Context-specific freezing and associated physiological reactivity as a dysregulated fear response

Correlates and consequences of toddler cortisol reactivity to fear

Cortisol reactivity to fear-eliciting stimuli during toddlerhood may represent an indicator of risk for anxiety spectrum problems and other maladjustment. Thus, it is important to understand factors that may contribute to cortisol reactivity as well as those that determine its predictive relation to early emerging anxiety. In this vein, the current study investigated maternal comforting behaviors, both solicited and unsolicited by the toddler, as correlates of cortisol reactivity at 2years of age. Furthermore, we investigated maternal comforting behaviors and behavioral indicators of fear in both a low-threat and a high-threat context as moderators of the relation between cortisol reactivity at age 2 and change in anxiety from age 2 to age 3. The sample comprised 99 2-year-old toddlers and their mothers. Toddlers provided saliva samples at baseline and after a fear-eliciting stimulus that were assayed for cortisol. Mothers were observed for comforting behavior while interacting with their toddlers in laboratory tasks and completed questionnaires about their toddlers' anxiety. Results indicated that unsolicited (spontaneous) comforting behavior related to toddler cortisol reactivity above and beyond solicited comforting and the level of fear toddlers displayed in the same task. Moreover, fear in a low-threat context, but not in a high-threat context, moderated the relation between cortisol reactivity and change in anxiety, such that cortisol reactivity had a positive relation to anxiety at extreme levels of low-threat fear. Results suggest the importance of considering the caregiving environment and context-specific fear in understanding the nature of cortisol reactivity during the toddler years.

Emotional reactivity and parenting sensitivity interact to predict cortisol output in toddlers

Cortisol output in response to emotion induction procedures was examined at child age 24 months in a prospective longitudinal sample of 1,292 children and families in predominantly low-income and nonurban communities in two regions of high poverty in the United States. Multilevel analysis indicated that observed emotional reactivity to a mask presentation but not a toy removal procedure interacted with sensitive parenting to predict cortisol levels in children. For children experiencing high levels of sensitive parenting, cortisol output was high among children exhibiting high emotional reactivity and low among children exhibiting low emotional reactivity. For children experiencing low levels of sensitive parenting, cortisol output was unrelated to emotional reactivity.

Early adverse experience increases emotional reactivity in juvenile rhesus macaques: relation to amygdala volume

This study investigated the impact of infant maltreatment on juvenile rhesus monkeys' behavioral reactivity to novel stimuli and its associations with amygdala volume. Behavioral reactivity to novel stimuli of varying threat intensity was measured using Approach/Avoidance (AA) and Human Intruder (HI) tasks. In vivo magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was used to measure amygdala volume. Interestingly, group behavioral differences were context-dependent. When exposed to a human intruder, maltreated subjects displayed more anxious behaviors than controls; however, when presented with fear-evoking objects, maltreated animals exhibited increased aggression and a shorter latency to inspect the objects. Finally, under testing conditions with the lowest levels of threat (neutral novel objects) maltreated animals also showed shorter latencies to inspect objects, and reduced avoidance and increased exploration compared to controls. This suggests alterations in threat assessment and less behavioral inhibition in animals with early adverse experience compared to controls. Some of these behavioral responses were associated with amygdala volume, which was positively correlated with abuse rates received during infancy, particularly reflecting a relationship with exploration, consistent with previous studies.

Infant expressions in an approach/withdrawal framework

Since the introduction of empirical methods for studying facial expression, the interpretation of infant facial expressions has generated much debate. The premise of this article is that action tendencies of approach and withdrawal constitute a core organizational feature of emotion in humans, promoting coherence of behavior, facial signaling, and physiological responses. The approach/withdrawal framework can provide a taxonomy of contexts and the neurobehavioral framework for the systematic, empirical study of individual differences in expression, physiology, and behavior within individuals as well as across contexts over time. By adopting this framework in developmental work on basic emotion processes, it may be possible to better understand the behavioral principles governing facial displays, and how individual differences in them are related to physiology and behavioral function in context.

Emotional Regulation and Depression: A Potential Mediator between Heart and Mind

A narrative review of the major evidence concerning the relationship between emotional regulation and depression was conducted. The literature demonstrates a mediating role of emotional regulation in the development of depression and physical illness. Literature suggests in fact that the employment of adaptive emotional regulation strategies (e.g., reappraisal) causes a reduction of stress-elicited emotions leading to physical disorders. Conversely, dysfunctional emotional regulation strategies and, in particular, rumination and emotion suppression appear to be influential in the pathogenesis of depression and physiological disease. More specifically, the evidence suggests that depression and rumination affect both cognitive (e.g., impaired ability to process negative information) and neurobiological mechanisms (e.g., hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis overactivation and higher rates of cortisol production). Understanding the factors that govern the variety of health outcomes that different people experience following exposure to stress has important implications for the development of effective emotion-regulation interventional approaches (e.g., mindfulness-based therapy, emotion-focused therapy, and emotion regulation therapy).

The effect of toddler emotion regulation on maternal emotion socialization: Moderation by toddler gender

Although developmental research continues to connect parenting behaviors with child outcomes, it is critical to examine how child behaviors influence parenting behaviors. Given the emotional, cognitive, and social costs of maladaptive parenting, it is vital to understand the factors that influence maternal socialization behaviors. The current study examined children's observed emotion regulatory behaviors in two contexts (low-threat and high-threat novelty) as one influence. Mother-child dyads (n = 106) with toddlers of 24 months of age participated in novelty episodes from which toddler emotion regulation behaviors (i.e., caregiver-focused, attention, and self-soothing) were coded, and mothers reported their use of emotion socialization strategies when children were 24 and 36 months. We hypothesized that gender-specific predictive relations would occur, particularly from regulatory behaviors in the low-threat contexts. Gender moderated the relation between caregiver-focused emotion regulation in low-threat contexts and nonsupportive emotion socialization. Results from the current study inform the literature on the salience of child-elicited effects on the parent-child relationship. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).

