Prenatal predictors of childhood anxiety disorders: An exploratory study of the role of attachment organization

Childhood anxiety disorders (CAD) are a common childhood mental disorder and understanding early developmental pathways is key to prevention and early intervention. What is not understood is whether early life stress predictors of CAD might be both mediated by infant cortisol reactivity and moderated by infant attachment status. To address this question, this exploratory study draws on 190 women recruited in early pregnancy and followed together with their children until 4 years of age. Early life stress is operationalized as maternal depression measured using the Structured Clinical Interview for the DSM, Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, Parenting Stress Index, and antenatal maternal hair cortisol concentrations. Infant cortisol reactivity was measured at 12 months together with the Strange Situation Procedure and CAD assessed at 4 years of age using the Preschool Age Psychiatric Assessment. There was no direct association between attachment classification and CAD. Furthermore, infant cortisol reactivity neither mediated nor attachment moderated the association of early life stress predictors and CAD. However, only for infants with organized attachment classifications, higher maternal antenatal depression, and hair cortisol were associated with a higher risk of CAD.

Interactions between Genetic, Prenatal, Cortisol, and Parenting Influences on Adolescent Substance Use and Frequency: A TRAILS Study

<b><i>Introduction:</i></b> Dynamic relations between genetic, hormone, and pre- and postnatal environments are theorized as critically important for adolescent substance use but are rarely tested in multifactorial models. This study assessed the impact of interactions of genetic risk and cortisol reactivity with prenatal and parenting influences on both any and frequency of adolescent substance use. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> Data are from the TRacking Adolescents’ Individual Lives Survey (TRAILS), a prospective longitudinal, multi-rater study of 2,230 Dutch adolescents. Genetic risk was assessed via 3 substance-specific polygenic scores. Mothers retrospectively reported prenatal risk when adolescents were 11 years old. Adolescents rated their parents’ warmth and hostility at age 11. Salivary cortisol reactivity was measured in response to a social stress task at age 16. Adolescents’ self-reported cigarette, alcohol, and cannabis use frequency at age 16. <b><i>Results:</i></b> A multivariate hurdle regression model showed that polygenic risk for smoking, alcohol, and cannabis predicted any use of each substance, respectively, but predicted more frequent use only for smoking. Blunted cortisol reactivity predicted any use and more frequent use for all 3 outcomes. There were 2 interactions: blunted cortisol reactivity exacerbated the association of polygenic risk with any smoking and the association of prenatal risk with any alcohol use. <b><i>Conclusion:</i></b> Polygenic risk seems of importance for early use but less so for frequency of use, whereas blunted cortisol reactivity was correlated with both. Blunted cortisol reactivity may also catalyze early risks for substance use, though to a limited degree. Gene-environment interactions play no role in the context of this multifactorial model.

Feasibility of an Online Acute Stressor in Preschool Children of Mothers with Depression

Maternal depression is a risk factor for future mental health problems in offspring, with stress-system function as a candidate vulnerability factor. Here we present initial validation of an online matching-task paradigm in young children exposed to maternal depression (N=40), a first in stressor-paradigm research for this age group. Investigations of stress-system reactivity that can be conducted online are an innovative assessment approach, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Results indicate high feasibility, with ~80% success across measures, similar-to or better-than in-person success rates in young children. Overall, the online matching task elicited significant HR but not cortisol reactivity. Individual differences in child mental health symptoms were a moderator of reactivity to the stressor such that children with lower, but not higher, behavioural problems exhibited the expected pattern of cortisol reactivity to the online matching task. Results are aligned with allostatic load models, which suggest down-regulation of stress-system reactivity as a result of experiencing adversity and mental health vulnerability. Consistent with in-person research, this suggests an early phenotype for the emergence of behaviour problems may be linked to altered stress-system reactivity. Results hold potential clinical implications for intervention development and the future of online stress-system research.

Stress Responsiveness and Emotional Eating Depend on Youngsters’ Chronic Stress Level and Overweight

The persistent coexistence of stress and paediatric obesity involves interrelated psychophysiological mechanisms, which are believed to function as a vicious circle. Here, a key mechanistic role is assumed for stress responsiveness and eating behaviour. After a stress induction by the Trier Social Stress Test in youngsters (n = 137, 50.4% boys, 6–18 years), specifically those high in chronic stress level and overweight (partial η2 = 0.03–0.07) exhibited increased stress vulnerability (stronger relative salivary cortisol reactivity and weaker happiness recovery) and higher fat/sweet snack intake, compared to the normal-weight and low-stress reference group. Stress responsiveness seems to stimulate unhealthy and emotional eating, i.e., strong cortisol reactivity was linked to higher fat/sweet snack intake (β = 0.22) and weak autonomic system recovery was linked to high total and fat/sweet snack intake (β = 0.2–0.3). Additionally, stress responsiveness acted as a moderator. As a result, stress responsiveness and emotional eating might be targets to prevent stress-induced overweight.

Cortisol Reactivity to a Digital Version of Trier Social Stress Test and Eating Behavior in Non-Overweight and Overweight Adolescents: A Pilot Study

(1) Background: In the present pilot study, we examined the response of cortisol to a digital version of the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) and corresponding eating preferences in non-overweight and overweight adolescents. (2) Methods: The experimental study group included 35 adolescents aged 15.7 ± 0.5 years (16 boys and 19 girls). The participants were split into two groups: non-overweight (N = 24) and overweight (N = 11), according to the Body Mass Index (BMI). We induced acute stress in all participants, using a digital version of the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST), with three different digital tasks. We measured salivary cortisol before the test (T0), during the stress induction by digital tasks (T5, T10, T15), and 25 min after the stress test (T40). The Health Behavior in School-Aged Children Questionnaire (HBSC) was administered to assess the influence of stress on eating behavior: the consumption of fruit, vegetables, sweets, and soft drinks and the frequency of snacks. (3) Results: Among the entire group of adolescents, we observed a significant difference between the sexes in terms of cortisol response, girls being predominantly hyperreactive (13 girls compared to 5 boys, p = 0.03). In overweight adolescents, the cortisol reactivity was lower in boys and higher in girls (p = 0.05). The overweight hyperreactive adolescents, as compared to the hyporeactive ones, had a higher frequency of daily consumption of sweets (25% vs. 0%) and soft drink (25% vs. 0). (4) Conclusions: The individual patterns of cortisol reactivity to laboratory-induced stress could be associated with an increased risk of unhealthy eating behavior in adolescents.

210930 Kok et al._Self-Regulation in Early Childhood_Preprint

Maternal sensitivity and supportive discipline are important determinants of child self-regulation. Some evidence suggests that specific genetic or temperamental markers determine children’s susceptibility to the impact of maternal parenting on child self-regulation. Cortisol reactivity as a susceptibility marker moderating the relation between maternal parenting and child self-regulation has not yet been studied. In this longitudinal population-based study (N=258), the moderating role of infant cortisol stress response to the Strange Situation Procedure at age 1 was examined in the association between parenting (sensitivity and supportive discipline) at age 3 and child self-regulation at age 3 and 4. Maternal sensitivity and supportive discipline were related to child immediate and prolonged delay of gratification at age 3, and maternal sensitivity was related to working memory skills at age 4. No evidence of differential susceptibility to maternal parenting was found, based on differences in infant cortisol stress response.