Early childhood cortisol reactivity moderates the effects of parent-child relationship quality on the development of children's temperament in early childhood

Infants' cortisol reactivity and infant-mother cortisol synchrony in urban Chinese families: The role of maternal control strategy

Maternal control strategy refers to a mother's practices used to impel, inhibit, guide, or shape their children's behaviors during mother-child interaction. The present study examined control strategies used by Chinese urban mothers and how they associated with infants' cortisol trajectory and infant-mother cortisol synchrony during a separation task. Participants were 115 infant-mother dyads. Maternal control strategy was assessed during mother-infant free-play when the infants were 6 months (T1) and 1 year (T2) old. Salivary cortisol samples were collected from both infants and mothers during a stress-inducing task at T2. The results indicated that mothers most frequently adopted the moderate power control strategy, at both T1 and T2. T1 maternal low control strategy significantly predicted infants' cortisol response curve, namely infants of mothers who predominantly adopted a low power control strategy had a more dynamic reactivity and recovery in their cortisol response to the separation task. Positive cortisol synchrony was observed between mothers and infants during the separation stress condition. In addition, T2 maternal high power control strategy accounted for inter-individual variations in infant-mother cortisol synchrony, such that mothers who predominantly adopted a high power control strategy exhibited a heightened level of cortisol synchrony with their infants. Our findings suggest that targeted training in maternal control strategies could help mothers calibrate their infants' adrenocortical regulation.

A Test of the Self-Medication Hypothesis Using a Latent Measurement Model: Are Stress and Impaired Control over Alcohol Mediating Mechanisms of Parenting Styles on Heavy Episodic Drinking and Alcohol-Related Problems among University Students?

INTRODUCTION

The self-medication hypothesis (SMH) suggests that individuals consume alcohol to alleviate stressful emotions. Still, the underlying mechanisms between stress and heavy episodic drinking remain to be explored. Impaired control over drinking (IC) reflects a failure of self-regulation specific to the drinking context, with individuals exceeding self-prescribed limits. Parenting styles experienced during childhood have a lasting influence on the stress response, which may contribute to IC.

METHOD

We examined the indirect influences of parenting styles (e.g., permissive, authoritarian, and authoritative) on heavy episodic drinking and alcohol-related problems through the mediating mechanisms of stress and IC. We fit a latent measurement model with 938 (473 men; 465 women) university students, utilizing bootstrap confidence intervals, in Mplus 8.0.

RESULTS

Higher levels of authoritative parenting (mother and father) were indirectly linked to fewer alcohol-related problems and less heavy episodic drinking through less stress and IC. Maternal permissiveness was indirectly linked to more alcohol-related problems and heavy episodic drinking through more stress and, in turn, more IC. Impaired control appeared to be a mediator for stress and alcohol-related problems.

CONCLUSIONS

Maternal permissiveness contributes to the use of alcohol to alleviate stress. Thus, reducing stress may reduce problematic heavy drinking and alcohol problems among emerging adults with high IC who may also have experienced permissive parenting. Stress may exacerbate behavioral dysregulation of drinking within self-prescribed limits.

The moderating role of adrenocortical reactivity in the associations between interparental conflict, emotional reactivity, and school adjustment

This study tested whether the associations between interparental conflict, children's emotional reactivity, and school adjustment were moderated by children's cortisol reactivity in a sample of young children (N = 243; mean age = 4.6 years at Wave 1; 56% female, 44% male) and their parents. Using a longitudinal, autoregressive design, observational assessments of children's emotional reactivity at Wave 2 mediated the relationship between an observational measure of Wave 1 conflict between parents and teacher's report of children's school adjustment at Wave 3. However, children's cortisol reactivity to parent conflict at Wave 1 moderated the first link, such that emotional reactivity operated as a mediator for children with heightened cortisol reactivity but not children with low cortisol reactivity. Moderation was expressed in a "for better" or "for worse" form hypothesized by biological sensitivity to context theory. Thus, children with high cortisol reactivity experienced greater emotional reactivity than their peers when faced with more destructive conflict but also lower emotional reactivity when exposed to more constructive interparental conflict. Results are discussed as to how they advance emotional security and biological sensitivity to context theories.

