Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis Reactivity in the Preschool-Age Offspring of Depressed Parents: Moderation by Early Parenting
Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis Reactivity in the Preschool-Age Offspring of Depressed Parents: Moderation by Early Parenting
复制标题
DOI：
10.1177/0956797611404084
复制
发表时间：
2011-05-01
影响因子：
8.2
通讯作者：
Laptook, Rebecca S.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Dougherty, Lea R.;Klein, Daniel N.;Laptook, Rebecca S.
下丘脑-垂体-肾上腺轴被认为在抑郁症的发病机制中起作用。在这里报道的研究中，我们测试了这样一个假设，即父母的行为调节了父母一生的抑郁史和他们的后代对社会心理压力源的皮质醇反应之间的关系。我们将160名学龄前儿童暴露在压力诱导的实验室任务中，在此期间我们获得了四份唾液皮质醇样本。家长完成临床访谈和观察性亲子互动任务。结果证实了我们的假设：皮质醇水平高且不断上升的后代是那些父母有抑郁症病史并对孩子表现出敌意的后代。这种调节作用只适用于那些在出生头几年暴露于母亲抑郁症的后代。正如在动物身上的发现一样，本研究的结果强调了早期饲养环境在应激敏感性代际传递中的重要性。
The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis is thought to play a role in the pathogenesis of depression. In the study reported here, we tested the hypothesis that parenting behavior moderates the relation between parents' lifetime history of depression and their offspring's cortisol reactivity to a psychosocial stressor. We exposed 160 preschool-age children to stress-inducing laboratory tasks, during which we obtained four salivary cortisol samples. Parents completed clinical interviews and an observational parent-child interaction task. The results confirmed our hypothesis: The offspring who evidenced high and increasing cortisol levels were those whose parents had a history of depression and demonstrated hostility toward their child. This moderating effect was specific to offspring who were exposed to maternal depression during the first few years of life. As do findings in animals, results of this study underscore the importance of the early rearing environment in the intergenerational transmission of stress sensitivity.