Contextually appropriate emotional word use predicts adaptive health behavior: Emotion context sensitivity and treatment adherence

Emotion context sensitivity is the ability to respond emotionally in a manner that is functionally appropriate for the context in which the emotion arises. This study examined the relationship between emotion context sensitivity and treatment adherence in adults with the chronic illness Thalassemia. Emotional responses were measured by examining the frequency of positive and negative emotional words used to answer two interview questions that created two different emotional contexts. Consistent with previous research on adaptive and contextually appropriate emotions, negative emotion words were related to adherence in the context of the disease itself, while positive emotion words were related to adherence in the context of coping.

Frontal alpha EEG asymmetry before and after behavioral activation treatment for depression

BACKGROUND

Mid-frontal and mid-lateral (F3/F4 and F7/F8) EEG asymmetry has been associated with motivation and affect. We examined alpha EEG asymmetry in depressed and healthy participants before and after Behavioral Activation treatment for depression; examined the association between alpha EEG asymmetry and motivational systems and affect; and evaluated the utility of alpha EEG asymmetry in predicting remission.

METHODS

Depressed (n=37) and healthy participants (n=35) were assessed before and after treatment using a clinical interview, a task to measure baseline EEG, and questionnaires of behavioral activation and inhibition, avoidance, and affect.

RESULTS

Alpha EEG asymmetry was significantly higher in depressed than healthy participants at pre-treatment, positively correlated with negative affect and behavioral inhibition, and inversely correlated with lower behavioral activation sensitivity.

CONCLUSIONS

Heightened alpha EEG asymmetry in depressed participants was significantly associated with increased behavioral inhibition and negative emotion and was independent of clinical remission.

Stress reactivity in war-exposed young children with and without posttraumatic stress disorder: Relations to maternal stress hormones, parenting, and child emotionality and regulation

The current study examined biomarkers of stress in war-exposed young children and addressed maternal and child factors that may correlate with children's stress response. Participants were 232 Israeli children aged 1.5–5 years, including 148 children exposed to continuous war. Similarly, 56 were diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and 92 were defined as exposed-no-PTSD. Child cortisol (CT) and salivary alpha amylase (sAA), biomarkers of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal and sympathetic–adrenal–medullary arms of the stress response, were measured at baseline, following challenge, and at recovery. Maternal CT and sAA, PTSD symptoms, and reciprocal parenting, and child negative emotionality and regulatory strategies were assessed. Differences between war-exposed children and controls emerged, but these were related to child PTSD status. Children with PTSD exhibited consistently low CT and sAA, exposed-no-PTSD displayed consistently high CT and sAA, and controls showed increase in CT following challenge and decrease at recovery and low sAA. Exposed children showed higher negative emotionality; however, whereas exposed-no-PTSD children employed comfort-seeking strategies, children with PTSD used withdrawal. Predictors of child CT included maternal CT, PTSD symptoms, low reciprocity, and negative emotionality. Findings suggest that high physiological arousal combined with approach strategies may be associated with greater resilience in the context of early trauma.

Rape myth attitudes in rural Kenya: toward the development of a culturally relevant attitude scale and "blame index"

Rape myth attitudes (RMAs) can excuse men for rape, placing blame on female victims. This study identified and classified RMAs in rural western Kenya through 31 focus group discussions with youths and adults. We found that about half of the participants were likely to blame victims unconditionally. Stereotypes about rape victims and perpetrators were rife. Five of seven standardly used RMA categories emerged spontaneously in focus groups, along with a new category: "she owed him." Based on the data, we developed a "blame index" to assess the likelihood of community victim blaming in Kenya. To reduce victim blaming and bring about more prosecutions for rape, community education, teacher training, and reforms of rape laws are highly recommended.

Refining the multisystem view of the stress response: coordination among cortisol, alpha-amylase, and subjective stress in response to relationship conflict

This study investigated associations among young adults' hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activity, autonomic nervous system activity, and subjective stress in response to interpersonal conflict to better characterize coordination across stress systems. Seven saliva samples were collected from 199 young adult opposite-sex couples before, during, and after they discussed an unresolved relationship conflict. Samples were later assayed for cortisol and alpha-amylase (sAA). Couples rated anticipatory stress prior to the conflict and perceived stress immediately following the task. Growth curve modeling was used to examine two possible levels of within-person coordination across physiological systems: alignment between cortisol and sAA responses throughout the sampling period ("matched phase coordination"), and association between overall levels of cortisol and sAA in response to conflict ("average level coordination"). Whereas both partners showed the former type of coordination, only women showed the latter type. Positive anticipation of the stressor predicted stronger cortisol-sAA matched phase coordination for women. Pre-task ratings related to women's sAA, and post-task ratings related to both partners' cortisol responses. Implications for a multisystem interpretation of normal and pathological responses to daily stress are discussed.