Early childhood stress responses to psychosocial stressors: The state of the science

The aim of this systematic review was to better understand whether and to what extent psychosocial stressors are associated with hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis or autonomic nervous system stress responses in young children (1-6 years of age). Studies were classified by psychosocial stressors from the ecobiodevelopmental model: social and economic resources, maternal mental health, parent-child relationships, and the physical environment. Of the 2388 identified studies, 32 met full inclusion criteria, including over 9107 children. Child physiologic stress responses were measured as hair and urinary cortisol and cortisone, salivary diurnal and reactive cortisol, salivary reactive alpha-amylase, and respiratory sinus arrhythmia. There were 107 identified relations between psychosocial stressors and physiologic stress responses. Nearly two thirds of these relations suggested that children have dysregulated stress responses as either significantly blunted (n = 27) or increased (n = 37); 43 relations were not significant. Children most consistently had significantly dysregulated stress responses if they experienced postnatal maternal depression or anxiety. Some reasons for the mixed findings may be related to characteristics of the child (i.e., moderators) or stressor, how the stress response or psychosocial stressor was measured, unmeasured variables (e.g., caregiving buffering), researcher degrees of freedom, or publication bias.

Relationship between the gut microbiota and temperament in children 1-2 years old in Chinese birth cohort

BACKGROUND

Understanding the relationship between the gut microbiota and temperament can provide new insights for the regulation of behavioral intervention in children, which is still lacking research. This study aimed to examine the relationship between the gut microbiota and temperament in a cohort of children in 1 year and 2 years old.

METHODS

This study included a total of 37 children with completed information, in which 51 samples at age 1 and 41 samples at age 2 were received respectively. We collected birth and demographic information. Parents reported their child's temperament characteristics using the Infant Behavior Questionnaire-revised (IBQ-R) and Early Childhood Behavior Questionnaire (ECBQ). Fecal samples were collected from each child at 1 and 2 years old and sequenced with MiSeq sequencer. Multiple linear regressions and linear mixed effect models were used to analyze the relationship between the temperament and their microbiota composition as well as the diversity and effect of gender or age on this relationship.

RESULTS

At age of year 2, Faecalibacterium was negatively associated with high-intensity pleasure and surgency. Bifidobacterium was negatively correlated with Perceptual sensitivity. Results showed no difference about three domains between year 1 and year 2, while gut microbiota showed diversity difference and genera difference. There was no gender and age difference on the relationship between temperament and the gut microbiota.

CONCLUSIONS

Temperament was associated with the gut microbiota over time. The temperament remained stable and the relationship between the gut microbiota and temperament wasn't associated with age and gender.

A mother's touch: Preschool-aged children are regulated by positive maternal touch

Positive maternal touch plays an important role in the development of children's physiological regulation and cognitive development in infancy, as well as the development of sociality in early childhood. However, few studies have looked beyond infancy to consider the possible continuing impact of positive maternal touch on child stress reactivity during early childhood. A diverse community sample of mothers (N = 114, M_age  = 33.52 years, SD = 5.33) and their preschool-aged children (M_age  = 41.68 months, SD = 4.67; 49.1% female) participated in the study. Basic demographics were reported by mothers. We coded maternal touch behaviors during an emotionally charged laboratory conversation task and assessed children's physiological reactivity to stressful laboratory tasks with salivary cortisol. Results reveal a significant negative association between positive maternal touch and child salivary cortisol reactivity. In addition, family income, adjusted for family size, and child sex were significantly associated with child cortisol stress reactivity. Findings are discussed in terms of persistent downregulating effects of positive maternal touch on child stress reactivity, as well as possible links of stress reactivity with family income, a proxy for economic stress, and child sex.

