Positive parenting predicts cortisol functioning six years later in young adults

Stress and diurnal cortisol among Latino/a college students: A multi-risk model approach

The transition to college is a time of increased opportunity and stress spanning multiple domains. Adolescents who encounter significant stress during this transition may be vulnerable to adverse outcomes due to a "wear and tear" of the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis. Latino/a students may be particularly at-risk for heightened stress exposure due to experiences of both minority-specific and general life stress. Despite this, little is known regarding the cumulative impact of multiple stressors on Latino/a students' HPA axis functioning. The present study employed a "multi-risk model" approach to examine additive, common, and cumulative effects of multiple stress forms (general, academic, social, financial, bicultural, ethnic/racial discrimination) on diurnal cortisol in a sample of first-year Latino/a college students (N = 196; 64.4% female; Mage = 18.95). Results indicated that no stress forms were additively associated with the cortisol awakening response (CAR), but general stress was associated with a flatter diurnal cortisol slope (DCS) and bicultural stress was linked with a steeper DCS. A college stress latent factor was associated with a lower CAR, whereas a latent factor of discrimination was not associated with diurnal cortisol. Cumulative risk was linked with a lower CAR. Findings highlight the physiological correlates of various stressors experienced by Latino/a college students.

DNA methylation variation after a parenting program for child conduct problems: Findings from a randomized controlled trial

This study investigated associations of the Incredible Years (IY) parenting program with children's DNA methylation. Participants were 289 Dutch children aged 3-9 years (75% European ancestry, 48% female) with above-average conduct problems. Saliva was collected 2.5 years after families were randomized to IY or care as usual (CAU). Using an intention-to-treat approach, confirmatory multiple-regression analyses revealed no significant differences between the IY and CAU groups in children's methylation levels at the NR3C1 and FKBP5 genes. However, exploratory epigenome-wide analyses revealed nine differentially methylated regions between groups, coinciding with SLAMF1, MITF, FAM200B, PSD3, SNX31, and CELSR1. The study provides preliminary evidence for associations of IY with children's salivary methylation levels and highlights the need for further research into biological outcomes of parenting programs.

Cortisol's diurnal rhythm indexes the neurobiological impact of child adversity in adolescence

Adverse early life experiences, such as child maltreatment, shapes hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) activity. The impact of social context is often probed through laboratory stress reactivity, yet child maltreatment is a severe form of chronic stress that recalibrates even stable or relatively inflexible stress systems such as cortisol's diurnal rhythm. This study was designed to determine how different social contexts, which place divergent demands on children, shape cortisol's diurnal rhythm. Participants include 120 adolescents (9-14 years), including 42 youth with substantiated child physical abuse. Up to 32 saliva samples were obtained in the laboratory, on days youth stayed home, and on school days. A 3-level hierarchical linear model examined cortisol within each day and extracted the diurnal rhythm at level 1; across days at level 2; and between-individual differences in cortisol and its rhythm at level 3. While cortisol's diurnal rhythm was flattened when youth were in the novel laboratory context, the impact of maltreatment was observed within the home context such that maltreated children had persistently flattened diurnal rhythms. The effect of maltreatment overlapped with current chronic interpersonal family stress. Results are consistent with the idea that maltreatment exerts a robust, detrimental impact on the HPA axis and are interpreted in the context of less flexibility and rhythmicity. The HPA axis adapts by encoding signifiers of relevant harsh or unpredictable environments, and the extreme stress of physical abuse in the family setting may be one of these environments which calibrates the developing child's stress responsive system, even throughout a developmental stage in which the family takes on diminishing importance.

[Old age and attachment theory, a systematic review of attachment typology, continuity, prevalence and association with psychological and health variables in older adults]

The aim of this paper is to review the research on attachment theory during old age in the last 10 years, in order to obtain: a) the prevalence of different types of attachment, b) the assessment of attachment methods, c) the relationship established between attachment and other psychosocial and health variables in the aging process. A systematic search of PsycINFO, PsycArticles, WOS, and Scopus identified 17 studies, in which attachment had been assessed in a population of 7118 older adults. The results of this research present a clear evolution and some differences, with respect to the previous systematic 2010 review. Regarding the prevalence of the different types of attachment, it is confirmed that secure attachment and avoidant attachment are more abundant in old age than in adulthood or youth people. There is no consensus on the instruments used for the evaluation, and results are presented that associate insecure attachment with depression, life satisfaction, physical illness and loneliness. The attachment construct appears as an explanatory and mediating variable, directly involved in the psychology and psychopathology of old age.

