Maternal sensitivity and adrenocortical functioning across infancy and toddlerhood: Physiological adaptation to context?
Maternal sensitivity and adrenocortical functioning across infancy and toddlerhood: Physiological adaptation to context?
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DOI：
10.1017/s0954579416000158
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发表时间：
2017-02-01
影响因子：
3.3
通讯作者：
Mills-Koonce, W. Roger
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Berry, Daniel;Blair, Clancy;Mills-Koonce, W. Roger
理论表明，早期经历可能会校准儿童时期下丘脑-垂体-肾上腺轴的“阈值活动”。特别具有挑战性或特别支持性的环境被认为表现为对环境的更高的生理敏感性。使用家庭生活项目（N = 1,292）的纵向数据，我们测试了母亲敏感性和下丘脑-垂体-肾上腺轴活动之间的联系是否与这些预测一致。具体来说，我们测试了母亲敏感性和儿童皮质醇水平（对环境的生理敏感性的代表）之间的人内关系的大小对于通常随着时间的推移经历特别低或高水平母亲敏感性的儿童来说是否特别明显。我们的结果与这些假设一致。在儿童之间，较低水平的平均母亲敏感性（7-24 个月）与该时期较高的平均皮质醇水平相关（以每次就诊时收集的基础样本进行测量）。然而，人与人之间关系的大小和方向取决于儿童随着时间的推移母亲敏感性的平均水平。对于典型的低敏感母亲的孩子来说，母亲敏感性的增加与皮质醇的同时下降有关，而对于典型的高敏感母亲的孩子来说，敏感性的增加与皮质醇的增加有关。在中等水平的母亲敏感性下，没有明显的儿童内影响。
Theory suggests that early experiences may calibrate the "threshold activity" of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis in childhood. Particularly challenging or particularly supportive environments are posited to manifest in heightened physiological sensitivity to context. Using longitudinal data from the Family Life Project (N = 1,292), we tested whether links between maternal sensitivity and hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis activity aligned with these predictions. Specifically, we tested whether the magnitude of the within-person relation between maternal sensitivity and children's cortisol levels, a proxy for physiological sensitivity to context, was especially pronounced for children who typically experienced particularly low or high levels of maternal sensitivity over time. Our results were consistent with these hypotheses. Between children, lower levels of mean maternal sensitivity (7-24 months) were associated with higher mean cortisol levels across this period (measured as a basal sample collected at each visit). However, the magnitude and direction of the within-person relation was contingent on children's average levels of maternal sensitivity over time. Increases in maternal sensitivity were associated with contemporaneous cortisol decreases for children with typically low-sensitive mothers, whereas sensitivity increases were associated with cortisol increases for children with typically high-sensitive mothers. No within-child effects were evident at moderate levels of maternal sensitivity.