Maternal and child contributions to cortisol response to emotional arousal in young children from low-income, rural communities.

Full Abstract

Relations of maternal and child characteristics to child cortisol reactivity to and recovery from emotional arousal were examined prospectively at approximately 7 months of age (infancy) and then again at approximately 15 months of age (toddlerhood). The sample was diverse and population based (N = 1,292 mother-infant dyads) and included families from predominantly low-income, rural communities. Maternal behavior, family income-to-need ratio and social advantage, and child temperament, attention, and mental development were assessed, and children's saliva was sampled before and after standardized procedures designed to elicit emotional arousal. Maternal engagement in infancy was associated with greater cortisol reactivity at the infancy assessment and with reduced overall cortisol level at the toddler assessment. Also at the toddler assessment, child attention, mental development, and temperamental distress to novelty were associated with increased cortisol reactivity and regulation, whereas temperamental distress to limitations and African American ethnicity were associated with reduced cortisol reactivity. Findings are consistent with prior work linking early caregiving to the development of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis stress response system and with a conceptual model in which developing temperament is characterized by the interplay of emotional reactivity and the emergence of the ability to effortfully regulate this reactivity using attention.

Author information

Author/s: Blair, Clancy (C); Granger, Douglas A (DA); Kivlighan, Katie T (KT); Mills-Koonce, Roger (R); Willoughby, Michael (M); Greenberg, Mark T (MT); Hibel, Leah C (LC); Fortunato, Christine K (CK); Family Life Project Investigators;

Affiliation: Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802-6504, USA. cbb11(-atsign-)psu.edu

Grants: P01 HD39667 (Agency:NICHD NIH HHS)

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

Journal: Developmental psychology (Dev Psychol), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2008-Jul; vol 44 (issue 4) : pp 1095-109

Dates: Created 2008/07/08; Completed 2008/11/18;

PMID: 18605837, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 2/18/2009, IMS Date: )

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