Adrenocortical Responses to Daily Stressors Are Calibrated by Early Life Adversity: An Investigation of the Adaptive Calibration Model

Studies examining the impact of early adversity on physiological responsivity to environmental challenges in later life yield a complex pattern of findings and ambiguity regarding the direction of effect, with some studies reporting heightened responses and others reporting dampened responses. One potential reason for these mixed findings is an oversimplified theoretical model surrounding the connection between early life stressor exposure and subsequent stress responsivity. The adaptive calibration model offersa contemporary set of assumptions aimed at providing a better understanding of the ways that early life experiences shape the stress response system to better align with current and future environments. The current study utilized a large subsample from the National Study of Daily Experiences (N = 1,605) to examine the extent to which the association between daily stressor exposure and cortisol levels varies across levels of early life adversity. Results revealed that those individuals who experienced extremely low levels of early life adversity displayed the greatest increase in cortisol levels across the day as daily stressor exposure increased. Alternatively, those individuals who experienced extremely high levels of early life adversity displayed almost no change in diurnal production of cortisol as daily stressor exposure increased. The results are discussed within the evolutionary-developmental context of the adaptive calibration model along with suggestions for future research.

The association between pregnancy-related anxiety and behavioral development in 18-month-old children: The mediating effects of parenting styles and breastfeeding methods

BACKGROUND

Pregnancy-related anxiety (PRA) is a distinct type of anxiety from general anxiety, affects many pregnant women, and is correlated with poor behavioral development in children. However, the mediation paths were unclear.

METHODS

A total of 2032 mother-infant pairs from the Ma'anshan Birth Cohort were included in the current study. Maternal PRA was assessed in the second and third trimesters. Children's behavioral development was evaluated at the age of 18 months. In addition, information on parenting styles and breastfeeding methods was obtained at postpartum. Multivariate regression and structural equation modeling were used to examine the associations between maternal PRA and children's behavioral development.

RESULTS

Significant intercorrelations were found between maternal PRA, the potential mediators (parenting styles and breastfeeding methods), and 18-month-old children's ASQ scores. Parenting styles played an intermediary role in the relationship between maternal PRA and children's behavioral development (β = 0.030, 95 % confidence interval: 0.017-0.051), and the mediating effect accounted for 29.1 % of the total effect. However, breastfeeding methods did not mediate the link between PRA and children's behavior.

LIMITATIONS

Depression and postpartum anxiety were not controlled for in our analysis, which left us unable to estimate the independent impact of PRA on children's behavior.

CONCLUSIONS

Parenting rather than breastfeeding is the mediating factor of behavioral problems in children caused by PRA.

A Scoping Review of the Factors That Influence Families' Ability or Capacity to Provide Young People With Emotional Support Over the Transition to Adulthood

The transition to adulthood is typically marked by changes in relationships with family members, peers, and romantic partners. Despite this, the family often maintains a prominent role in young adults' lives. A scoping review was conducted to identify the factors that influence families' ability or capacity to provide young people with emotional support during the transition to adulthood, and to understand the gaps in this research area. Title and abstract searches were conducted from January 2007 to February 2021 in multiple databases, including PsycINFO, MEDLINE, and Sociological Abstracts. Fifteen semi-structured interviews were also conducted with stakeholders (professionals from relevant sectors/working within this field). In total, 277 articles were eligible for inclusion in the review. Following data extraction, 19 factors were identified. Factors with the most research (more than 20 articles) included: family proximity or co-residence; mental health; sex or gender differences; and family communication. Factors with less research included: societal context; young person's sexual orientation or gender identity; social networks; and adverse life events. Gaps in the research area were also identified, including methodological issues (e.g., lack of mixed methods and longitudinal study designs), a disproportionate focus on the parent-child relationship, and a lack of contextually situated research. Our findings indicate that future research in this area could benefit from taking an intersectional, multi-method approach, with a focus on the whole family and diverse samples.

