Child Maltreatment, HPA axis and ANS activity, and Youth Aggression

描述（由申请人提供）：儿童虐待史与青少年时期的许多负面结果有关，包括攻击性和犯罪行为。虐待影响青少年功能的一个可能途径是通过改变生理应激反应。儿童虐待的创伤可能导致生物应激反应系统的失调，包括面对慢性虐待时反应系统随时间的衰减。生物应激反应的低活性与攻击性和犯罪行为有关。另外，急性虐待可能导致对随后的人际压力和情绪失调的敏感。生物应激反应包括两个关键系统：(1)自主神经系统（ANS），其中更具体地包括交感神经系统（SNS）和肾上腺素能活动；(2)下丘脑-垂体-肾上腺（HPA）轴。大多数关于应激反应在非典型发育中的作用的研究一次只检查了这些系统中的一个，因此限制了对这些相关系统在将虐待的创伤性应激与负面结果联系起来时所起的综合作用的了解。拟议的研究是对已收集数据的二次分析。目的是检查儿童虐待对生物应激反应的肾上腺素能成分的影响，并将这些信息添加到从同一样本中收集的HPA轴功能数据中。该项目将允许审查两个系统在儿童虐待经历与青少年攻击和犯罪行为之间的联系中的综合作用。这项研究是对先前资助的关于虐待对青少年发展影响的R01研究中收集的参与者数据的二次分析。参与者包括303名根据最近被证实转介到儿童保护服务机构而招募的青少年，以及从相同或可比的人口普查区招募的151名比较青年。每位青少年的家长或监护人也参加了活动。目前的应用主要集中在3波数据采集中的第二波。青少年参与了一项标准化的社会压力协议（The TSST, Kirschbaum et al., 1993），并提供了两份压力源前和六份压力源后的唾液样本。在R01研究的资助下，对皮质醇进行了检测。目前的应用是进行唾液α -淀粉酶（AA）的测定，这是肾上腺素能活性的标志。因此，该应用程序不仅可以调查唾液AA作为家庭暴力暴露和观察到的家庭冲突的功能，还可以检查生物应激反应系统如何共同解释攻击和犯罪行为。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): A history of child maltreatment is linked to a host of negative outcomes during adolescence, including aggression and delinquency. One possible route by which maltreatment may affect adolescent functioning is via alterations of the biological stress response. The trauma of child maltreatment may cause dysregulation of biological stress response systems, including attenuation of response systems over time in the face of chronic maltreatment. Low activity in the biological stress responses has been linked with aggression and delinquency. Alternatively, acute maltreatment may lead to sensitization to subsequent interpersonal stress and emotional dysregulation. The biological stress response comprises two key systems: (1) the autonomic nervous system (ANS), which includes the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) and adrenergic activity more specifically, and (2) the hypothalamic pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. Most research on the role of the stress response in atypical development examines only one of these systems at a time, thus limiting knowledge about the combined role these related systems play in linking the traumatic stress of maltreatment with negative outcomes. The proposed study is a secondary analysis of data already collected. The goal is to examine the effects of child maltreatment on the adrenergic component of the biological stress response and to add that information to data on HPA axis function collected from the same sample. The project would allow examination of the combined roles of both systems in the link between child maltreatment experiences and adolescent aggression and delinquent behavior. This study is a secondary analysis of data collected from participants in a previously funded R01 study of the effects of maltreatment on adolescent development. Participants include 303 adolescents recruited based on having recent substantiated referrals to child protective services, and 151 comparison youth recruited from the same or comparable Census blocks. A parent or guardian of each youth also participated. The current application focuses on the second wave of 3 waves of data collection. Adolescents participated in a standardized social stress protocol (The TSST, Kirschbaum et al., 1993) and provided two saliva samples before and six after the stressor. Assays are conducted for cortisol as funded by the R01 study. The current application is to conduct assays of salivary alpha-amylase (AA), a marker of adrenergic activity. Thus, the application would allow not only the investigation of salivary AA as a function of family violence exposure and observed family conflict, but examination of how both biological stress response systems jointly account for aggression and delinquent behavior.