ; R03 HD39750 (Agency:NICHD NIH HHS)

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural; Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

Journal: Child development (Child Dev), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: -2005 May-Jun; vol 76 (issue 3) : pp 554-67

Dates: Created 2005/05/16; Completed 2005/09/29; Revised 2007/11/15;

PMID: 15892778, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 2/18/2009, IMS Date: )

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Arousal - physiology Attention - physiology Child, Preschool Comprehension - physiology Concept Formation - physiology Culture Early Intervention (Education) Emotions - physiology Female Humans Hydrocortisone - blood Internal-External Control

Internal-External Control Male Mental Recall - physiology Personality Assessment - statistics & numerical data Poverty - psychology Problem Solving - physiology Psychomotor Performance - physiology Reference Values Regression Analysis Saliva - metabolism Statistics as Topic Vocabulary

Associated Chemicals: Hydrocortisone (50-23-7)

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