Background Research on early adversity, stress biology, and child development has grown exponentially in recent years. Findings We review the current evidence for the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenocortical (HPA) axis as a stress-mediating mechanism between various forms of childhood adversity and psychopathology. We begin with a review of the neurobiology of the axis and evidence for relations between early adversity–HPA axis activity and HPA axis activity–psychopathology, as well as discuss the ...
Objective Typologies of symptom development have been used to identify individuals with different symptom development in the externalizing and internalizing domains of child psychopathology separately despite the domains’ high comorbidity and shared common etiologic risk. This study identified typologies of development jointly across the 2 symptom domains in childhood and investigated their associated antecedents with a specific focus on the comparisons between overall severity of symptoms and s...
ABSTRACTResearchers have developed missing data handling techniques for estimating interaction effects in multiple regression. Extending to latent variable interactions, we investigated full information maximum likelihood (FIML) estimation to handle incompletely observed indicators for product indicator (PI) and latent moderated structural equations (LMS) methods. Drawing on the analytic work on missing data handling techniques in multiple regression with interaction effects, we compared the per...
Abstract Background Many previous studies have indicated that individuals who are depressed or at risk for depression are characterized by increased levels of morning cortisol and a greater cortisol awakening response (CAR). However, despite the high comorbidity between depressive and anxiety disorders, fewer studies have examined whether these diurnal cortisol abnormalities are also characteristic of anxiety or risk for anxiety. Methods In the present study we examined cortisol in a community s...
Previous literature indicates that both hypoactivity and hyperactivity of the HPA axis may be related to conduct disorder and externalizing behaviors in young children. Using a longitudinal sample of 283 typically-developing children, the current study examined both the concurrent and the longitudinal association between HPA functioning and externalizing behavior problems, such as conduct problems. Diurnal cortisol rhythms and externalizing problems were assessed at ages 6 and 9. Results suggest...
(UNT: University of North Texas)+ 4 AuthorsRoman Kotov36
Estimated H-index: 36
(SBU: Stony Brook University)
Abstract Offspring with maternal PTSD are at increased risk of developing PTSD themselves. Alterations in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis may play a role and have been noted in offspring, although evidence is mostly from adult offspring with PTSD symptoms themselves. The present study of adolescent girls ( N = 472) and their mothers ( n = 18 with lifetime PTSD versus n = 454 with no PTSD) sought to determine whether healthy, non-affected offspring of mothers with PTSD would exhibit...
Abstract The hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis is influenced by early life adversity; however, less is known about the potential for recovery following marked improvements in care. The present study examined longitudinal changes in children’s cortisol reactivity in the laboratory (4 assessments over 2 years) after adoption. Post-institutionalized ( N = 65) and post-foster care children ( N = 49) demonstrated blunted reactivity relative to non-adopted peers ( N = 53). Furthermore, post-in...
Early adversity is associated with biological and behavioral dysregulation in early childhood. We examined whether early adversity (i.e., poverty and involvement with child protective services [CPS]) had an indirect effect on externalizing behavior through HPA axis dysregulation, specifically blunted diurnal cortisol patterns. Participants included 94 children between the ages of 3.94 and 6.52 years old, who had a history of CPS involvement (n = 53) or no history of CPS involvement (n = 41). Cor...
For many people, competitions, status challenges, and being evaluated by others result in increases in cortisol as well as testosterone. It is argued that physiological processes work in a coordinated fashion when facing social evaluative-competitive situations. Such a coordinated response may be part of an evolved system, monitoring and responding to threats to one's social status. In two studies, using within-person multi-level analyses, we tested the hypothesis that adult men, pre/early puber...