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Cited by 532Stress Responses and CortisolChild Abuse and TraumaChild and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development

Child's stress hormone levels correlate with mother's socioeconomic status and depressive state

Lupien, Sonia J, King, Suzanne, Meaney, Michael J, McEwen, Bruce S·2000·Biological Psychiatry
DOI 10.1016/s0006-3223(00)00965-3
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Abstract

Background Individuals with lower socioeconomic status report greater exposure to stressful life events and a greater impact of these events on their lives than individuals with higher socioeconomic status, and this relationship between socioeconomic status and health begins at the earliest stages of life. To extend on these results, we performed a psychoneuroendocrine study of 217 children and 139 mothers.Methods Salivary cortisol levels and cognitive function were assessed in children, and a semistructured phone interview measuring symptoms of stress and depression was conducted with their mothers.Results Children with low socioeconomic status present significantly higher salivary cortisol levels than children with high socioeconomic status, and this socioeconomic status effect emerges as early as age 6. We also report that a child's cortisol level is significantly correlated with his or her mother's extent of depressive symptomatology.Conclusions These results offer a neurobiological determinant to the well-known association between socioeconomic status and health that begins early in life.

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  • Children of low SES have significantly higher salivary cortisol levels than those with high SES, with the largest differences becoming apparent at about age 10.

    “A study of school children in Quebec varying in age from 6 to 10 years shows that children of low SES have significantly higher salivary cortisol levels than those with high SES, with the largest differences becoming apparent at about age 10 (39).”

    From Cortisol response to stress in female youths exposed to childhood maltreatment: results of the youth mood project (2009) · cites this paper as [39]

  • A large body of evidence documents SES gradients for nearly all major peripheral biological parameters, including HPA axis regulation, SNS activity, heart rate variability, resting blood pressure, reaction to challenge, lipids/metabolic risks, inflammation, and relative weight and fat distribution patterns.

    “Indeed, a large body of evidence documents SES gradients for nearly all major peripheral biological parameters, including those reflecting HPA axis regulation, 60,62,66,70,72,[81][82][83][84][85] SNS activity, 60,71,72,81,83,85 heart rate variability (an index of autonomic balance), 60,[86][87][88] resting blood pressure, 61,66,69,83,89- and reaction to challenge (see Ref. 93 for review), lipids/m”

    From Socio‐economic differentials in peripheral biology: Cumulative allostatic load (2010) · cites this paper as [62]

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Authors
Lupien, S. J., King, S., Meaney, M. J., & McEwen, B. S.
Affiliations
  • Douglas Mental Health University Institute (CA)
  • Rockefeller University (US)
Corresponding author
Lupien, Sonia J
ORCID
Venue
Biological Psychiatry
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2000-11
Volume
48
Issue
10
Pages
976-980
ISSN
0006-3223 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/s0006-3223(00)00965-3
OpenAlex
W2047909845
Cited by
532
References
46
Citations by year
2026: 5 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 18 · 2021: 22 · 2020: 16 · 2019: 17 · 2018: 20 · 2017: 26 · 2016: 27 · 2015: 32 · 2014: 33 · 2013: 24 · 2012: 41
FWCI
3.53
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
www.elsevier.com/tdm/userlicense/1.0/ (tdm)
Locations
  • Biological Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Behavioral Neuroscience › Stress Responses and Cortisol
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child Abuse and Trauma
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
Keywords
socioeconomic status, salivary cortisol, childhood stress, maternal depression, depressive symptoms, psychoneuroendocrinology, cognitive function, early childhood, stress hormones
MeSH terms
Age Factors, Canada, Child, Depressive Disorder, Female, Hormones, Humans, Hydrocortisone, Male, Saliva, Social Class, Stress, Psychological

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