Disentangling levels of mother–infant neuroendocrine attunement and longitudinal relations with maternal risk and protective factors

Abstract

Scientific understanding of mother-infant HPA axis attunement has been limited by discrepant methods for assessing attunement that often conflate different levels of association. We sought to refine the conceptualization of attunement by investigating whether mother-infant cortisol attunement exists as coupling of response trajectories within an acute stress episode, separate from shared developmental patterns and/or overall dyadic similarity in cortisol levels, and whether the degree of attunement depends on within-or between-dyad differences in maternal risk and protective factors. We examined these questions using a longitudinal study with mother/ infant salivary cortisol during dyadic stressors at 6, 12, and 18 months postnatal. A three-level hierarchical linear model showed that sample-wide associations between mother and infant cortisol were not significant at any level, suggesting normative lack of attunement; however, there was significant variability in degree of attunement across dyads. Concurrent levels of family resources and social support satisfaction predicted lower mother-infant cortisol attunement within the session, and overall (mean) parenting stress predicted the opposite. Follow-up analyses showed this was typically due to an increase in infants' (but not their mothers') within-session cortisol response slopes with increasing support and decreasing stress. Implications for the role of mother-infant cortisol attunement in intergenerational stress transmission are discussed.

Caregiver and Young Child Biological Attunement In Distress Contexts: A Systematic Review and Narrative Synthesis

“…Most studies were cross-sectional (83%). Of the five articles that included longitudinal data, two examined data separately at each age using the same distress context (Braren et al, 2019;Davis & Granger, 2009) and three collapsed across ages in the main analyses (Atkinson et al, 2013;Hibel et al, 2015;Laurent et al, 2020). All articles reported data on children between 0 and 3 years of age, with most being within the first year of life (Infancy [0-11 months] = 20 articles, Early Toddlerhood [12-23 months] = 12 articles, Mid-Late Toddlerhood [24-47 months] = 8 articles).…”

“…The current review included 25 studies, representing 18 distinct samples, that examined relations between mother and child cortisol in a distress context (see Table 1). Five articles (Atkinson et al, 2013;Braren et al, 2019;Davis & Granger, 2009;Hibel et al, 2015;Laurent et al, 2020) included longitudinal data. The samples in 16 studies (64%) were identified as clinical or high-risk.…”

“…Only one study did not use a validated lab paradigm (Hendrix et al, 2018) and three studies used a routine vaccine or heel lance as the stress-inducing stimulus (Castral et al, 2015;Davis & Granger, 2009;Spratt et al, 2016). Partial standardized effect sizes are reported for five studies that controlled for various procedural or individual characteristics that commonly affect cortisol outcomes (see Table 6 for list of covariates; Hibel et al, 2015;Kalomiris & Kiel, 2018;Kivlighan, 2009;Laurent et al, 2012;Laurent et al, 2020).…”

Adolescent borderline personality traits and dyadic behavior shape mother-adolescent cortisol synchrony

“…Through a cascade of endocrine activity and the release of cortisol, the HPA axis supports the body in case of environmental demands and threats [ 2 ]. Activation of the HPA axis is reliably provoked by social stressors such as negative judgement or conflict, and social support and high quality parenting reduce HPA dysregulation [ 1 , 3 , 4 ]. Social processes have the potential to elicit arousal and dysregulation in individuals and to support individuals in managing those states [ 5 ].…”

“…A significant number of studies reports associations between parent and child cortisol levels [ 3 , 4 , 18 , 19 ]. However, existing studies present a range of terms and analytic methods, making it difficult to draw conclusions across multiple studies [ 20 ].…”