A brief video-coaching intervention buffers young children's vulnerability to the impact of caregivers’ depressive symptoms: Examination of differential susceptibility

Informed by the National Institute of Mental Health's Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) and developmental psychopathology frameworks, the current study used cortisol area under the curve with respect to ground (AUCg) as an index of differential sensitivity to context, which was expected to predispose young children with elevated vulnerability to adverse caregiving experiences and adaptive sensitivity to intervention effects. Particularly, the study aimed to determine whether improving caregivers’ responsive parenting through the Filming Interactions to Nurture Development (FIND) intervention would buffer children's biologically embedded vulnerability to caregivers’ depressive symptoms. Data were derived from a randomized controlled trial using pretest–posttest design with low-income families of children aged 4 to 36 months (N = 91). Young children's differential sensitivity was measured using cortisol AUCg during a structured stress paradigm. As hypothesized, children whose cortisol AUCg indicated greater sensitivity to social context exhibited more internalizing and externalizing behaviors in relation to caregivers’ elevated depressive symptoms. Critically, the intervention program was effective in attenuating psychopathology symptoms among the more biologically sensitive children. As proven by rigorous statistical tests, the findings of this study partially supported the differential susceptibility hypotheses, indicating both greater vulnerability to adverse conditions and responsiveness to intervention among children with high levels of cortisol AUCg.

Hair cortisol moderates the association between obstetric complications and child wellbeing

Obstetric complications (OC) may have implications for later health outcomes. However, there is a lack of research examining the association between OC and behavior problems or quality of life (HRQoL). We aimed to close this gap and further investigate functioning of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA)-axis as a potential physiological vulnerability moderating the association between OC and behavior problems and HRQoL. We investigated 232 mothers and their five to 12-year-old children. Presence of OC during the pre-, peri-, and postnatal phases was determined by interviewing mothers. Children's behavior problems (CBCL, TRF) and HRQoL (Kidscreen rated by mothers and children) were assessed. Children gave 3 cm strands of hair for analysis of hair cortisol (HC). Structural equation modeling analyses with a latent variable of child outcome ("distress"), OC as predictor and HC as a potential moderator were conducted. OC significantly predicted distress (β = .33, p < .01). The model showed a good fit to the data: χ2(14)=15.66, p < .33, CFI=.99, TLI=.99, RMSEA=.02, 90 %CI [.00, .06], SRMR=.04. In addition, HC moderated the association between OC and distress (β=-.32, p < .01). The moderation model also showed a good fit: χ2(14) =7.13, p = .93, CFI=1.00, TLI=1.06, RMSEA=.00, 90 %CI [.00, .02], SRMR=.03. Results indicated that the association between OC and distress was significant only when children had low HC-levels. This was also the case for both externalizing and internalizing behavior problems. Our results underline the notion of OC as a risk factor for child behavior problems and wellbeing and point to an important role of the children's physiological set-up such as HPA-functioning.

The Relation between Specific Parenting Behaviors and Toddlers' Early Anxious Behaviors is Moderated by Toddler Cortisol Reactivity

Differential susceptibility theory posits that neurobiological reactivity (e.g., cortisol levels) should be considered as an individual index of susceptibility to both positive and negative environments. The current investigation separately examines cortisol reactivity and total concentration in toddlerhood as moderators of the longitudinal relation between maternal protection and encouragement of independence and increases or decreases in observed anxious behaviors, respectively. A total of 119 mother-toddler dyads participated in a laboratory visit when toddlers were 12- to 18-months-old. Mothers reported on their parenting behaviors and toddlers participated in a novelty episode from which their anxious behaviors were coded. Toddlers provided three saliva samples, yielding measures of cortisol reactivity and total cortisol concentration. One year later, dyads returned to the laboratory where toddlers participated in another novelty episode to observationally assess anxious behaviors. Results revealed that maternal protection tended to relate to greater increases in anxious behaviors one year later only for toddlers who displayed high cortisol reactivity. Cortisol reactivity also moderated the relation between maternal encouragement of independence and change in toddler anxious behaviors, with this parenting behavior relating to greater decreases in anxious behaviors only for toddlers with high cortisol reactivity. Results examining total cortisol concentration as a moderator were not significant. Results suggest the importance of considering toddler cortisol reactivity a context of susceptibility when examining the longitudinal relation between parenting behaviors and the development of anxious behaviors in toddlerhood.

