Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7fkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-02T23:23:56.281Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Cortisol profiles: A test for adaptive calibration of the stress response system in maltreated and nonmaltreated youth

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 November 2015

Melissa K. Peckins ,
Elizabeth J. Susman ,
Sonya Negriff ,
Jennie Noll  and
Penelope K. Trickett
Melissa K. Peckins*
Affiliation:
Pennsylvania State University
Elizabeth J. Susman
Affiliation:
Pennsylvania State University University of Southern California
Sonya Negriff
Affiliation:
University of Southern California
Jennie Noll
Affiliation:
Pennsylvania State University
Penelope K. Trickett
Affiliation:
University of Southern California
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Melissa K. Peckins, Bennett Pierce Prevention Research Center, Pennsylvania State University, 314 Biobehavioral Health Building, University Park, PA 16802; E-mail: [email protected].
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Throughout the life span, exposure to chronic stress such as child maltreatment is thought to contribute to future dysfunction of the stress response system (SRS) through the process of adaptive calibration. Dysfunction of the SRS is associated with numerous health and behavior problems, so it is important to understand under what conditions and what time frame adaptive calibration occurs. The present study tested for adaptive calibration of the SRS in a sample of maltreated (n = 303) and nonmaltreated (n = 151) youth during the important developmental period of adolescence. Data were used from Waves 2, 3, and 4 of a larger study of the consequences of maltreatment on health and well-being. At each time point, participants underwent the Trier Social Stress Test for Children and provided a baseline and four poststressor saliva samples to measure cortisol reactivity. Adaptive calibration was tested by performing a latent profile analysis using the five samples of salivary cortisol provided at each time point, and testing whether maltreatment status predicted the likelihood of profile membership at Time 2, Time 3, and Time 4. Three cortisol profiles emerged from the data at each time point (blunted, moderate, and elevated), and results indicated that maltreated youth were more likely than nonmaltreated youth to present with the blunted cortisol profile compared to the moderate and elevated profiles at Time 2 and Time 3, even after controlling for recent exposure to violence and trauma. At Time 4, there was no longer a difference in profile membership between maltreated and nonmaltreated youth, suggesting adaptive calibration may be a lengthy process requiring a period of years to become evident. Overall, the findings provide support for adaptive calibration and offer insight into the conditions under which adaptive calibration occurs.

Type
Regular Articles
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 27 , Special Issue 4pt2: Multilevel Developmental Perspectives on Child Maltreatment , November 2015 , pp. 1461 - 1470
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

