scholarly journals Measuring Stress in Young Children Using Hair Cortisol: The State of the Science

2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (5) ◽  
pp. 499-510 ◽  
Author(s):  
Randi Bates ◽  
Pamela Salsberry ◽  
Jodi Ford
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Hpa Axis ◽  
Low Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Acute Stress ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Extensive Literature ◽  
Healthy Children ◽  
Hair Cortisol ◽  
The Impact

Extensive literature suggests that adverse experiences in early childhood may deleteriously impact later health. These effects are thought to be related to the impact of persistent or chronic stress on various biological processes, mediated by dysregulation of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis, and ultimately irregularities in cortisol levels. Ameliorating persistent stress in young children requires accurately measuring the chronicity of physiologic stress, which is difficult in young children because of unreliable self-report and the burden and inaccuracy associated with using invasive acute-stress biomeasures. A better way to approximate persistent stress in young children is measuring hair cortisol concentration (HCC), as it only requires one noninvasive collection to measure months of HPA-axis activity or experienced stress. However, few studies measure HCC in young children despite wide use in adult stress research. This article reviews and synthesizes research that uses HCC to approximate persistent stress in healthy children, 12–60 months of age. Reviewed studies indicate that HCC is elevated in young children who are experiencing forms of persistent stress such as low socioeconomic status and maternal distress. Hair cortisol is thus a promising measure of early childhood persistent stress, but due to the limited use of HCC in this population, much research is still needed. Specifically, nurse researchers may need to measure several factors associated with early childhood persistent stress and HCC to identify which children are at risk for stress-related disease.

Impact of Challenging Behavior on Marginalized and Minoritized Caregivers of Children With Disabilities

2021 ◽  
pp. 027112142110520
Author(s):  
Nicole B. Adams ◽  
Stacy N. McGuire ◽  
Hedda Meadan ◽  
Melanie R Martin ◽  
Adriana K. Terol ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Challenging Behavior ◽  
Mexican American ◽  
Children With Disabilities ◽  
Common Occurrence ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Cultural Interpretation ◽  
Young Children With Disabilities ◽  
The Impact

Challenging behavior (CB) is a common occurrence in early childhood and frequently occurs in young children with disabilities. CB is also culturally perceived and includes differences in how caregivers understand and define the topography of CB. Despite the cultural interpretation, CB is known to impact the child and their family but there has been little exploration of what marginalized caregivers perceive as the impact of the CB that their young children with disabilities exhibit. We used semi-structured interviews to explore the perceptions of 24 caregivers, who identified as Black, Mexican American, and White, about the impact of their child’s CB. Caregivers shared how the CB impacted themselves, their families, their child, and others. Although much of the impact was similar among caregivers, we discuss nuanced differences across ethnic groups.

scholarly journals Benchmarking common preprocessing strategies in early childhood functional connectivity MRI

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kirk Graff ◽  
Ryann Tansey ◽  
Amanda Ip ◽  
Christiane Rohr ◽  
Dennis Dimond ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Noise Removal ◽  
Head Motion ◽  
List Type ◽  
Unique Challenge ◽  
Global Signal ◽  
Passive Viewing ◽  
The Impact

AbstractFunctional connectivity magnetic resonance imaging (FC-MRI) has been widely used to investigate neurodevelopment. However, FC-MRI is vulnerable to head motion, which is associated with age and distorts FC estimates. Numerous preprocessing strategies have been developed to mitigate confounds, each with advantages and drawbacks. Preprocessing strategies for FC-MRI have typically been validated and compared using resting state data from adults. However, FC-MRI in young children presents a unique challenge due to relatively high head motion and a growing use of passive viewing paradigms to mitigate motion. This highlights a need to compare processing choices in pediatric samples. To this end, we leveraged longitudinal, passive viewing fMRI data collected from 4 to 8-year-old children. We systematically investigated combinations of widely used and debated preprocessing strategies, namely global signal regression, volume censoring, ICA-AROMA, and bandpass filtering. We implemented commonly used metrics of noise removal (i.e. quality control-functional connectivity), metrics sensitive to individual differences (i.e. connectome fingerprinting), and, because data was collected during a passive viewing task, we also assessed the impact on stimulus-evoked responses (i.e. intersubject correlations; ISC). We found that the most efficacious pipeline included censoring, global signal regression, bandpass filtering, and head motion parameter regression. Despite the drawbacks of noise-mitigation steps, our findings show benefits for both noise removal and information retention in a high-motion early childhood sample.Highlights- We evaluated 27 preprocessing pipelines in passive viewing data from young children- Pipelines were evaluated on noise-removed and information retained- Pipelines that included censoring and GSR outperformed alternatives across benchmarks- For high-motion scans, preprocessing choices substantially alter connectomes

