Neglect, HPA axis reactivity, and development

Reilly, Emily; Gunnar, Megan R.

doi:10.1016/j.ijdevneu.2019.07.010

Cited by 37 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 111 publications

(128 reference statements)

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“…Firstly, disorganization coincided with a flattened diurnal cortisol slope in infancy in the aforementioned Generation-R study, with follow-up analyses implicating a hypocortisolism that applied particularly to the disorganized children with an insecure rather than a secure secondary classification (113). Crucially, at the level of the HPA axis, large-scale studies have recently documented that maltreatment, in particular when occurring early and involving neglect by the caregiver, is linked with hypocortisolism (123)(124)(125)(126). This tamping down or "blunting" of indices composing the aversion module may reflect the long-term consequences of an "evolutionarily conservative" response involving an excessively self-reliant emotion regulation strategy that is metabolically less costly and minimizes the risk inherent in depending on others as sources of co-regulation (127,128).…”

Section: Alterations In the Aversion Modulementioning

confidence: 95%

Conceptual Analysis: A Social Neuroscience Approach to Interpersonal Interaction in the Context of Disruption and Disorganization of Attachment (NAMDA)

et al. 2020

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Humans are strongly dependent upon social resources for allostasis and emotion regulation. This applies especially to early childhood because humans—as an altricial species—have a prolonged period of dependency on support and input from caregivers who typically act as sources of co-regulation. Accordingly, attachment theory proposes that the history and quality of early interactions with primary caregivers shape children's internal working models of attachment. In turn, these attachment models guide behavior, initially with the set goal of maintaining proximity to caregivers but eventually paving the way to more generalized mental representations of self and others. Mounting evidence in non-clinical populations suggests that these mental representations coincide with differential patterns of neural structure, function, and connectivity in a range of brain regions previously associated with emotional and cognitive capacities. What is currently lacking, however, is an evidence-based account of how early adverse attachment-related experiences and/or the emergence of attachment disorganization impact the developing brain. While work on early childhood adversities offers important insights, we propose that how these events become biologically embedded crucially hinges on the context of the child–caregiver attachment relationships in which the events take place. Our selective review distinguishes between direct social neuroscience research on disorganized attachment and indirect maltreatment-related research, converging on aberrant functioning in neurobiological systems subserving aversion, approach, emotion regulation, and mental state processing in the wake of severe attachment disruption. To account for heterogeneity of findings, we propose two distinct neurobiological phenotypes characterized by hyper- and hypo-arousal primarily deriving from the caregiver serving either as a threatening or as an insufficient source of co-regulation, respectively.

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Section: Alterations In the Aversion Modulementioning

confidence: 95%

Conceptual Analysis: A Social Neuroscience Approach to Interpersonal Interaction in the Context of Disruption and Disorganization of Attachment (NAMDA)

et al. 2020

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“…Early-life adversity has strong influences on stress response system development in children (Koss & Gunnar, 2018; Reilly & Gunnar, 2019). A particularly extreme form of early adversity is deprivation of parental care associated with institutional rearing.…”

Section: Early Life Adversity and Stress Responsivenessmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

et al. 2020

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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.

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“…We did not assess during which developmental period maltreatment occurred. It has been suggested that neglect during the first two to three years of life is particularly crucial in programming HPA-axis functioning (37,98). Our assessment of maltreatment does not allow us to discern between neglect starting early in the development and neglect that occurred later in the development.…”

Section: Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 92%

Not the Root of the Problem—Hair Cortisol and Cortisone Do Not Mediate the Effect of Child Maltreatment on Body Mass Index

et al. 2020

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Background: Experiencing maltreatment during childhood exerts substantial stress on the child and increases the risk for overweight and obesity later in life. The current study tests whether hair cortisol-a measure of chronic stress-and its metabolite cortisone mediate the relation between abuse and neglect on the one hand, and body mass index (BMI) on the other. Method: The sample consisted of 249 participants aged 8 to 87 years (M = 36.13, SD = 19.33). We collected data on child abuse and neglect using questionnaires, measured cortisol and cortisone concentrations in hair, and BMI. In a structural model, the effects of abuse and neglect on hair cortisol, hair cortisone, and BMI were tested, as well as the covariance between hair cortisol and BMI, and hair cortisone and BMI. Results: Within the sample, 23% were overweight but not obese and 14% were obese. Higher levels of experienced abuse were related to higher cortisone concentrations in hair (b = 0.24, p < .001) and higher BMI (b = 0.17, p =.04). Neglect was not related to hair cortisol, hair cortisone, or BMI. Hair cortisol and cortisone did not mediate the association between maltreatment, and BMI. Sensitivity analyses demonstrate the same pattern of results in a subsample of adult participants currently not living with their parents. However, in younger participants who were still living with their parents, the associations between abuse and cortisone (b = 0.14, p =.35) and abuse and BMI (b = 0.02, p =.92) were no longer significant. Conclusion: These findings confirm that experiencing abuse is related to higher BMI but suggest that hair cortisol and cortisone are not the mechanism underlying the association between child maltreatment and BMI. This is the first study to show abuse may be

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Neglect, HPA axis reactivity, and development

Cited by 37 publications

References 111 publications

Conceptual Analysis: A Social Neuroscience Approach to Interpersonal Interaction in the Context of Disruption and Disorganization of Attachment (NAMDA)

Conceptual Analysis: A Social Neuroscience Approach to Interpersonal Interaction in the Context of Disruption and Disorganization of Attachment (NAMDA)

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

Not the Root of the Problem—Hair Cortisol and Cortisone Do Not Mediate the Effect of Child Maltreatment on Body Mass Index

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