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

Barnett, D., Manly, J. T., & Cicchetti, D. (1993). Defining child maltreatment: The interface between policy and research. In Cichetti, D. & Toth, S. L. (Eds.), Advances in applied developmental psychology: Child abuse, child development and social policy (pp. 7–73). Norwood, NJ: Ablex.Google Scholar
Cicchetti, D., Rogosch, F. A., Gunnar, M. R., & Toth, S. L. (2010). The differential impacts of early physical and sexual abuse and internalizing problems on daytime cortisol rhythm in school-aged children. Child Development, 81, 252–269.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Del Giudice, M. D., Ellis, B. J., & Shirtcliff, E. A. (2011). The adaptive calibration model of stress responsivity. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 35, 1562–1592.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Horowitz, L. (1998). The relationship of childhood sexual abuse to revictimization: Mediating variables and developmental processes. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Catholic University, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Kirschbaum, C., Pirke, K., & Hellhammer, D. H. (1993). The “Trier Social Stress Test”—A tool for investigating psychobiological stress responses in a laboratory setting. Neuropsychobiology, 28, 76–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leeb, R. T., Paulozzi, L., Melanson, C., Simon, T., & Arias, I. (2008). Child maltreatment surveillance: Uniform definitions for public health and recommended data elements, version 1.0. Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control.Google Scholar
Lupien, S. J., McEwen, B. S., Gunnar, M. R., & Heim, C. (2009). Effects of stress throughout the lifespan on the brain, behavior and cognition. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 10, 434–445.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marceau, K., Ram, N., Houts, R., Grimm, K., & Susman, E. J. (2011). Individual differences in boys’ and girls’ timing and tempo of puberty: Modeling development with nonlinear growth models. Developmental Psychology, 47, 1389–1409.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Margolin, G., & Gordis, E. B. (2000). The effects of family and community violence on children. Annual Review of Psychology, 51, 445–479.Google Scholar
McEwen, B. S. (1998). Stress, adaptation, and disease: Allostasis and allostatic load. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 840, 33–44.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McEwen, B. S. (2000a). Allostasis and allostatic load: Implications for neuropsychopharmacology. Neuropsychopharmacology, 22, 108–124.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McEwen, B. S. (2000b). The neurobiology of stress: From serendipity to clinical relevance. Brain Research, 886, 172–189.Google Scholar
McEwen, B. S. (2007). Physiology and neurobiology of stress and adaptation: Central role of the brain. Physiological Reviews, 87, 873–904.Google Scholar
McEwen, B. S., Gray, J. D., & Nasca, C. (2015). Recognizing resilience: Learning from the effects of stress on the brain. Neurobiology of Stress, 1, 1–11.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mennen, F. E., Kim, K., Sang, J., & Trickett, P. K. (2010). Child neglect: Definition and identification of youth's experiences in official reports of maltreatment. Child Abuse and Neglect, 34, 647–658.Google Scholar
Muthén, L. K., & Muthén, B. O. (1998–2011). Mplus user's guide (7th ed.). Los Angeles: Author.Google Scholar
Muthén, L. K., & Muthén, B. O. (2007). Mplus user's guide (6th ed.). Los Angeles: Author.Google Scholar
Noll, J. G., Horowitz, L. A., Bonanno, G. A., Trickett, P. K., & Putnam, F. W. (2003). Revictimization and self-harm in females who experienced childhood sexual abuse: Results from a prospective study. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 18, 1452–1471.Google Scholar
Nottelmann, E. D., Susman, E. J., Dorn, L. D., Inoff-Germain, G., Loriaux, D. L., Cutler, G. Jr., et al. (1987). Developmental processes in early adolescence: Relations among chronologic age, pubertal stage, height, weight, and serum levels of gonadotropins, sex steroids, and adrenal androgens. Journal of Adolescent Health Care, 8, 246–260.Google Scholar
Peckins, M. K., Dockray, S., Eckenrode, J. L., Heaton, J., & Susman, E. J. (2012). The longitudinal impact of exposure to violence on cortisol reactivity in adolescents. Journal of Adolescent Health, 51, 366–372.Google Scholar
Ritchers, J. E., & Saltzman, W. (1990). Childhood victimization and violent offending. Violence and Victims, 5, 19–35.Google Scholar
Romeo, R. D., & McEwen, B. S. (2006). Stress and the adolescent brain. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1094, 202–214.Google Scholar
Slyper, A. H. (2006). The pubertal timing controversy in the USA, and a review of possible causative factors for the advance in timing of onset of puberty. Clinical Endocrinology, 65, 1–8.Google Scholar
Sterling, P., & Eyer, J. (1988). Allostasis: A new paradigm to explain arousal pathology. In Fisher, S. & Reason, J. (Eds.), Handbook of life stress, cognition, and health (pp. 629–649). New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Stone, A. A., Schwartz, J. E., Smyth, J., Kirschbaum, C., Cohen, S., Hellhammer, D., et al. (2001). Individual differences in the diurnal cycle of salivary free cortisol: A replication of flattened cycles for some individuals. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 26, 295–306.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Susman, E. J. (2006). Psychobiology of persistent antisocial behavior: Stress, early vulnerabilities and the attenuation hypothesis. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 30, 376–389.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Trickett, P. K., Gordis, E., Peckins, M. K., & Susman, E. J. (2014). Stress reactivity in maltreated and comparison male and female young adolescents. Child Maltreatment, 19, 27–37.Google Scholar
Trickett, P. K., Noll, J. G., Susman, E. J., Shenk, C. E., & Putnam, F. W. (2010). Attenuation of cortisol across development for victims of sexual abuse. Development and Psychopathology, 22, 165–175.Google Scholar
Tsigos, C., & Chrousos, G. P. (2002). Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, neuroendocrine factors and stress. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 53, 865–871.Google Scholar
US Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Administration on Children, Youth and Families, Children's Bureau. (2013). Child Maltreatment 2012. Retrieved from http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/research-data-technology/statistics-research/child-maltreatment Google Scholar