Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-wq2xx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T10:12:50.576Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Early parental loss and salivary cortisol in young adulthood: The moderating role of family environment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 February 2006

LINDA J. LUECKEN  and
BRADLEY M. APPELHANS
LINDA J. LUECKEN
Affiliation:
Arizona State University
BRADLEY M. APPELHANS
Affiliation:
Arizona State University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Early family life adversity has been linked with negative physical and psychological health consequences in adulthood, possibly due to alterations in neuroendocrine activity. Young adults from families characterized by parental loss (N = 45) and control participants (N = 43) completed self-report measures of prior abuse and family conflict, and performed a stressful speech task designed to elicit neuroendocrine responses. Higher reported abuse and conflict were associated with increased cortisol for the loss group, but were unrelated to cortisol in the control group. Results indicate alterations in neuroendocrine functioning associated with early parental loss, which are moderated by the quality of the family environment.This research was supported by Grant 0130024N (to P.I.L.) from the American Heart Association. We are grateful for the research assistance of Jessica Tartaro and Anna Rodriguez.

Type
Research Article
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 18 , Issue 1 , March 2006 , pp. 295 - 308
Copyright
© 2006 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Ballard, M. E., Cummings, E. M., & Larkin, K. (1993). Emotional and cardiovascular responses to adult's angry behavior and challenging tasks in children of hypertensive and normotensive parents. Child Development, 64, 500–515.Google Scholar
Beck, A. T. (1996). The Beck Depression Inventory II. San Antonio, TX: Harcourt Brace.
Bernstein, D. P., Fink, L., Handelsman, L., Foote, J., Lovejoy, M., Wenzel, K., et al. (1994). Initial reliability and validity of a new retrospective measure of child abuse and neglect. American Journal of Psychiatry, 151, 1132–1136.Google Scholar
Bernstein, D. P., Stein, J. A., Newcomb, M. D., Walker, E., Pogge, D., Ahluvalia, T., et al. (2003). Development and validation of a brief screening version of the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire. Child Abuse and Neglect, 27, 169–190.Google Scholar
Boccia, M. L., Laudenslager, M. L., & Reite, M. L. (1994). Intrinsic and extrinsic factors affect infant responses to maternal separation. Psychiatry, 57, 43–50.Google Scholar
Boyce, W. T., & Ellis, B. J. (in press). Biological sensitivity to context: I. An evolutionary–developmental theory of the origins and functions of stress reactivity. Development and Psychopathology.
Brewin, C. R., Andrews, B., & Gotlib, I. H. L. (1993). Psychopathology and early experience: A reappraisal of retrospective reports. Psychological Bulletin, 113, 82–98.Google Scholar
Brown, G. W. (2002). Measurement and epidemiology of childhood trauma. Seminars in Clinical Neuropsychiatry, 7, 66–79.Google Scholar
Chugani, H. T. (1998). A critical period of brain development: Studies of cerebral glucose utilization with PET. Preventive Medicine, 27, 184–188.Google Scholar
Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). New York: Academic Press.
