Cortisol reactions during family conflict discussions: Influences of wives’ and husbands’ exposure to family-of-origin aggression.
Open accessAbstract
OBJECTIVE: Though family-of-origin aggression (FOA) is a known risk for later emotional and physical problems in adulthood, little is known about how early exposure to aggression influences physiological reactivity in the domain-specific context of family conflict experienced as an adult. This study investigates whether report of FOA influences spouses' hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis responses during conflict discussions with their family-of-procreation and also whether current hostilities, observed during a family discussion, moderate those responses. METHOD: In a sample of 91 families, we measured parents' HPA responses through salivary cortisol total output and discussion-related increase surrounding 15-minute hot-topic discussions that trained observers coded for family members' hostility. Partners' also reported on eight items assessing parent-to-child and interparental FOA. RESULTS: In models testing within-partner and across-partner influences, wives' higher FOA was linked with increases in their own and their husbands' cortisol. Spouses' own FOA showed significant interactions with the partners' hostility to affect total cortisol output, although in an attenuated direction for wives and a heightened direction for husbands. CONCLUSION: The results suggest that HPA responsiveness can elucidate links between family-of-origin experiences and adult intimate relationships and may be a factor in risk and resilience over time.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Women's family-of-origin aggression was significantly associated with their partner's higher cortisol reactivity during in-lab family conflict discussion (Arbel et al., 2016).
“women’s family-of-origin aggression was significantly associated with their partner’s higher cortisol reactivity during in-lab family conflict discussion (Arbel et al., 2016)”
From Partner Effects of Childhood Maltreatment: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (2024) · cites this paper as Arbel et al., 2016
Men's family-of-origin aggression and men's childhood family adversity were not significantly related to their partner's cortisol response during in-lab interactions (Arbel et al., 2016; Kazmierski et al., 2020; Winer et al., 2018).
“Men’s family-of-origin aggression and men’s childhood family adversity were not significantly related to their partner’s cortisol response during in-lab interactions (Arbel et al., 2016; Kazmierski et al., 2020; Winer et al., 2018)”
From Partner Effects of Childhood Maltreatment: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (2024) · cites this paper as Arbel et al., 2016
Women and men's family-of-origin aggression were not significantly related to their partner's observed hostility during an in-lab family conflict discussion (Arbel et al., 2016).
“women and men’s family-of-origin aggression were not significantly related to their partner’s observed hostility during an in-lab family conflict discussion (Arbel et al., 2016)”
From Partner Effects of Childhood Maltreatment: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (2024) · cites this paper as Arbel et al., 2016
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
Anda, R. F., Felitti, V. J., Bremner, J. D., Walker, J. D., Whitfield, C., Perry, B. D., Dube, S. R., & Giles, W. H. (2006) · European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · doi:10.1007/s00406-005-0624-4 · Cited by 4,292 · see citing works
Kudielka, B. M., Hellhammer, D. H., & Wüst, S. (2009) · Psychoneuroendocrinology · doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2008.10.004 · Cited by 963 · see citing works
Marital Conflict in Older Adults: Endocrinological and Immunological Correlates
Kiecolt-Glaser, J. K., Glaser, R., Cacioppo, J. T., MacCallum, R. C., Snydersmith, M., Kim, C., & Malarkey, W. B. (1997) · Psychosomatic Medicine · doi:10.1097/00006842-199707000-00001 · Cited by 281 · see citing works
Powers, S. I., Pietromonaco, P. R., Gunlicks, M., & Sayer, A. (2006) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.90.4.613 · Cited by 237 · see citing works
Allostatic processes in the family
Repetti, R. L., Robles, T. F., & Reynolds, B. (2011) · Development and Psychopathology · doi:10.1017/s095457941100040x · Cited by 236 · see citing works
Heffner, K. L., Loving, T. J., Kiecolt-Glaser, J. K., Himawan, L. K., Glaser, R., & Malarkey, W. B. (2006) · Journal of Behavioral Medicine · doi:10.1007/s10865-006-9058-3 · Cited by 89 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Research works printed but not linked: 34
- Brooks KP Robles TF Dunkel Schetter C 2011 Adult attachment and cortisol responses to discussions with romantic partners Personal Relationships 18 302 320 10.1111/j.1475-6811.2011.01357.x · DOI
