Stress and Emotion in Early Childhood

Abstract

Stress is a fact of life. Beginning before birth, successful adaptation requires responding to stressors and regulating stress reactions. Stress reactivity and regulation changes during development and differs among individuals. These differences affect our physical and emotional health. Because the neural systems underlying emotions influence the activation and regulation of behavioral and physiological stress responses, developmental psychobiological research on stress is intimately related to neuroscience research on emotions and temperament. Stress results when the demands exceed immediately available resources. Such conditions threaten homeostasis and require a shifting of resources from those supporting growth and repair (future oriented) to those need to immediately needed to maintain viability (present oriented) to fuel the processes needed to maintain organism viability. This shifting of resources to maintain organism viability is termed allostasis or stability through change (McEwen, 1998). The capacity to respond to stress through allostatic adjustments is necessary to survival. However, there are costs, which if frequent or prolonged may undermine health and development. In this chapter we describe the physiology and neurobiology of the stress system, the development of stress reactivity and regulation during early development, the interaction between children's emotional dispositions and social relationships in regulating stress, and the potential effects of stress physiology on brain and behavioral development.

Interparental aggression and infant patterns of adrenocortical and behavioral stress responses

“…This is a notable gap, because young children are at increased risk of exposure to interparental aggression (Fantuzzo, Boruch, Beriama, Atkins, & Marcus, 1997), and early experiences in the family are thought to play a central role in shaping both behavioral and biological stress responses (e.g., Gunnar & Davis, 2003; Morris, Silk, Steinberg, Myers, & Robinson, 2007). As noted by Katz (2001), “It is only through integrating our understanding of both biological and behavioral processes that we can get a complete picture of the effects of marital conflict on the whole child” (p. 207).…”

“…As one of the main components of the psychobiology of the stress response, HPA axis reactivity and relative elevations in cortisol have been used as physiological indicators of stress, and alterations in adrenocortical functioning may result from chronic stress exposure (Gunnar & Donzella, 2002). The cortisol response is considered to be adaptive in the short term, as it facilitates the mobilization of energy, modulates the biology of growth and repair, and alters the processing of emotionally salient events (Gunnar & Davis, 2003). However, there is evidence that early adversity may have long-term effects on the functioning of the HPA system, with implications for children’s adaptation and development.…”

“…Although it is often assumed that behavioral and adrenocortical stress reactions operate in tandem (cf. Gunnar & Donzella, 1999), evidence suggests that adrenocortical and behavioral reactions serve distinct functions, and might be better thought of as loosely coupled components of the stress response that permit the existence of a variety of patterns of adaptation (Gunnar & Davis, 2003; Quas, Hong, Alkon, & Boyce, 2000). For example, high cortisol levels accompanied by only minimal behavioral signs of distress might result from active attempts to regulate or mask overt signs of negative emotions, a pattern that might be adaptive in the face of threatening caregivers (Spangler & Grossman, 1993).…”

“…With respect to adrenocortical functioning, a large body of evidence indicates that chronic stress in the early family environment disrupts normative adrenocortical activity (e.g., Ashman, Dawson, Panagiotides, Yamada, & Willkinson, 2002; Gunnar & Davis, 2003). Although work specifically on interparental aggression and infant cortisol is scarce, a growing body of research links aggression within the home and dysregulated adrenocortical activity.…”

“…Because effective regulatory strategies may reduce stress, it is theorized that such behaviors may keep cortisol and distress levels within an optimal range (see Gunnar & Poggi-Davis, 2003; Nachmias, Mangelsdorf, Parritz, & Buss, 1996). In contrast, failing to implement an effective behavioral regulatory strategy maintains or intensifies the stress of challenging situations, with implications for both behavior and physiology.…”