Chrousos, G. P., & Gold, P. W. (1992). The concepts of stress and stress system disorders: Overview of physiological and behavioral homeostasis. Journal of the American Medical Association, 267, 1244–1252.Google Scholar
DeBellis, M. D. (2002). Developmental traumatology: A contributory mechanism for alcohol and substance use disorders. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 27, 155–170.Google Scholar
DeBellis, M. D., Baum, A. S., Birmaher, B., Keshavan, M. S., Eccard, C. H., Boring, A. M., et al. (1999). Developmental traumatology, Part 1: Biological stress systems. Biological Psychiatry, 9, 1259–1270.Google Scholar
El-Sheikh, M., & Harger, J. (2001). Appraisals of marital conflict and children's adjustment, health, and physiological reactivity. Developmental Psychology, 37, 875–885.Google Scholar
Essex, M. J., Klein, M. H., Cho, E., & Kalin, N. H. (2002). Maternal stress beginning in infancy may sensitize children to later stress exposure: Effects on cortisol and behavior. Biological Psychiatry, 52, 776–784.Google Scholar
Felitti, V. J., Anda, R. F., Nordenberg, D., Williamson, D. F., Spitz, A. M., Edwards, V., et al. (1998). Relationship of childhood abuse and household dysfunction to many of the leading causes of death in adults: The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 14, 245–258.Google Scholar
Flinn, M. V., & England, B. G. (1995). Childhood stress and family environment. Current Anthropology, 5, 854–866.Google Scholar
Granger, D. A., Serbin, L. A., Schwartzman, A., LeHoux, P., & Cooperman, J. (1998). Children's salivary cortisol, internalising behaviour problems, and family environment: Results from the Concordia Longitudinal Risk Project. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 22, 707–728.Google Scholar
Gunnar, M. R., & Donzella, B. (2002). Social regulation of the cortisol levels in early human development. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 27, 199–220.Google Scholar
Gunnar, M. R., Gonzalez, C. A., Goodlin, B. L., & Levine, S. (1981). Behavioral and pituitary–adrenal responses during a prolonged separation period in infant rhesus macaques. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 6, 65–75.Google Scholar
Gunnar, M. R., & Vazquez, D. M. (2001). Low cortisol and a flattening of expected daytime rhythm: Potential indices of risk in human development. Development and Psychopathology, 13, 515–538.Google Scholar
Hart, J., Gunnar, M. R., & Cicchetti, D. (1995). Salivary cortisol in maltreated children: Evidence of relations between neuroendocrine activity and social competence. Development and Psychopathology, 7, 11–26.Google Scholar
Heim, C., & Nemeroff, C. B. (2002). Neurobiology of early life stress. Seminars in Clinical Neuropsychiatry, 7, 147–159.Google Scholar
Katz, L. F., & Gottman, J. M. (1997). Buffering children from marital conflict and dissolution. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 26, 157–171.Google Scholar
Kaufman, J., Birmaher, B., Perel, J., Dahl, R. E., Moreci, P., Nelson, B., et al. (1997). The corticotropin-releasing hormone challenge in depressed abused, depressed nonabused, and normal children. Biological Psychiatry, 42, 669–679.Google Scholar
Kessler, R. C., Davis, C. G., & Kendler, K. S. (1997). Childhood adversity and adult psychiatric disorder in the US National Comorbidity Survey. Psychology and Medicine, 27, 1101–1119.Google Scholar
King, J. A., Mandansky, D., King, S., Fletcher, K., & Brewer, J. (2001). Early sexual abuse and low cortisol. Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, 55, 71–74.Google Scholar
Korte, S. M., Koolhaas, J. M., Wingfield, J. C., & McEwen, B. S. (2004). The Darwinian concept of stress: Benefits of allostasis and costs of allostatic load and the trade-offs in health and disease. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 29, 3–38.Google Scholar
Krause, N. (1998). Early parental loss, recent life events, and changes in health among older adults. Journal of Aging and Health, 10, 395–421.Google Scholar
Leserman, J., Drossman, D. A., Li, Z., Toomey, T. C., Nachman, G., & Glogau, L. (1996). Sexual and physical abuse history in gastroenterology practice: How types of abuse impact health status. Psychosomatic Medicine, 58, 4–15.Google Scholar
Luecken, L. J. (1998). Childhood attachment and loss experiences affect adult cardiovascular and cortisol function. Psychosomatic Medicine, 60, 765–772.Google Scholar
Luecken, L. J. (2000a). Parental caring and loss during childhood and adult cortisol responses to stress. Psychology and Health, 15, 841–851.Google Scholar
Luecken, L. J. (2000b). Attachment and loss experiences during childhood are associated with adult hostility, depression, and social support. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 49, 85–91.Google Scholar
Luecken, L. J., & Appelhans, B. M. (2005). Information-processing biases in young adults from bereaved and divorced families. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 114, 309–313.Google Scholar
Luecken, L. J., & Lemery, K. (2004). Early caregiving and adult physiological stress responses. Clinical Psychology Review, 24, 171–191.Google Scholar
Maes, M., Bosmans, E., Suy, E., Minner, B., & Raus, J. (1991). A further exploration of the relationships between immune parameters and the HPA-axis activity in depressed patients. Psychology and Medicine, 21, 313–332.Google Scholar
Maier, E. H., & Lachman, M. E. (2000). Consequences of early parental loss and separation for health and well-being in midlife. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 24, 183–189.Google Scholar
McEwen, B. S. (1998). Stress, adaptation, and disease. Allostasis and allostatic load. Annals of the New York Academy of Science, 840, 33–34.Google Scholar
McEwen, B. S. (2003). Early life influences on life-long patterns of behavior and health. Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, 9, 149–154.Google Scholar
McEwen, B. S., & Wingfield, J. C. (2003). The concept of allostatis in biology and biomedicine. Hormones and Behavior, 42, 2–15.Google Scholar
Meaney, M. J., Brake, W., & Gratton, A. (2002). Environmental regulation of mesolimbic dopamine systems: A neurobiological mechanism for vulnerability to drug abuse? Psychoneuroendocrinology, 27, 127–138.Google Scholar
Moos, R. H., & Moos, B. S. (1994). Family Environment Scale Manual. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.