Neural mechanisms underlying heterogeneity in the presentation of anxious temperament

Children with an anxious temperament (AT) are at risk for developing psychiatric disorders along the internalizing spectrum, including anxiety and depression. Like these disorders, AT is a multidimensional phenotype and children with extreme anxiety show varying mixtures of physiological, behavioral, and other symptoms. Using a well-validated juvenile monkey model of AT, we addressed the degree to which this phenotypic heterogeneity reflects fundamental differences or similarities in the underlying neurobiology. The rhesus macaque is optimal for studying AT because children and young monkeys express the anxious phenotype in similar ways and have similar neurobiology. Fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG)-positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) in 238 freely behaving monkeys identified brain regions where metabolism predicted variation in three dimensions of the AT phenotype: hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) activity, freezing behavior, and expressive vocalizations. We distinguished brain regions that predicted all three dimensions of the phenotype from those that selectively predicted a single dimension. Elevated activity in the central nucleus of the amygdala and the anterior hippocampus was consistently found across individuals with different presentations of AT. In contrast, elevated activity in the lateral anterior hippocampus was selective to individuals with high levels of HPA activity, and decreased activity in the motor cortex (M1) was selective to those with high levels of freezing behavior. Furthermore, activity in these phenotype-selective regions mediated relations between amygdala metabolism and different expressions of anxiety. These findings provide a framework for understanding the mechanisms that lead to heterogeneity in the clinical presentation of internalizing disorders and set the stage for developing improved interventions.

Dysregulated fear predicts social wariness and social anxiety symptoms during kindergarten

Fearful temperament is associated with risk for the development of social anxiety disorder in childhood; however, not all fearful children become anxious. Identifying maladaptive trajectories is thus important for clarifying which fearful children are at risk. In an unselected sample of 111 two-year-olds (55% male, 95% Caucasian), Buss ( 2011 ) identified a pattern of fearful behavior, dysregulated fear, characterized by high fear in low threat situations. This pattern of behavior predicted parent- and teacher-reported withdrawn/anxious behaviors in preschool and at kindergarten entry. The current study extended original findings and examined whether dysregulated fear predicted observed social wariness with adults and peers, and social anxiety symptoms at age 6. We also examined prosocial adjustment during kindergarten as a moderator of the link between dysregulated fear and social wariness. Consistent with predictions, children with greater dysregulated fear at age 2 were more socially wary of adults and unfamiliar peers in the laboratory, were reported as having more social anxiety symptoms, and were nearly 4 times more likely to manifest social anxiety symptoms than other children with elevated wariness in kindergarten. Results demonstrated stability in the dysregulated fear profile and increased risk for social anxiety symptom development. Dysregulated fear predicted more social wariness with unfamiliar peers only when children became less prosocial during kindergarten. Findings are discussed in relation to the utility of the dysregulated fear construct for specifying maladaptive trajectories of risk for anxiety disorder development.

Effects of antenatal corticosteroids on the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical axis of the fetus and newborn: experimental findings and clinical considerations

The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis is a major neuroendocrine pathway that modulates the stress response. The glucocorticoid, cortisol, is the principal end product of the HPA axis in humans and plays a fundamental role in maintaining homeostasis and in fetal maturation and development. Antenatal administration of synthetic glucocorticoids (GCs) accelerates fetal lung maturation and has significantly decreased neonatal mortality and morbidity in infants born before 34 weeks of gestation. Exposure to excess levels of endogenous GCs and exogenous GCs (betamethasone and dexamethasone) has been shown to alter the normal development trajectory. The development and regulation of the fetal HPA axis is discussed and the experimental animal evidence presented suggests long-term adverse consequences of altered HPA function. The clinical data in infants exposed to GCs also suggest altered HPA axis function over the short term. The longer-term consequences of antenatal GC exposure on HPA axis function and subtler neurodevelopmental outcomes including adaptation to stress, cognition, behavior, and the cardiovascular and immune responses are poorly understood. Emerging clinical strategies and interventions may help in the selection of mothers at risk for preterm delivery who would benefit from existing or future formulations of antenatal GCs with a reduction in the associated risk to the fetus and newborn. Detailed longitudinal long-term follow-up of those infants exposed to synthetic GCs are needed.

Profiles of Reactivity in Cocaine-Exposed Children

This study explored the possibility that specific, theoretically consistent profiles of reactivity could be identified in a sample of cocaine-exposed infants and whether these profiles were associated with a range of infant and/or maternal characteristics. Cluster analysis was used to identify distinct groups of infants based on physiological, behavioral and maternal reported measures of reactivity. Five replicable clusters were identified which corresponded to 1) Dysregulated/High Maternal Report Reactors, 2) Low Behavioral Reactors, 3) High Reactors, 4) Optimal Reactors and 5) Dysregulated/Low Maternal Report Reactors. These clusters were associated with differences in prenatal cocaine exposure status, birthweight, maternal depressive symptoms, and maternal negative affect during mother-infant interactions. These results support the presence of distinct reactivity profiles among high risk infants recruited on the basis of prenatal cocaine exposure and demographically similar control group infants not exposed to cocaine.

How can the study of physiological reactivity contribute to our understanding of adversity and resilience processes in development?

The focus of this article is to present current progress in understanding the interplay among adversity, physiological sensitivity to context, and adaptive functioning, with an emphasis on implications and future directions for resilience researchers. It includes a review of current literature that demonstrates (a) links between various levels of adversity exposure and variability in physiological reactivity, (b) how the interplay between children's physiological reactivity and different sources of risk and adversity relates to variability in adaptive functioning, and (c) various approaches for capturing a more dynamic nature of physiological reactivity and related processes. Throughout, important conceptual and empirical issues are highlighted.

