Salivary cortisol reactivity in preschoolers is associated with hair cortisol and behavioral problems

Abstract

The interplay between children's cortisol reactivity to challenge and cumulative cortisol exposure is not well understood. Examining the role of cortisol reactivity in early childhood may elucidate biological mechanisms that contribute to children's chronic physiological stress and behavioral dysregulation. In a sample of 65 preschool-aged children, we examined the relation between children's salivary cortisol reactivity to challenging tasks and their hair cortisol concentration (HCC). While both are biomarkers of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, salivary cortisol reactivity reflects an acute cortisol response to a stressor and HCC reflects cumulative cortisol exposure. In addition, we examined the relations of these stress biomarkers with internalizing and externalizing problems. Salivary cortisol reactivity was associated with higher HCC and with increased externalizing behaviors. Child HCC also was positively correlated with parent HCC. Results highlight the contributions of salivary cortisol reactivity to children's cumulative cortisol exposure, which may add to their biological risk for health problems later. The observed association between externalizing problems and salivary cortisol reactivity indicates concordances between dysregulated behavioral reactions and dysregulated cortisol responses to challenges. The finding that salivary cortisol reactivity to challenge in early childhood plays a role in children's cumulative cortisol exposure and behavioral development suggests pathways through which cortisol reactivity may influence long-term physical and mental health.

Emotion regulation moderates the association between parent and child hair cortisol concentrations

“…The current study adds to the growing evidence that parent and child HCC are associated in early childhood (Flom et al, ; Kao et al, ; Ouellette et al, ), and extends these findings by identifying that emotion regulation moderated this association. The strong correlation between parent and child HCC was only present for children with poor emotion regulation skills and not for children with more adaptive emotion regulation abilities.…”

“…Growing evidence indicates that parent and child HCC are associated in infancy (Flom et al, 2017;Karlén et al, 2013), the preschool period (Kao et al, 2018), and later childhood (Ouellette et al, 2015).…”

“…Elevated child HCC has been related to increased stressful life events (Vanaelst et al, ). Prior studies have also established that higher parent HCC, lower socioeconomic status (SES), and poor parenting quality are related to increased levels of cortisol in young children (Flom, St. John, Meyer, & Tarullo, ; Kao, Doan, St. John, Meyer, & Tarullo, ; Karlén, Frostell, Theodorsson, Faresjö, & Ludvigsson, ; Ouellette et al, ; Tarullo, St. John, & Meyer, ; Vaghri et al, ; Vliegenthart et al, ). More research in early childhood is needed to understand the mechanisms for how early accumulation of stress throughout life can lead to poor health outcomes.…”

“…Growing evidence indicates that parent and child HCC are associated in infancy (Flom et al, ; Karlén et al, ), the preschool period (Kao et al, ), and later childhood (Ouellette et al, ). There are several possible explanations for the intergenerational transmission of parent and child HCC.…”

Innovations in biological assessments of chronic stress through hair and nail cortisol: Conceptual, developmental, and methodological issues

“…With regard to hair cortisol concentration and salivary cortisol in children, hair cortisol obtained among 7-year-old girls was associated with AUCg calculated from salivary cortisol collected post stressor (i.e., matching game) at 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 min when the children were 3 years old (Ouellette et al, 2015). In a recent study by Kao, Doan, St. John, Meyer, and Tarullo (2018), hair cortisol was positively correlated with AUCg and AUCi, calculated from salivary cortisol responses at baseline, 20, and 40 min post stressor in preschool children. Hair cortisol was also associated with salivary cortisol AUC calculated from samples obtained at over the day in 5-11-year-old girls .…”