Nemeroff, C. B. (2004). Neurobiological consequences of childhood trauma. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 65, 18–28.Google Scholar
Nicolson, N. (2004). Childhood parental loss and adult cortisol levels. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 29, 1012–1018.Google Scholar
Rahkonen, O., Lahelma, E., & Huuhka, M. (1997). Past or present? Childhood living conditions and current socioeconomic status as determinants of adult health. Social Science and Medicine, 44, 327–336.Google Scholar
Repetti, R. L., Taylor, S. E., & Seeman, T. E. (2002). Risky families: Family social environments and the mental and physical health of offspring. Psychological Bulletin, 128, 330–366.Google Scholar
Rosenblum, L. A., & Andrews, M. W. (1994). Influences of environmental demand on maternal behavior and infant development. Acta Paediatrica (Suppl.), 397, 57–63.Google Scholar
Saab, P. G., Matthews, K. A., Stoney, C. M., & McDonald, R. H. (1989). Premenopausal and postmenopausal women differ in their cardiovascular and neuroendocrine responses to behavioral stressors. Psychophysiology, 26, 270–280Google Scholar
Sachs-Ericsson, N., Blazer, D., Plant, E. A., & Arnow, B. (2005). Childhood sexual and physical abuse and the 1-year prevalence of medical problems in the National Comorbidity Survey. Health Psychology, 24, 32–40.Google Scholar
Seeman, T. E., Singer, B. H., Ryff, C. D., Love, G. D., & Levy-Storms, L. (2002). Social relationships, gender, and allostatic load across two age cohorts. Psychosomatic Medicine, 64, 395–406.Google Scholar
Spielberger, C. D., Gorush, R. L., Lushene, R., Vagg, P. R., & Jacobs, G. A. (1983). Manual for the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.
Taylor, S. E., Repetti, R. L., & Seeman, T. (1997). Health psychology: What is an unhealthy environment and how does it get under the skin? Annual Review of Psychology, 48, 411–447.Google Scholar
Teicher, M. H., Andersen, S. L., Polcari, A., Anderson, C. M., & Navalta, C. P. (2002). Developmental neurobiology of childhood stress and trauma. The Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 25, 397–426.Google Scholar
Troxel, W. M., & Matthews, K. A. (2004). What are the costs of marital conflict and dissolution to children's physical health? Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 7, 29–57.Google Scholar
Walker, E. A., Keegan, D., Gardner, G., Sullivan, M., Bernstein, D., & Katon, W. J. (1997). Psychosocial factors in fibromyalgia compared with rheumatoid arthritis: II. Sexual, physical, and emotional abuse and neglect. Psychosomatic Medicine, 59, 572–577.Google Scholar
Yehuda, R., Halligan, S. L., & Grossman, R. (2001). Childhood trauma and risk for PTSD: Relationship to intergenerational effects of trauma, parental PTSD, and cortisol excretion. Development and Psychopathology, 13, 733–753.Google Scholar