Caregiver Protective Behavior, Toddler Fear and Sadness, and Toddler Cortisol Reactivity in Novel Contexts

Previous research has shown that caregiver protective behavior may exacerbate toddler distress in specific contexts. The current study sought to extend this work to examine associations between these variables and toddler cortisol reactivity. Ninety-three 24-month-old toddlers were observed across six novel contexts designed to elicit distress. Toddlers were asked to give saliva samples at the beginning and end of the laboratory procedure. Toddler sadness, toddler fear, and caregiver protective behavior were coded. Results indicate that caregiver protective behavior accounted for the association between toddler sadness and cortisol reactivity where higher levels of protective behavior were associated with higher cortisol reactivity. The current study showed that caregiver protective behavior, which functions to prevent a child from interacting with a novel stimulus, is an important mechanism to consider when understanding toddler stress responses during novel contexts.

Emotion regulation strategies that promote learning: reappraisal enhances children's memory for educational information

The link between emotion regulation and academic achievement is well documented. Less is known about specific emotion regulation strategies that promote learning. Six- to 13-year-olds (N = 126) viewed a sad film and were instructed to reappraise the importance, reappraise the outcome, or ruminate about the sad events; another group received no regulation instructions. Children viewed an educational film, and memory for this was later assessed. As predicted, reappraisal strategies more effectively attenuated children's self-reported emotional processing. Reappraisal enhanced memory for educational details relative to no instructions. Rumination did not lead to differences in memory from the other instructions. Memory benefits of effective instructions were pronounced for children with poorer emotion regulation skill, suggesting the utility of reappraisal in learning contexts.

Frontal EEG asymmetry and fear reactivity in different contexts at 10 months

Individual differences in observed and maternal-rated fear behaviors and frontal electroencephalogram (EEG) asymmetry were examined in normally developing 10-month-old infants. EEG was recorded during resting baseline, as well as during stranger approach, mask presentation, and toy spider presentation. Mothers completed the Infant Behavior Questionnaire. For mask presentation, baseline and task right frontal EEG asymmetry as well as maternal ratings predicted fear behavior during the mask task. For stranger approach, task-related right frontal EEG asymmetry predicted fear behavior during stranger approach after controlling for baseline asymmetry. There was a trend for task-related right frontal EEG asymmetry to predict fear during presentation of a toy spider after controlling for baseline asymmetry. Maternal report of temperament only added unique variance to the prediction of one fear task after controlling for baseline and task EEG. Assessing fear in multiple situations revealed context-specific individual differences in infant fear.

Associations among Context-Specific Maternal Protective Behavior, Toddler Fearful Temperament, and Maternal Accuracy and Goals

Maternal protective responses to temperamentally fearful toddlers have previously been found to relate to increased risk for children's development of anxiety-spectrum problems. Not all protective behavior is "overprotective," and not all mothers respond to toddlers' fear with protection. Therefore, the current study aimed to identify conditions under which an association between fearful temperament and protective maternal behavior occurs. Participants included 117 toddlers and their mothers, who were observed in a variety of laboratory tasks. Mothers predicted their toddlers' fear reactions in these tasks and reported the importance of parent-centered goals for their children's shyness. Protective behavior displayed in low-threat, but not high-threat, contexts related to concurrently observed fearful temperament and to mother-reported shy/inhibited behavior one year later. The relation between fearful temperament and protective behavior in low-threat, but not high-threat, contexts was strengthened by maternal accuracy in anticipating children's fear and maternal parent-centered goals for children's shyness.

Toddlers' context-varying emotions, maternal responses to emotions, and internalizing behaviors

Relations of toddlers' observed negative affect in high- and low-threat contexts to maternal perceptions of their toddlers' internalizing problems and to mothers' responses to emotions (RTE) for fear and sadness were examined. Child-driven, parent-driven, and reciprocal transactional models across 1 year were directly compared. Two-year-old toddlers (N = 106) participated in lab-based activities to elicit distress, and their negative affect was coded. Mothers completed measures of their child's internalizing behaviors and their responses to their toddler's fear and sadness at ages 2 and 3. At age 2, only negative affect in low-threat contexts was associated with greater internalizing problems. Mothers' punishing and minimizing RTE at age 2 predicted an increase in internalizing problems across 1 year. Age 2 internalizing problems predicted an increase in mother's use of supportive RTE over time. Results highlight the importance of considering the context of toddlers' negative affective displays and supported a reciprocal conceptualization of toddlers' internalizing behaviors and mothers' RTE.

Allostasis and the development of internalizing and externalizing problems: Changing relations with physiological systems across adolescence

Allostasis, or the maintenance of stability through physiological change, refers to the process by which individuals adjust to the continually changing demands that are put upon somatic activity by salient events. Bauer and colleagues proposed that allostasis could be detected through patterns of the joint reactivity of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) and hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis system under stressful conditions. We examined the associations between ANS and HPA reactivity and the development of externalizing and internalizing problems over 2 years in a sample of 215 adolescents. The interactions of ANS and HPA reactivity were contemporaneously associated with, and longitudinally predictive of, adolescents' emotional and behavioral problems. Adolescents with symmetrical high reactivity across systems had more internalizing and fewer externalizing problems initially. Over time, both symmetrical and asymmetrical reactivity predicted increasing internalizing problems in girls, depending on the measure of ANS activity that was examined, heart rate, or blood pressure reactivity. Implications for the understanding of allostasis and the dynamic nature of the relations between multiple physiological regulatory systems and adolescents' developing psychopathology are discussed.

