RESUMEN
This study deconstructs cumulative risk to probe unique relations to basal cortisol for family income and four distinct aspects of poverty-related instability. Participants were 288 children aged 3-5 years who attended Head Start preschool. Parents reported on poverty risks. Children provided samples of salivary cortisol at four times of day on 6 days. Results of hierarchical linear modeling with piecewise latent growth curves representing basal cortisol indicated unique relations for family income, household chaos, neighborhood risk, attachment-disruptive residential changes, and non-attachment changes. The findings support an equifinality implied by cumulative risk models in demonstrating that multiple risks relate to cortisol dysregulation yet also suggest the utility of considering unique effects of different risks for neurophysiological stress response functioning.
Asunto(s)
Hidrocortisona , Pobreza , Niño , Preescolar , Composición Familiar , Humanos , Padres , Características de la ResidenciaRESUMEN
Foster children are at risk for dysregulated hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis functioning, conferring risk for negative health outcomes. Responsive parenting may support young children's HPA axis regulation; however, few studies have examined the association between responsive parenting and cortisol production among children in foster care. In a sample of 97 foster parent-child dyads, we examined whether variation in foster parent responsiveness was linked to children's waking and bedtime levels of cortisol. Children's saliva samples were collected at wake-up and bedtime for three consecutive days. Foster parent responsiveness, as indicated by parent sensitivity, intrusiveness, and positive regard, was assessed during video-recorded semistructured play interactions between foster parents and children. Foster parent responsiveness significantly predicted children's waking cortisol levels (ß = 0.26, p = .023). Follow-up analyses revealed that foster parent sensitivity uniquely predicted waking cortisol (ß = 0.46, p = .006), over and above other dimensions of parenting, such that children with more sensitive foster parents had higher waking cortisol than children with less sensitive foster parents. The association between foster parent sensitivity and the waking-to-bedtime slope of cortisol across the day was nonsignificant. Findings suggest that sensitive caregiving may support foster children's healthy HPA axis functioning.
Asunto(s)
Hidrocortisona , Sistema Hipotálamo-Hipofisario , Preescolar , Ritmo Circadiano/fisiología , Humanos , Hidrocortisona/análisis , Sistema Hipotálamo-Hipofisario/fisiología , Padres , Sistema Hipófiso-Suprarrenal/fisiología , Saliva/químicaRESUMEN
IMPORTANCE: Parenting interventions have been found to normalize cortisol regulation among high-risk children early in development; it is important to investigate the sustainability of these effects and their mechanisms, given the maladaptive outcomes associated with cortisol dysregulation. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether the Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-up (ABC) intervention, implemented in infancy, predicts cortisol regulation in middle childhood via changes in early parental sensitivity. DESIGN: Double blind randomized clinical trial design; started January 2006, the follow-up for this project concluded March 2016. SETTING: Parents of children under age 2 referred from child protective services agencies in a large, mid-Atlantic city. PARTICIPANTS: 103 parent-child dyads (45.6% female children) with histories of child protective services involvement, randomly assigned to receive ABC (n = 45) or a control intervention (n = 58); in infancy, the children's ages ranged from 1.60 to 25.30 months (M = 9.87 months); at the middle childhood follow-up, they ranged from 8.0 to 11.0 years old (M = 8.52 years). INTERVENTIONS: Both conditions included 10-week, in-home, manualized interventions. The experimental condition, ABC, has 3 primary targets for parents: increasing nurturance to child distress, increasing following the child's lead, and decreasing frightening behavior. The control intervention, Developmental Education for Families (DEF), is an adaptation of a program focused on enhancing cognitive and language development. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Parental sensitivity was coded from a semi-structured interaction task between the parent and child in early childhood. Middle childhood diurnal cortisol slopes were modeled by collecting salivary cortisol samples from children at wake-up and bedtime over the course of 3 consecutive days. RESULTS: ABC participation in infancy was associated with increased parental sensitivity post-intervention, ßâ¯=â¯0.28, pâ¯=â¯.004, and this increased sensitivity predicted steeper decline across the day in children's cortisol concentration in middle childhood, ßâ¯=â¯-.53, pâ¯=â¯.002. The indirect effect of ABC on cortisol regulation via sensitivity was significant, ßâ¯=â¯-0.15, pâ¯=â¯.038. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: ABC has an indirect effect on middle childhood diurnal cortisol regulation via parental sensitivity; future research should seek to determine how this enhanced neurobiological regulation relates to children's behavioral, socioemotional, and psychological outcomes. TRIAL REGISTRATION: clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT02093052.
Asunto(s)
Apego a Objetos , Responsabilidad Parental/psicología , Intervención Psicosocial/métodos , Adulto , Niño , Maltrato a los Niños/psicología , Servicios de Protección Infantil , Preescolar , Método Doble Ciego , Femenino , Humanos , Hidrocortisona/análisis , Hidrocortisona/química , Lactante , Recién Nacido , Masculino , Relaciones Padres-Hijo , Padres , Saliva/químicaRESUMEN
The present study investigated relations among various aspects of economic adversity and cortisol levels for young children facing economic hardship. Specifically, the study examined relations to cortisol for variables representing family income, material hardship, financial strain, economic instability, and household chaos. Participants were 374 children, ages 3-5 years, who attended a Head Start preschool, as well as their primary caregivers. Nearly all children lived in households classified as poor or low-income, defined as less than two times the federal poverty threshold. Caregivers completed interviews about family demographics and economic adversity at the beginning of the school year. Child salivary cortisol was sampled in duplicate on two weekday mornings at the end of the school year. We hypothesized that economic instability would show direct statistical effects on child cortisol as well as indirect effects via household chaos. A structural equation model that corresponded to this hypothesis showed adequate fit for the sample data and revealed a statistically significant indirect effect of economic adversity on child cortisol via economic instability and household chaos, as well as statistically significant direct effects of economic instability and chaos on child cortisol, and a significant indirect effect of economic instability on cortisol via household chaos. Implications concern understanding mechanisms of poverty risk, including the impact of instability and chaos on stress physiology, and promoting physiological regulation for children facing economic hardship. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).
Asunto(s)
Hidrocortisona/metabolismo , Pobreza/psicología , Medio Social , Adulto , Cuidadores , Preescolar , Familia , Composición Familiar , Femenino , Humanos , Entrevistas como Asunto , Masculino , Philadelphia , Pobreza/estadística & datos numéricosRESUMEN
This within-subjects experimental study investigated the influence of the arts on cortisol for economically disadvantaged children. Participants were 310 children, ages 3-5 years, who attended a Head Start preschool and were randomly assigned to participate in different schedules of arts and homeroom classes on different days of the week. Cortisol was sampled at morning baseline and after arts and homeroom classes on two different days at start, middle, and end of the year. For music, dance, and visual arts, grouped and separately, results of piecewise hierarchical linear modeling with time-varying predictors suggested cortisol was lower after an arts versus homeroom class at middle and end of the year but not start of the year. Implications concern the impact of arts on cortisol for children facing poverty risks.