Disaster-related prenatal maternal stress, and childhood HPA-axis regulation and anxiety: The QF2011 Queensland Flood Study

BACKGROUND

The fetal programming hypothesis suggests that prenatal maternal stress (PNMS) influences aspects of fetal development, such as the Hypothalamic Pituitary Adrenal (HPA) axis, enhancing susceptibility to emotional problems. No study (to our knowledge) has investigated this pathway considering development of preschool anxiety symptoms. Using data from the Queensland Flood study (QF2011), our objective was to determine whether toddler HPA-axis functioning mediated the association between aspects of flood-related PNMS and child anxiety symptoms at 4-years, and whether relationships were moderated by the timing of the stressor in utero or by the child's sex.

METHODS

Women, pregnant during the 2011 Queensland floods (N = 230), were recruited soon afterwards and completed questionnaires regarding their objective hardship (e.g., loss of personal property), subjective distress (post-traumatic-like symptoms) and cognitive appraisal of the disaster. At 16 months, indexes of the child's diurnal cortisol rhythm (awakening response, total daily output, diurnal slope [N = 80]), and stress reactivity (N = 111), were obtained. At 4-years, N = 117 mothers reported on their own mood and their children's anxiety symptoms; of these, N = 80 also had valid child cortisol reactivity data, and N = 64 had diurnal cortisol rhythm data.

RESULTS

A greater cortisol awakening response at 16 months mediated the relationship between subjective PNMS and anxiety symptoms at 4-years. Greater toddler daily cortisol secretion predicted more anxiety symptoms, independent of PNMS. The laboratory stressor did not elicit a cortisol response. PNMS effects were not dependent upon child sex nor on gestational timing of flood exposure.

CONCLUSIONS

Indexes of diurnal cortisol in toddlerhood may represent vulnerability for anxiety symptoms in preschoolers, both independent of, and following, exposure to disaster-related prenatal maternal subjective distress.

Family Emotional Climate and Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Little research has examined family emotional climate in the context of having a child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The goal of the current study was to determine how the emotional quality of family subsystems (parent-child and parent couple relationships, for both mothers and fathers) combine to create various classes of family emotional climate and to identify predictors of class membership in 148 families of children with ASD. The emotional quality of family subsystems was assessed using Five Minute Speech Samples from mothers and fathers. In total, 148 families of children with ASD (86% male) aged 6-13 years were included in analyses. About one-third of parents did not have a college degree and more than two-thirds were of non-Hispanic White origin. Latent class analysis revealed that 43% of the sample was characterized by high levels of warmth and low levels of criticism in both the parent-child and parent couple relationships; 12% of the sample was characterized by low warmth and high criticism in both sets of relationships; and the rest of the sample was divided among three additional classes of emotional climate characterized by different configurations of warmth and criticism across both sets of relationships. Parent level of broader autism phenotype and child emotional and behavioral problems were associated with emotional climate class membership. Implications for interventions are discussed.

Family Emotional Climate and Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Little research has examined family emotional climate in the context of having a child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The goal of the current study was to determine how the emotional quality of family subsystems (parent-child and parent couple relationships, for both mothers and fathers) combine to create various classes of family emotional climate and to identify predictors of class membership in 148 families of children with ASD. The emotional quality of family subsystems was assessed using Five Minute Speech Samples from mothers and fathers. In total, 148 families of children with ASD (86% male) aged 6-13 years were included in analyses. About one-third of parents did not have a college degree and more than two-thirds were of non-Hispanic White origin. Latent class analysis revealed that 43% of the sample was characterized by high levels of warmth and low levels of criticism in both the parent-child and parent couple relationships; 12% of the sample was characterized by low warmth and high criticism in both sets of relationships; and the rest of the sample was divided among three additional classes of emotional climate characterized by different configurations of warmth and criticism across both sets of relationships. Parent level of broader autism phenotype and child emotional and behavioral problems were associated with emotional climate class membership. Implications for interventions are discussed.