Which fearful toddlers should we worry about? Context, fear regulation, and anxiety risk

In the current study, the author tested a model of risk for anxiety in fearful toddlers characterized by the toddlers' regulation of the intensity of withdrawal behavior across a variety of contexts. Participants included low-risk 24-month-old toddlers (N = 111) followed longitudinally each year through the fall of their kindergarten year. The key hypothesis was that being fearful in situations that are relatively low in threat (i.e., are predictable and controllable and in which children have many coping resources) is an early precursor to risk for anxiety development as measured by parental and teacher reports of children's anxious behaviors in kindergarten. Results supported the prediction such that it is not how much fear is expressed but when and how the fear is expressed that is important for characterizing adaptive behavior. Implications are discussed for a model of risk that includes the regulation of fear, the role of eliciting context, social wariness, and the importance of examining developmental transitions, such as the start of formal schooling. These findings have implications for the methods used to identify fearful children who may be at risk for developing anxiety-related problems.

Inhibition and exuberance in preschool classrooms: associations with peer social experiences and changes in cortisol across the preschool year

Associations between behavioral inhibition and activity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) system, a stress-sensitive neuroendocrine system indexed by salivary cortisol, have varied widely across studies. In the current study, we examined the role of peer social experiences in moderating patterns of association between inhibition/risk-aversion and cortisol reactivity. As expected based on previous research, preschool children (N = 165, 78 boys, 87 girls, 3.0-5.0 years) had significantly different social experiences in their preschool classrooms depending on temperament. Highly inhibited/risk-averse children were less socially integrated, less dominant, and less involved in aggressive encounters than both average and highly exuberant/risk-seeking children, but they were no more likely to be peer rejected. Highly exuberant children were more dominant, exhibited anger more often, and had friendships characterized by higher conflict. Cortisol levels fell from fall to spring for average and highly exuberant children but not for highly inhibited children. Unexpectedly, for highly inhibited children, having friends and being more dominant and popular than other highly inhibited children was associated with increasing cortisol levels over the school year. In contrast, highly exuberant children who were less socially integrated than other highly exuberant children maintained higher cortisol levels. Results indicate that the types of social experiences that affect stress-responsive biological systems may differ markedly for highly inhibited and highly exuberant children.

Understanding children's emotional processes and behavioral strategies in the context of marital conflict

Marital conflict is a distressing context in which children must regulate their emotion and behavior; however, the associations between the multidimensionality of conflict and children's regulatory processes need to be examined. The current study examined differences in children's (N = 207, mean age = 8.02 years) emotions (mad, sad, scared, and happy) and behavioral strategies to regulate conflict exposure during resolved, unresolved, escalating, and child-rearing marital conflict vignettes. Children's cortisol levels were assessed in relation to child-rearing and resolved conflict vignettes. Anger and sadness were associated with escalating and child-rearing conflicts, fearfulness was related to escalating and unresolved conflicts, and happiness was associated with resolution. Anger was associated with children's strategies to stop conflict, whereas sadness was associated with monitoring and avoidant strategies. Cortisol recovery moderated the link between fearfulness and behavioral regulation. These results highlight the importance of children's emotions and regulatory processes in understanding the impact of marital conflict.

Salivary cortisol levels are associated with resource control in a competitive situation in 19 month-old boys

Glucocorticoids (GCs) have been related to social rank in many studies across species, a particular rank giving rise to a particular stress-related physiological profile. Our aim was to examine the hypothesis that GCs levels in toddlers would be related to social dominance in a competitive resource situation. Subjects were 376 toddlers from the Quebec Newborn Twin Study. At 19 months of age, each subject was exposed to 2 unfamiliar situations known to be moderately stressful at that age. Saliva was collected before and after the unfamiliar situations, to assess pre-test and reactive cortisol. Then the toddler reaction to a competitive situation for a toy with an unfamiliar peer was assessed and we measured the proportion of time the child controlled the resource. In girls, no association between cortisol levels and the proportion of time the child got the toy was found. On the other hand, in boys, increased cortisol levels before the unfamiliar situation were significantly related to a decreased proportion of time they got the toy in the competitive situation (r(174) = -0.17, P = 0.02). These results show that even in toddlers with limited social experience, association between GCs levels and social dominance can be found, an association that is specific to boys.

The interactive effect of marital conflict and stress reactivity on externalizing and internalizing symptoms: the role of laboratory stressors

Growing evidence supports the biological sensitivity to context theory, which posits that physiologically reactive children, as indexed by autonomic nervous system (ANS) reactivity to laboratory stressors, are more susceptible to both negative and positive environmental influences than their low reactive peers. High biological sensitivity is a risk factor for behavioral and health problems in the context of high adversity, whereas in contexts of low adversity it has been found to promote positive adaptation. However, several studies have shown the opposite effect, finding that children who exhibited high ANS reactivity in response to interpersonal stressors were buffered from the deleterious effects of marital conflict, whereas children who showed low ANS reactivity were more vulnerable to high levels of marital conflict. Using an ethnically diverse sample of 260 kindergartners (130 girls, 130 boys), the current study investigated whether the interaction effect of marital conflict and the two branches of ANS reactivity on children's externalizing and internalizing symptoms differs with the nature of the laboratory challenge task used to measure children's stress response. As hypothesized, results indicate that the interaction between ANS reactivity and marital conflict significantly predicted children's behavior problems, but the direction of the effect varied with the nature of the challenge task (i.e., interpersonal or cognitive). This study illustrates the importance of considering the effect of laboratory stimuli when assessing whether children's ANS reactivity moderates the effects of adversity exposure on adaptation.