The Effects of Self-Control and Perceived Control on Team Processes

1995 ◽  
Vol 39 (13) ◽  
pp. 917-921
Author(s):  
Jeanne L. Weaver ◽  
Clint A. Bowers ◽  
Kareen A. Mourra ◽  
Lori G. Rhodenizer
Keyword(s):  
Perceived Control ◽  
Self Control ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Extensive Literature ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Mixed Support ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Low Self Control ◽  
The Military ◽  
The Impact

Although there is an extensive literature regarding the individual and stress, it is critical for researchers to gain an understanding of the impact of stressors on teams due to the increasing number of jobs in both the military and civilian sectors that require groups of individuals to work together effectively in teams. The current study sought to meet this need by investigating the relationship between an individual difference characteristic of team members (self-control), stressor condition, and indices of coping. In particular, it was of interest to determine the effects of self-control and stressor condition, manipulated in terms of perceived stressor control, on coping assessed via self-report and coping communications between team members. Results provided mixed support for the hypothesized relationships between these variables with low self-control teams reporting different coping behaviors than high self-control teams. Results also revealed self-report and communication coping differences as a function of stressor condition. The findings are discussed in terms of possible interventions for teams performing under stress.

scholarly journals Longitudinal Trajectories of Hair Cortisol: Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis Dysfunction in Early Childhood

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cynthia R. Rovnaghi ◽  
Joseph Rigdon ◽  
Jean-Michel Roué ◽  
Monica O. Ruiz ◽  
Victor G. Carrion ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Hpa Axis ◽  
Repeated Measures ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Allostatic Load ◽  
Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay ◽  
Hair Cortisol ◽  
Hypothalamic Pituitary Adrenal ◽  
Longitudinal Trajectories ◽  
Class 1

The objective of this study was to examine if longitudinal trajectories of hair cortisol concentrations (HCC) measured at two or three yearly time points can identify 1-3 year old children at risk for altered hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA)-axis function due to early life stress (ELS). HCC was measured (N = 575) in 265 children using a validated enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Hair was sampled in Clinic Visits (CV) centered at years 1, 2, and 3 (n = 45); 1 and 2 (n = 98); 1 and 3 (n = 27); 2 and 3 (n = 95). Log-transformed HCC values were partitioned using latent class mixed models (LCMM) to minimize the Bayesian Information Criterion. Multivariable linear mixed effects models for ln-HCC as a function of fixed effects for age in months and random effects for participants (to account for repeated measures) were generated to identify the factors associated with class membership. Children in Class 1 (n = 69; 9% Black) evidenced declining ln-HCC across early childhood, whereas Class 2 members (n = 196; 43% Black) showed mixed trajectories. LCMM with only Class 2 members revealed Class 2A (n = 17, 82% Black) with sustained high ln-HCC and Class 2B (n = 179, 40% Blacks) with mixed ln-HCC profiles. Another LCMM limited to only Class 2B members revealed Class 2B1 (n = 65, 57% Black) with declining ln-HCC values (at higher ranges than Class 1), and Class 2B2 (n = 113, 30% Black) with sustained high ln-HCC values. Class 1 may represent hair cortisol trajectories associated with adaptive HPA-axis profiles, whereas 2A, 2B1, and 2B2 may represent allostatic load with dysregulated profiles of HPA-axis function in response to varying exposures to ELS. Sequential longitudinal hair cortisol measurements revealed the allostatic load associated with ELS and the potential for developing maladaptive or dysregulated HPA-axis function in early childhood.

scholarly journals Adverse childhood experiences: Mechanisms of risk and resilience in a longitudinal urban cohort

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 1418-1439 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alison Giovanelli ◽  
Christina F. Mondi ◽  
Arthur J. Reynolds ◽  
Suh-Ruu Ou
Keyword(s):  
Low Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Adverse Childhood Experiences ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Developmental Psychology ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Extensive Literature ◽  
Physical And Mental Health ◽  
Childhood Experiences ◽  
Adverse Childhood ◽  
The Impact