Toddler Temperament Mediates the Effect of Prenatal Maternal Stress on Childhood Anxiety Symptomatology: The QF2011 Queensland Flood Study

It is not known whether alterations to temperamental characteristics associated with prenatal maternal stress (PNMS) exposure account for the development of childhood anxiety symptomatology (internalizing behaviors and anxiety symptoms). The QF2011 Queensland flood study examined whether (1) toddler temperamental characteristics explained the association between PNMS exposure and childhood anxiety symptomatology; and (2) whether effects were dependent upon child sex or the timing of gestational exposure to PNMS. We investigated the effects of various aspects of flood-related stress in pregnancy (objective hardship, cognitive appraisal, subjective distress) on maternal report of 16-month toddler temperament (attentional control, shy-inhibition, negative reactivity), 4-year maternal-reported childhood anxiety symptomatology (internalizing and anxiety symptoms; N = 104), and teacher reports of internalizing behaviors (N = 77). Severity of maternal objective hardship during pregnancy and shy-inhibited behaviors were uniquely associated with 4-year child anxiety symptoms. Mediation analyses found that higher levels of 16-month negative reactivity accounted, in part, for the relationship between increased maternal objective flood-related hardship and greater internalizing behaviors (maternal but not teacher report). Neither child sex nor gestational timing of exposure moderated the hypothesized mediations. Our findings highlight several pathways through which varying aspects of disaster-related PNMS may influence early childhood anxiety symptomatology.

The stability of temperament from early childhood to early adolescence: A multi-method, multi-informant examination

Temperament is a core aspect of children's psychological functioning and is assumed to be at least somewhat stable across childhood. However, little research has assessed the stability of temperament from early childhood to early adolescence. Moreover, few studies have examined the influence of measurement and analytic methods on the stability of early temperament over periods of more than a few years. We obtained laboratory observations and mother and father reports of temperamental negative and positive emotionality and effortful control from 559 three-year olds. Approximately 9 years later, children and both parents completed questionnaire measures of similar temperament constructs. Zero-order correlations revealed greater within- than cross-informant stability. In addition, compared to parent reports, early childhood laboratory measures showed greater convergent and divergent validity with child, mother, and father reports at age 12. Finally, latent temperament variables at age 3 composed of laboratory and parent-report measures and latent variables at age 12 composed of parent and child reports showed moderate stability. There was also a weak but significant association of early effortful control with later negative and positive emotionality. Results have implications for assessing temperament and knowledge of the stability of temperament across childhood.

Peer Problems Among Postinstitutionalized, Internationally Adopted Children: Relations to Hypocortisolism, Parenting Quality, and ADHD Symptoms

Seventy-eight postinstitutionalized (PI) children adopted at ages 17-36 months were assessed 2, 8, 16, and 24 months postadoption on measures of cortisol and parenting quality, and compared to same-aged children adopted from foster care (FC, n = 45) and nonadopted children (NA, n = 45). In kindergarten (M_age  = 6.0 years), teachers, parents, and trained observers completed measures of peer relationships and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms. PI children had more peer problems and ADHD symptoms according to teachers and observers than NA children with FC children in between, whereas both PI and FC children were at significantly greater risk of hypocortisolism (i.e., blunted cortisol diurnal rhythm and reactivity). Hypocortisolism and ADHD symptoms mediated the association between preadoption adversity and peer difficulties. Higher postadoption parenting quality was protective.