Risky shifts: How the timing and course of mothers' depressive symptoms across the perinatal period shape their own and infant's stress response profiles

We investigated the effects of timing and the course of maternal perinatal depressive symptoms on mother–infant hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) response profiles during an attachment stressor, as well as on within-dyad synchrony of stress profiles: coordination of HPA and sympathetic nervous system and infant–mother HPA attunement. Mothers (n = 86) completed the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale during pregnancy (Time 1 [T1]) and at 5 months (T2) and 18 months (T3) postnatal. At T3 mother–infant dyads completed the Strange Situation, and four saliva samples collected from both mothers and infants were assayed for cortisol and α-amylase. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to predict mother–infant cortisol response trajectories and within-dyad synchronies by main and interactive effects of T1–T3 Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale scores. Main effects of earlier (T1, T2) depressive symptoms predicted mothers' cortisol trajectories and coordination, and interactions of T1 with postnatal (T2 and T3) symptoms predicted infants' cortisol trajectories, coordination, and attunement. Decomposition of interactions revealed more marked effects on infant cortisol trajectories when the mother shifted from higher to lower depressive symptoms (or vice versa) across the perinatal period. Shifts from lower to higher symptoms also predicted inverse coordination of cortisol with salivary α-amylase and greater attunement of infant with mother cortisol. Implications for the development and transmission of stress dysregulation are discussed.

Temperament and emotion regulation: the role of autonomic nervous system reactivity

The aim of the present study was to examine the moderating role of parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous system functioning on the relationship between child temperament and emotion regulation. Sixty-two 4.5-year olds (31 females) were rated by their parents on temperamental surgency. Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) and pre-ejection period (PEP) were measured at baseline and in reaction to an interaction with an unfamiliar person and a cognitive test. The preschoolers' ability to self-regulate emotion was assessed in response to a disappointment. Results revealed little or no PEP reactivity to the unfamiliar person to be related to poorer emotion regulation for children high in surgency, indicating that the lack of sympathetic activation may be a risk factor for behavioral maladjustment. Reciprocal sympathetic activation, or increases in sympathetic activity accompanied by decreases in parasympathetic activity, was associated with better regulation of emotion for all levels of temperamental surgency supporting previous work that reciprocal activation is an adaptive form of autonomic control.

Prenatal treatment with glucocorticoids sensitizes the hpa axis response to stress among full-term infants

The objective of this study was to determine the consequences for HPA axis functioning among healthy full-term newborns of prenatal treatment with the synthetic glucocorticoid (GC), betamethasone, which is the routine treatment for threatened preterm delivery. Ninety full-term infants were recruited into two study groups (30 betamethasone treated; 60 comparison group matched for GA at birth and sex). The cortisol and behavioral response to the painful stress of a heel-stick blood draw was assessed 24 hr after birth. Full-term infants exposed to prenatal betamethasone displayed a larger cortisol response to the heel-stick procedure, despite no differences in baseline levels. Further, within the recommended window of betamethasone administration (24-34 gestational weeks), infants exposed to betamethasone earlier in gestation displayed the largest cortisol response to the heel-stick. These data add to accumulating evidence that prenatal exposure to elevated GCs programs the development of the HPA axis.

Individual differences in biological stress responses moderate the contribution of early peer victimization to subsequent depressive symptoms

RATIONALE

Some children who are exposed to early peer victimization become depressed, whereas others are resilient. Understanding individual differences in responses to early adversity, such as victimization, is critical for developing both comprehensive theoretical models and effective interventions.

OBJECTIVES

This study examined whether individual differences in biological stress responses (i.e., activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and autonomic nervous system) moderated the contribution of peer victimization to depressive symptoms across a 1-year period.

METHODS

Children (N = 132; M age = 9.46 years, SD = 0.33) completed measures of peer victimization and depressive symptoms, and rated their ruminative responses (i.e., persistent thoughts about negative task-related emotion and experiences) to a laboratory-based social challenge task involving two conflict-of-interests situations with an unfamiliar peer. Children's saliva was collected prior to, and following, participation in the task, and was later assayed for cortisol and alpha amylase [sAA].

RESULTS

Victimization interacted with levels of cortisol measured in anticipation of the task to predict task-related rumination and depressive symptoms 1 year later, adjusting for initial symptoms. Specifically, victimization served as a risk factor for rumination and depressive symptoms in children with heightened but not dampened anticipatory cortisol; yet, heightened anticipatory cortisol was protective against rumination and depressive symptoms in low-victimized children. Victimization also predicted subsequent depressive symptoms in girls with high sAA reactivity across the task.

CONCLUSIONS

This study advances contemporary theory and research by implicating individual variation in biological stress responses as one determinant of sensitivity to the mental health effects of early adversity.

Prenatal maternal stress programs infant stress regulation

OBJECTIVE

Prenatal exposure to inappropriate levels of glucocorticoids (GCs) and maternal stress are putative mechanisms for the fetal programming of later health outcomes. The current investigation examined the influence of prenatal maternal cortisol and maternal psychosocial stress on infant physiological and behavioral responses to stress.

METHODS

The study sample comprised 116 women and their full term infants. Maternal plasma cortisol and report of stress, anxiety and depression were assessed at 15, 19, 25, 31 and 36 + weeks' gestational age. Infant cortisol and behavioral responses to the painful stress of a heel-stick blood draw were evaluated at 24 hours after birth. The association between prenatal maternal measures and infant cortisol and behavioral stress responses was examined using hierarchical linear growth curve modeling.

RESULTS

A larger infant cortisol response to the heel-stick procedure was associated with exposure to elevated concentrations of maternal cortisol during the late second and third trimesters. Additionally, a slower rate of behavioral recovery from the painful stress of a heel-stick blood draw was predicted by elevated levels of maternal cortisol early in pregnancy as well as prenatal maternal psychosocial stress throughout gestation. These associations could not be explained by mode of delivery, prenatal medical history, socioeconomic status or child race, sex or birth order.