AbstractThere is an extensive literature describing the detrimental effects of adverse childhood experiences (ACE; e.g., abuse, neglect, and household dysfunction) on physical and mental health. However, few large-scale studies have explored these associations longitudinally in urban minority cohorts or assessed links to broader measures of well-being such as educational attainment, occupation, and crime. Although adversity and resilience have long been of interest in developmental psychology, protective and promotive factors have been understudied in the ACE literature. This paper investigates the psychosocial processes through which ACEs contribute to outcomes, in addition to exploring ways to promote resilience to ACEs in vulnerable populations. Follow-up data were analyzed for 87% of the original 1,539 participants in the Chicago Longitudinal Study (N = 1,341), a prospective investigation of the impact of an Early Childhood Education program and early experiences on life-course well-being. Findings suggest that ACEs impact well-being in low-socioeconomic status participants above and beyond the effects of demographic risk and poverty, and point to possible mechanisms of transmission of ACE effects. Results also identify key areas across the ecological system that may promote resilience to ACEs, and speak to the need to continue to support underserved communities in active ways.

scholarly journals Prepregnancy obesity is associated with lower psychomotor development scores in boys at age 3 in a low-income, minority birth cohort

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy R. Nichols ◽  
Andrew G. Rundle ◽  
Pam Factor-Litvak ◽  
Beverly J. Insel ◽  
Lori Hoepner ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Weight Gain ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Maternal Obesity ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Psychomotor Development ◽  
Development Index ◽  
Prepregnancy Bmi ◽  
Prepregnancy Obesity ◽  
The Impact

AbstractWhether maternal obesity and gestational weight gain (GWG) are associated with early-childhood development in low-income, urban, minority populations, and whether effects differ by child sex remain unknown. This study examined the impact of prepregnancy BMI and GWG on early childhood neurodevelopment in the Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health Mothers and Newborns study. Maternal prepregnancy weight was obtained by self-report, and GWG was assessed from participant medical charts. At child age 3 years, the Psychomotor Development Index (PDI) and Mental Development Index (MDI) of the Bayley Scales of Infant Intelligence were completed. Sex-stratified linear regression models assessed associations between prepregnancy BMI and pregnancy weight gain z-scores with child PDI and MDI scores, adjusting for covariates. Of 382 women, 48.2% were normal weight before pregnancy, 24.1% overweight, 23.0% obese, and 4.7% underweight. At 3 years, mean scores on the PDI and MDI were higher among girls compared to boys (PDI: 102.3 vs. 97.2, P = 0.0002; MDI: 92.8 vs. 88.3, P = 0.0001). In covariate-adjusted models, maternal obesity was markedly associated with lower PDI scores in boys [b = −7.81, 95% CI: (−13.08, −2.55), P = 0.004], but not girls. Maternal BMI was not associated with MDI in girls or boys, and GWG was not associated with PDI or MDI among either sex (all-P > 0.05). We found that prepregnancy obesity was associated with lower PDI scores at 3 years in boys, but not girls. The mechanisms underlying this sex-specific association remain unclear, but due to elevated obesity exposure in urban populations, further investigation is warranted.

scholarly journals Life stress and cortisol reactivity: An exploratory analysis of the effects of stress exposure across life on HPA-axis functioning

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ethan S. Young ◽  
Jenalee R. Doom ◽  
Allison K. Farrell ◽  
Elizabeth A. Carlson ◽  
Michelle M. Englund ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Hpa Axis ◽  
Life Stress ◽  
Social Stress ◽  
Acute Stress ◽  
Stress Test ◽  
Trier Social Stress Test ◽  
Stress Exposure ◽  
Cortisol Reactivity ◽  
Biological Stress

Abstract Stressful experiences affect biological stress systems, such as the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis. Life stress can potentially alter regulation of the HPA axis and has been associated with poorer physical and mental health. Little, however, is known about the relative influence of stressors that are encountered at different developmental periods on acute stress reactions in adulthood. In this study, we explored three models of the influence of stress exposure on cortisol reactivity to a modified version of the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) by leveraging 37 years of longitudinal data in a high-risk birth cohort (N = 112). The cumulative stress model suggests that accumulated stress across the lifespan leads to dysregulated reactivity, whereas the biological embedding model implicates early childhood as a critical period. The sensitization model assumes that dysregulation should only occur when stress is high in both early childhood and concurrently. All of the models predicted altered reactivity, but do not anticipate its exact form. We found support for both cumulative and biological embedding effects. However, when pitted against each other, early life stress predicted more blunted cortisol responses at age 37 over and above cumulative life stress. Additional analyses revealed that stress exposure in middle childhood also predicted more blunted cortisol reactivity.

scholarly journals Learning partnerships with parents of young children: Studying the impact of a major Festival of Early Childhood in Australia

2006 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 7-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Collette Tayler ◽  
Felicity Mcardle ◽  
Susan Richer ◽  
Collette Brennan ◽  
Katrina Weier
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Learning Partnerships ◽  
The Impact
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