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Cited by 177Stress Responses and CortisolChild and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional DevelopmentAttachment and Relationship Dynamics

Maternal and child contributions to cortisol response to emotional arousal in young children from low-income, rural communities

Blair, Clancy, Family Life Project Investigators, Granger, Douglas A., Kivlighan, Katie T., Mills-Koonce, Roger, Willoughby, Michael, Greenberg, Mark T., Hibel, Leah C. +1 more·2008·Developmental Psychology
DOI 10.1037/0012-1649.44.4.1095
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Abstract

Relations of maternal and child characteristics to child cortisol reactivity to and recovery from emotional arousal were examined prospectively at approximately 7 months of age (infancy) and then again at approximately 15 months of age (toddlerhood). The sample was diverse and population based (N = 1,292 mother-infant dyads) and included families from predominantly low-income, rural communities. Maternal behavior, family income-to-need ratio and social advantage, and child temperament, attention, and mental development were assessed, and children's saliva was sampled before and after standardized procedures designed to elicit emotional arousal. Maternal engagement in infancy was associated with greater cortisol reactivity at the infancy assessment and with reduced overall cortisol level at the toddler assessment. Also at the toddler assessment, child attention, mental development, and temperamental distress to novelty were associated with increased cortisol reactivity and regulation, whereas temperamental distress to limitations and African American ethnicity were associated with reduced cortisol reactivity. Findings are consistent with prior work linking early caregiving to the development of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis stress response system and with a conceptual model in which developing temperament is characterized by the interplay of emotional reactivity and the emergence of the ability to effortfully regulate this reactivity using attention.

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  • A prior analysis of this sample found that high positive but not negative parenting in infancy was associated with lower basal cortisol and greater cortisol reactivity at 7 and 15 months.

    “A prior analysis of the sample reported on here demonstrated that high level of positive but not negative parenting in infancy is associated with lower basal levels of cortisol and greater cortisol reactivity to emotional arousal at age 7 and 15 months (Blair et al., 2008).”

    From Salivary cortisol mediates effects of poverty and parenting on executive functions in early childhood (2011) · cites this paper as Blair et al., 2008

  • In a large predominantly low-income longitudinal sample, infants at 7 months whose mothers were high in sensitivity had low baseline cortisol and high cortisol reactivity and regulation in response to a moderate stressor.

    “Similarly, in a large, predominantly low-income sample followed longitudinally, baseline cortisol was low and cortisol reactivity and regulation were high in response to a moderate stressor in infants at age 7 months whose mothers were high in sensitivity.”

    From Stress and the development of self-regulation in context (2010) · cites this paper as Blair et al., 2008

  • At 15-month follow-up in that sample, overall cortisol levels at baseline and in response to stress were reduced for children of mothers high in sensitivity.

    “Furthermore, when these infants were followed up at age 15 months, overall cortisol levels, both at baseline and in response to stress, were reduced for children of mothers high in sensitivity (Blair et al., 2008).”

    From Stress and the development of self-regulation in context (2010) · cites this paper as Blair et al., 2008

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Authors
Blair, C., Family Life Project Investigators, Granger, D. A., Kivlighan, K. T., Mills-Koonce, R., Willoughby, M., Greenberg, M. T., Hibel, L. C., & Fortunato, C. K.
Affiliations
  • Pennsylvania State University (US)
  • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (US)
ORCID
Venue
Developmental Psychology
Publisher
American Psychological Association (APA)
Published
2008
Volume
44
Issue
4
Pages
1095-1109
ISSN
  • 0012-1649 (ISSN-L)
  • 1939-0599
DOI
10.1037/0012-1649.44.4.1095
OpenAlex
W2169831762
Cited by
177
References
79
Citations by year
2026: 5 · 2025: 2 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 10 · 2019: 17 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 15 · 2016: 11 · 2015: 16 · 2014: 12 · 2013: 22 · 2012: 13
FWCI
5.27
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Developmental Psychology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Research Explorer (The University of Manchester) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (P01 HD39667)
  • National Institute on Drug Abuse
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Behavioral Neuroscience › Stress Responses and Cortisol
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Attachment and Relationship Dynamics
Keywords
cortisol response, emotional arousal, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, maternal involvement, child temperament, attention, cognitive development, stress response regulation, African American children, infancy, toddlerhood, novelty seeking
MeSH terms
Adaptation, Psychological, Age Factors, Arousal, Attention, Emotions, Female, Humans, Hypothalamo-Hypophyseal System, Infant, Intelligence, Longitudinal Studies, Male, Maternal Behavior, Mother-Child Relations, Pituitary-Adrenal System, Poverty, Psychosocial Deprivation, Rural Population, Saliva, Temperament, Parenting

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