CONCLUSIONS

These data suggest that exposure to maternal cortisol and psychosocial stress exerts programming influences on the developing fetus with consequences for infant stress regulation.

Toddlers' Duration of Attention towards Putative Threat

Although individual differences in reactions to novelty in the toddler years have been consistently linked to risk for developing anxious behavior, toddlers' attention towards a novel, putatively threatening stimulus while in the presence of other enjoyable activities has rarely been examined as a precursor to such risk. The current study examined how attention towards an angry-looking gorilla mask in a room with alternative opportunities for play in 24-month-old toddlers predicted social inhibition when children entered kindergarten. Analyses examined attention to threat above and beyond and in interaction with both proximity to the mask and fear of novelty observed in other situations. Attention to threat interacted with proximity to the mask to predict social inhibition, such that attention to threat most strongly predicted social inhibition when toddlers stayed furthest from the mask. This relation occurred above and beyond the predictive relation between fear of novelty and social inhibition. Results are discussed within the broader literature of anxiety development and attentional processes in young children.

Maternal Expectations for Toddlers' Reactions to Novelty: Relations of Maternal Internalizing Symptoms and Parenting Dimensions to Expectations and Accuracy of Expectations

OBJECTIVE: Although maternal internalizing symptoms and parenting dimensions have been linked to reports and perceptions of children's behavior, it remains relatively unknown whether these characteristics relate to expectations or the accuracy of expectations for toddlers' responses to novel situations. DESIGN: A community sample of 117 mother-toddler dyads participated in a laboratory visit and questionnaire completion. At the laboratory, mothers were interviewed about their expectations for their toddlers' behaviors in a variety of novel tasks; toddlers then participated in these activities, and trained coders scored their behaviors. Mothers completed questionnaires assessing demographics, depressive and worry symptoms, and parenting dimensions. RESULTS: Mothers who reported more worry expected their toddlers to display more fearful behavior during the laboratory tasks, but worry did not moderate how accurately maternal expectations predicted toddlers' observed behavior. When also reporting a low level of authoritative-responsive parenting, maternal depressive symptoms moderated the association between maternal expectations and observed toddler behavior, such that, as depressive symptoms increased, maternal expectations related less strongly to toddler behavior. CONCLUSIONS: When mothers were asked about their expectations for their toddlers' behavior in the same novel situations from which experimenters observe this behavior, symptoms and parenting had minimal effect on the accuracy of mothers' expectations. When in the context of low authoritative-responsive parenting, however, depressive symptoms related to less accurate predictions of their toddlers' fearful behavior.

Molecular specificity of multiple hippocampal processes governing fear extinction

Over many years, fear extinction has been conceptualized as one dominant process, new inhibitory learning, which serves to dampen previously acquired fear. Here we present an alternative view, that brain region-specific processing of representations, expectations and emotional attributes of the fear-provoking event, recruits unique mechanisms that interdependently contribute to the conditioning and extinction of fear. The co-occurrence of these mechanisms within the fear circuit can thus be tracked and differentiated at a molecular and cellular level. Among others, the transcriptional regulators cFos, cAMP-dependent response element binding protein (CREB), Zif268, and extracellular signal-regulated kinases (Erk) stand out as hippocampal nuclear markers signaling novelty, arousal, retrieval, and prediction error, respectively. Consistent with evidence from human studies, these findings indicate that, beyond inhibitory learning, fear extinction requires modification of the emotional attributes and expectations that define the threatening context. Given the likely dysregulation of one or more of these processes in anxiety disorders, a key research challenge for the future is the identification and enhancement of individual extinction mechanisms to target the specific components of fear. Environmental stimuli lacking affective properties (conditioned stimuli, CS) rapidly become threatening if presented with stressful events (unconditioned stimuli, US). Consequently, based on a CS-US association, the presentation of the CS triggers species-specific fear responses until the US consistently stops occurring. At that point, new learning takes place and the fear response declines, a phenomenon termed extinction. The view that extinction occurs because a new, inhibitory CS-noUS association gains control over behavior, has remained dominant in the field. The implications of impaired fear regulation in the development of anxiety disorders have stimulated intense research in this area. Rodent studies identified the circuits involved in the conditioning and extinction of fear of salient cues, generating data that were confirmed in humans with brain imaging approaches. Nevertheless, research with experimental animals has not fully taken advantage of human data in order to better interpret extinction mechanisms in the framework of learning, expectation and emotion governing fear-motivated behavior. The present article aims to summarize recent molecular evidence on fear extinction, focusing on hippocampal mechanisms and experimental models of contextual fear, and compare the results with other relevant fear paradigms and human imaging studies. Instead of conceptualizing extinction learning as one process, such as CS-noUS association or inhibitory learning, we propose that fear extinction reflects the behavioral output of several region-specific learning processes that modify different components of the conditioning memory. The significance of these findings is discussed in the framework of fear regulation and anxiety disorders.

Cortisol reactivity in young infants

In this systematic review on empirical studies of cortisol reactivity to acute stressors in infants, we specifically focus on the role of infant age in the early development of cortisol reactivity to stressors. Our findings indicate that many psychological stressors do not provoke a cortisol reaction, but in response to physical stressors, the infant HPA-axis mostly reacts with a moderate increase in post-stressor cortisol. Furthermore, for physical stressors only, cortisol reactivity effect sizes decrease with infant age, although relatively little is known for infants older than 6 months. These data provide more insight in the role of infant age in the development of cortisol reactivity in response to acute stressors. We discuss the role of caregivers in buffering the cortisol response to both psychological and physical stressors, and recommend extending the current knowledge on infant cortisol reactivity.