Weak and uneven associations of home, neighborhood, and school environments with stress hormone output across multiple timescales

The progression of lifelong trajectories of socioeconomic inequalities in health and mortality begins in childhood. Dysregulation in cortisol, a stress hormone that is the primary output of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, has been hypothesized to be a mechanism for how early environmental adversity compromises health. However, despite the popularity of cortisol as a biomarker for stress and adversity, little is known about whether cortisol output differs in children being raised in socioeconomically disadvantaged environments. Here, we show that there are few differences between advantaged and disadvantaged children in their cortisol output. In 8-14-year-old children from the population-based Texas Twin Project, we measured cortisol output at three different timescales: (a) diurnal fluctuation in salivary cortisol (n = 400), (b) salivary cortisol reactivity and recovery after exposure to the Trier Social Stress Test (n = 444), and (c) cortisol concentration in hair (n = 1210). These measures converged on two moderately correlated, yet distinguishable, dimensions of HPA function. We tested differences in cortisol output across nine aspects of social disadvantage at the home (e.g., family socioeconomic status), school (e.g., average levels of academic achievement), and neighborhood (e.g., concentrated poverty). Children living in neighborhoods with higher concentrated poverty had higher diurnal cortisol output, as measured in saliva; otherwise, child cortisol output was unrelated to any other aspect of social disadvantage. Overall, we find limited support for alteration in HPA axis functioning as a general mechanism for the health consequences of socioeconomic inequality in childhood.

Hyper- and hypo-cortisol functioning in post-institutionalized adolescents: The role of severity of neglect and context

Understanding the developmental timing of stress exposure may help inform mechanisms underlying how stress "gets under the skin" and influences the stress response system, including the HPA axis and its end-product cortisol. Early adversity may be particularly detrimental; however, it is difficult to disentangle the timing of adversity from its cumulative burden because there is typically high continuity between early and later adversity. Moreover, context and the different stressors inherent in various contexts may interact with stress exposure to influence psychophysiological functioning. To address this issue, we examined adolescents who had been reared in institutions and suffered neglect or social deprivation ranging from approximately six months to several years of life prior to adoption into U.S. homes. We focused on the stress hormone cortisol because it can reflect continued regulatory problems in youth, even years after youth transition to typical homes. We examined cortisol morning levels and diurnal rhythms across multiple contexts (home, school, lab) on 5 separate days in 41 post-institutionalized youth and 78 comparison youth. Employing hierarchical linear modeling, we found that when assessed in the lab, post-institutionalized (PI) youth displayed lower morning cortisol levels and flatter diurnal slopes than the control youth. Yet at home, PI youth displayed higher morning cortisol levels than the control youth. In addition to group effects, we also examined severity of early adversity and found that PI kids who had endured the most severe early adversity displayed lower home cortisol levels than controls. No significant predictors of diurnal cortisol on school days were identified. These data fit with the notion that the HPA axis is impacted by early adversity, even years after adoption, and with emerging theories that postulate that stress physiology calibrates within youth to help them adapt to their context. In the case of severe early adversity, the cost of such adaptation may not be desirable. It also highlights the important role of context when assessing HPA axis activity, particularly in post-institutionalized youth.

Environmental determinants of physiological reactivity to stress: The interacting effects of early life deprivation, caregiving quality, and stressful life events

Children who spend their early lives in institutions experience profound psychosocial deprivation that is associated with altered stress response system development. Here, we used data from a longitudinal randomized controlled trial of foster care for institutionally reared children to examine whether caregiving quality and stressful life events (SLEs) in early adolescence (age 12) influence patterns of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and sympathetic nervous system (SNS) reactivity. Controlling for the effect of institutional care, higher caregiving quality at age 12 was associated with heightened cortisol and SNS reactivity. However, moderation analysis revealed that the latter effect was only observed among never-institutionalized children, whereas ever-institutionalized children demonstrated a persistently blunted SNS response regardless of recent caregiving quality. Among institutionally reared children, SLEs interacted with prior random assignment to foster care, such that those placed in foster care early in development had a SNS response that approximated never-institutionalized children when SLEs at age 12 were low. In contrast, SNS reactivity was persistently blunted among those with prolonged deprivation, regardless of recent SLEs. Early-life deprivation is associated with persistent blunting of stress response systems, but normalization may be achievable if SLEs are limited following placement into enriched family-based care.

Biological sensitivity to context: A test of the hypothesized U-shaped relation between early adversity and stress responsivity

We conducted signal detection analyses to test for curvilinear, U-shaped relations between early experiences of adversity and heightened physiological responses to challenge, as proposed by biological sensitivity to context theory. Based on analysis of an ethnically diverse sample of 338 kindergarten children (4-6 years old) and their families, we identified levels and types of adversity that, singly and interactively, predicted high (top 25%) and low (bottom 25%) rates of stress reactivity. The results offered support for the hypothesized U-shaped curve and conceptually replicated and extended the work of Ellis, Essex, and Boyce (2005). Across both sympathetic and adrenocortical systems, a disproportionate number of children growing up under conditions characterized by either low or high adversity (as indexed by restrictive parenting, family stress, and family economic condition) displayed heightened stress reactivity, compared with peers growing up under conditions of moderate adversity. Finally, as hypothesized by the adaptive calibration model, a disproportionate number of children who experienced exceptionally stressful family conditions displayed blunted cortisol reactivity to stress.