Study Protocol for the Preschooler Regulation of Emotional Stress (PRES) Procedure

Background: Emotional stress regulation (ESR) rapidly develops during the first months of age and includes different behavioral strategies which largely contribute to children’s behavioral and emotional adjustment later in life. The assessment of ESR during the first years of life is critical to identify preschool children who are at developmental risk. Although ESR is generally included in larger temperament batteries [e.g., the Laboratory Temperament Assessment Battery (Lab-TAB)], there is no standardized observational procedure to specifically assess and measure ESR in preschool aged children.

Aim: Here, we describe the development of an observational procedure to assess ESR in preschool aged children [i.e., the Preschooler Regulation of Emotional Stress (PRES) Procedure] and the related coding system.

Methods: Four Lab-TAB emotional stress episodes (i.e., the Stranger, the Perfect Circle, the Missing Sticker, and the Transparent Box) have been selected. Independent coders developed a list of ESR codes resulting in two general indexes (i.e., active engagement and stress level) and five specific indexes (i.e., anger, control, fear, inhibition, sadness). Finally, specific actions have been planned to assess the validity and the coding system reliability of PRES procedure.

Ethics and Dissemination: The study has been approved by the Ethical Committee of the Scientific Institute IRCCS Eugenio Medea, Bosisio Parini (Italy). The PRES validation and reliability assessment as well as its use with healthy and at-risk populations of preschool children will be object of future scientific publications and international conference presentations.

Sex differences in the associations between vagal reactivity and oppositional defiant disorder symptoms

BACKGROUND

Vagal reactivity to stress in children has been associated with future psychiatric outcomes. However, results have been mixed possibly because these effects are in opposite direction in boys and girls. These sex differences are relevant in the context of development of psychopathology, whereby the rates of psychiatric disorders differ by sex. In this study, we aimed to examine the association between vagal reactivity, assessed as a reduction in respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) in response to a challenge, and the development of future oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) symptoms in boys and girls. In addition, we examine the specific associations with ODD symptom dimensions, named irritability and headstrong. We hypothesized that increased vagal reactivity was associated with increased ODD symptoms in girls and a reduction in ODD symptoms in boys.

METHODS

Participants were members of the Wirral Child Health and Development Study, a prospective epidemiological longitudinal study of 1,233 first-time mothers recruited at 20 weeks' gestation. RSA during four nonstressful and one stressful (still-face) procedures was assessed when children were aged 29 weeks in a sample stratified by adversity (n = 270). Maternal reports of ODD symptoms were collected when children were 2.5 years old (n = 253), 3.5 years old (n = 826), and 5 years old (n = 770). Structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed to test our hypotheses.

RESULTS

There was a significant sex difference in the prediction of ODD symptoms due to the opposite directionality in which increasing vagal reactivity was associated with an increase in ODD symptoms in girls and a reduction of ODD symptoms in boys. This Sex by Vagal reactivity interaction was common for both ODD dimensions, with no sex by dimension-specific associations.

CONCLUSIONS

Physiological reactivity to a stressful situation predicts differently ODD symptoms in boys and girls very early in life, with no difference across irritability and headstrong components. Findings are discussed in the context of the several mechanisms involved on the later development of distinct psychiatric disorders in boys and girls.

The Infant Version of the Laboratory Temperament Assessment Battery (Lab-TAB): Measurement Properties and Implications for Concepts of Temperament

We describe large-sample research using the Infant Laboratory Temperament Assessment Battery (Lab-TAB; Goldsmith and Rothbart, 1996) in 1,076 infants at 6 and 12 months of age. The Lab-TAB was designed to assess temperament dimensions through a series of episodes that mimic everyday situations. Our goal is to provide guidelines for scoring Lab-TAB episodes to derive temperament composites. We also present a set of analyses examining mean differences and stability of temperament in early infancy, gender differences in infant temperament, as well as a validation of Lab-TAB episodes and composites with parent reported Infant Behavior Questionnaire (IBQ; Rothbart, 1981) scales. In general, laboratory observed temperament was only modestly related to parent reported temperament. However, temperament measures were significantly stable across time and several gender differences that align with previous research emerged. In sum, the Lab-TAB usefully assesses individual differences in infant emotionality.