Physiological Regulation and Fearfulness as Predictors of Young Children's Empathy-related Reactions

Indices of physiological regulation (i.e., resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia [RSA] and RSA suppression) and observed fearfulness were tested as predictors of empathy-related reactions to an unfamiliar person's simulated distress within and across 18 (T1, N = 247) and 30 (T2, N = 216) months of age. Controlling for T1 helping, high RSA suppression and low fearfulness at T1 predicted T2 helping. In a structural model, empathic concern was marginally positively related to resting RSA at both assessments whereas personal distress was related to RSA suppression within time (marginally positively at T1 and significantly negatively at T2). Fearfulness was associated with self-oriented, distress-related reactions within time. Comfort seeking (an index of personal distress) declined in mean level with age whereas helping increased, and both behaviors exhibited differential continuity (as did resting RSA). Individual, as well as developmental, differences in the types of reactions that young children exhibit when witnessing others' suffering and distress were discussed.

Right dorsolateral prefrontal cortical activity and behavioral inhibition

Individuals show marked variation in their responses to threat. Such individual differences in behavioral inhibition play a profound role in mental and physical well-being. Behavioral inhibition is thought to reflect variation in the sensitivity of a distributed neural system responsible for generating anxiety and organizing defensive responses to threat and punishment. Although progress has been made in identifying the key constituents of this behavioral inhibition system in humans, the involvement of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) remains unclear. Here, we acquired self-reported Behavioral Inhibition System Sensitivity scores and high-resolution electroencephalography from a large sample (n= 51). Using the enhanced spatial resolution afforded by source modeling techniques, we show that individuals with greater tonic (resting) activity in right-posterior DLPFC rate themselves as more behaviorally inhibited. This observation provides novel support for recent conceptualizations of behavioral inhibition and clues to the mechanisms that might underlie variation in threat-induced negative affect.

Inhibited temperament and parent emotional availability differentially predict young children's cortisol responses to novel social and nonsocial events

Preschool-aged children (n = 274) were examined in the laboratory to assess behavioral and cortisol responses to nonsocial and social threat. Parents also responded to scales on the Children's Behavior Questionnaire reflecting exuberant approach to novel/risky activities (reversed scored) and shyness. Multi-method measures of Nonsocial and Social Inhibition were computed. Parents and children were observed engaging in a series of interactive tasks and the Emotional Availability scales were scored for parental sensitivity, nonintrusiveness, nonhostility, and structuring. These scores were factored to yield one measure of Parenting Quality. Analyses revealed that Nonsocial and Social Inhibition could be distinguished and that associations with cortisol response were stressor specific. Moderation analyses revealed that parenting quality buffered cortisol elevations for extremely socially, but not nonsocially inhibited children. These findings are consistent with evidence that sensitive, supportive parenting is an important buffer of the HPA axis response to threat in infants and toddlers, and extends this finding to the preschool period.

Stressor paradigms in developmental studies: what does and does not work to produce mean increases in salivary cortisol

The stress response system is comprised of an intricate interconnected network that includes the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis. The HPA axis maintains the organism's capacity to respond to acute and prolonged stressors and is a focus of research on the sequelae of stress. Human studies of the HPA system have been facilitated enormously by the development of salivary assays which measure cortisol, the steroid end-product of the HPA axis. The use of salivary cortisol is prevalent in child development stress research. However, in order to measure children's acute cortisol reactivity to circumscribed stressors, researchers must put children in stressful situations which produce elevated levels of cortisol. Unfortunately, many studies on the cortisol stress response in children use paradigms that fail to produce mean elevations in cortisol. This paper reviews stressor paradigms used with infants, children, and adolescents to guide researchers in selecting effective stressor tasks. A number of different types of stressor paradigms were examined, including: public speaking, negative emotion, relationship disruption/threatening, novelty, handling, and mild pain paradigms. With development, marked changes are evident in the effectiveness of the same stressor paradigm to provoke elevations in cortisol. Several factors appear to be critical in determining whether a stressor paradigm is successful, including the availability of coping resources and the extent to which, in older children, the task threatens the social self. A consideration of these issues is needed to promote the implementation of more effective stressor paradigms in human developmental psychoendocrine research.

Developmental differences in infant salivary alpha-amylase and cortisol responses to stress

This study examined developmental differences in infants' salivary alpha-amylase (sAA) and cortisol levels and responses to the well-baby exam/inoculation stress protocol at 2, 6, 12, and 24 months of age. Mother-infant pairs (n=85; 45 girls) were assessed during well-baby visits and saliva was sampled before the well-baby exam/inoculation procedure (pre-test) and at 5, 10, and 20 min post-inoculation stress. Older infants (24 months) had higher levels of sAA than younger infants (2, 6 and 12 months). Stress-related sAA increases were evident at 6 and 12 months, but not at 2 or 24 months of age. Stress-related cortisol increases were present at 2 and 6 months, but not at older ages. Mothers had higher sAA levels than their infants, but did not show sAA or cortisol increases to their infants' inoculation. Pre-test, maternal and infant sAA levels were positively correlated (rs .47 to .65) at 6, 12, and 24 months of age, but not at 2 months. These findings suggest that the association between the sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system and the secretion of sAA develops between 2 and 6 months of age, when levels of sAA are responsive to exposure to a painful stressor.