Latino adolescents' cultural values associated with diurnal cortisol activity

Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activity has been identified as a mechanism through which daily life stress contributes to health problems and racial/ethnic health disparities. Stress-related changes in neuroendocrine function are evident as early as adolescence, but the ways in which promotive cultural factors may also contribute to variation in diurnal HPA activity have received little empirical attention. Grounded in cultural models of resilience, dual dimensions of Latino adolescents' cultural values (ethnic heritage and U.S. mainstream) were examined as promotive and protective factors in relation to their diurnal salivary cortisol patterns using ecological momentary assessment (N = 209; M_age = 18.10; 64.4% female). Participants provided 5 daily saliva samples for 3 days while completing corresponding electronic diary reports and using time-sensitive compliance devices (track caps, actigraphs). Results from 3-level growth curve models indicated that higher U.S. mainstream cultural values (e.g., self-reliance, competition, material success) were associated with higher average waking cortisol levels and a more rapid rate of diurnal cortisol decline (i.e., "steeper" slope). Regarding situational deviations from the diurnal rhythm (within-person differences), cortisol levels were higher in relation to diary-reported ongoing stress (vs. completed). Accounting for these situational differences in stress timing, a cross-level interaction (i.e., between-person difference in within-person process) indicated that higher perceived stress than usual was associated with lower cortisol levels for adolescents with stronger alignment to Latino ethnic heritage values (e.g., familism, respect, religiosity), compared to relatively higher cortisol levels for those with less alignment to these values. Results were consistent adjusting for participants' sex, immigrant generation, parents' education level, depressive symptoms, medication use, sleep duration, and other self-reported health behaviors. These findings join the growing science of cultural neurobiology by demonstrating the promotive and potentially regulating influence of cultural values in the daily HPA functioning of Latino adolescents.

Cultural neurobiology and the family: Evidence from the daily lives of Latino adolescents

Culturally linked family influences during adolescence are important predictors of health and well-being for Latino youth, yet few studies have examined whether these familial influences are associated with indicators of typical physiological stress processes. Following a cultural neurobiology framework, we examined the role of family in the everyday lives of Latino adolescents (N = 209; Mage = 18.10; 85.1% Mexican descent; 64.4% female) by investigating familism values and perceptions of parent support as well as daily family assistance behaviors in relation to hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis diurnal patterns, indexed by salivary cortisol five times a day for 3 weekdays. Three-level growth curve analyses revealed that perceptions of parental support were associated with greater cortisol awakening responses, whereas familism values were not associated with diurnal cortisol patterns. In day-to-day analyses, assisting family during the day (compared to not assisting family) was associated with lower waking cortisol levels and flatter diurnal slopes the next day. Our findings highlight the dynamic associations and multiple time courses between cultural values and behaviors, daily experiences, and physiological stress processes for Latino adolescents. Further, we identified important cultural risk and promotive factors associated with physiological regulation in daily life and potential pathways toward health outcomes in adulthood.

Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Reactivity to Acute Stress: an Investigation into the Roles of Perceived Stress and Family Resources

Rurally situated African Americans suffer from chronic exposure to stress that may have a deleterious effect on health outcomes. Unfortunately, research on potential mechanisms that underlie health disparities affecting the African American community has received limited focus in the scientific literature. This study investigated the relationship between perceived stress, family resources, and cortisol reactivity to acute stress. A rural sample of African American emerging adults (N = 60) completed a battery of assessments, the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST), and provided four samples of salivary cortisol: prior to receiving TSST instructions, prior to conducting the speech task, immediately following the TSST, and 15-20 min following the TSST. As predicted, cortisol levels increased in response to a controlled laboratory inducement of acute stress. Moreover, diminished levels of family resources were associated with blunted cortisol reactivity to acute stress. Of note, higher levels of perceived stress over the past month and being male were independently associated with lower levels of cortisol at baseline. Lack of family resources had a blunting relationship on the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis reactivity. These findings provide biomarker support for the relationship between family resources-an indicator associated with social determinants of health-and stress physiology within a controlled laboratory experiment. Identifying mechanisms that work toward explanation of within-group differences in African American health disparities is both needed and informative for culturally informed prevention and intervention efforts.