- Carpenter LL Carvalho JP Tyrka AR Wier LM Mello AF Mello MF Price LH 2007 Decreased adrenocorticotropic hormone and cortisol responses to stress in healthy adults reporting significant childhood maltreatment Biological Psychiatry 62 1080 1087 10.1016/j.biopsych.2007.05.002 17662255 PMC2094109 · DOI · Paper page
- Davies PT Sturge-Apple ML Cicchetti D Cummings EM 2008 Adrenocortical underpinnings of children’s psychological reactivity to interparental conflict Child Development 79 1693 1706 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2008.01219.x 19037943 PMC2597091 · DOI
- Del Giudice M Ellis BJ Shirtcliff EA 2011 The adaptive calibration model of stress responsivity Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews 35 1562 1592 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2010.11.007 21145350 PMC3068241 · DOI · Paper page
- Denson TF Spanovic M Miller N 2009 Cognitive appraisals and emotions predict cortisol and immune responses: A meta-analysis of acute laboratory social stressors and emotion inductions Psychological Bulletin 135 823 853 10.1037/a0016909 19883137 · DOI · Paper page
- Dickerson SS Kemeny ME 2004 Acute stressors and cortisol responses: a theoretical integration and synthesis of laboratory research Psychological Bulletin 130 355 391 10.1037/0033-2909.130.3.355 15122924 · DOI · Paper page
- D’Onofrio BM Lahey BB 2010 Biosocial influences on the family: A decade review Journal of Marriage and Family 72 762 782 10.1111/j.1741-3737.2010.00729.x 24009400 PMC3760735 · DOI
- Evans GW Kim P 2013 Childhood poverty, chronic stress, self-regulation, and coping Child Development Perspectives 7 43 48 10.1111/cdep.12013 · DOI · Paper page
- Essex MJ Shirtcliff EA Burk LR Ruttle PL Klein MH Slattery MJ Armstrong JM 2011 Influence of early life stress on later hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis functioning and its covariation with mental health symptoms: A study of the allostatic process from childhood into adolescence Development and Psychopathology 23 1039 1058 10.1017/S0954579411000484 22018080 PMC3266106 · DOI · Paper page
- Feinberg ME Jones DE Granger DA Bontempo D 2011 Relation of intimate partner violence to salivary cortisol among couples expecting a first child Aggressive Behavior 37 492 502 10.1002/ab.20406 21830223 PMC3183412 · DOI
- Fritz PAT Slep AMS O’Leary KD 2012 Couple-level analysis of the relation between family-of-origin aggression and intimate partner violence Psychology of Violence 2 139 153 10.1037/a0027370 · DOI · Paper page
- Frodl T O’Keane V 2013 How does the brain deal with cumulative stress? A review with focus on developmental stress, HPA axis function and hippocampal structure in humans Neurobiology of Disease 52 24 37 10.1016/j.nbd.2012.03.012 22426398 · DOI · Paper page
- Goldman-Mellor S Hamer M Steptoe A 2012 Early-life stress and recurrent psychological distress over the life course predict divergent cortisol reactivity patterns in adulthood Psychoneuroendocrinology 37 1755 1768 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2012.03.010 22475549 · DOI
- Granger DA Hibel LC Fortunato CK Kapelewski CH 2009 Medication effects on salivary cortisol: Tactics and strategy to minimize impact in behavioral and developmental science Psychoneuroendocrinology 34 1437 1448 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2009.06.017 19632788 · DOI
- Heim C Newport DJ Heit S Graham YP Wilcox M Bonsall R Nemeroff CB 2000 Pituitary-adrenal and autonomic responses to stress in women after sexual and physical abuse in childhood JAMA 284 592 597 10.1001/jama.284.11.1385 10918705 · DOI
- Heim C Newport DJ Mletzko T Miller AH Nemeroff CB 2008 The link between childhood trauma and depression: insights from HPA axis studies in humans Psychoneuroendocrinology 33 693 710 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2008.03.008 18602762 · DOI · Paper page
- Hostinar CE Gunnar MR 2013 The developmental effects of early life stress an overview of current theoretical frameworks Current directions in psychological science 22 400 406 10.1177/0963721413488889 25419054 PMC4236853 · DOI
- Hostinar CE Sullivan RM Gunnar MR 2014 Psychobiological mechanisms underlying the social buffering of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenocortical axis: A review of animal models and human studies across development Psychological Bulletin 140 256 282 10.1037/a0032671 23607429 PMC3844011 · DOI · Paper page
- Kiecolt-Glaser JK Newton T Cacioppo JT MacCallum RC Glaser R Malarkey WB 1996 Marital conflict and endocrine function: Are men really more physiologically affected than women? Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 64 324 332 10.1037/0022-006X.64.2.324 8871417 · DOI
- Koss KJ George MR Davies PT Cicchetti D Cummings EM Sturge-Apple ML 2013 Patterns of children’s adrenocortical reactivity to interparental conflict and associations with child adjustment: A growth mixture modeling approach Developmental Psychology 49 317 326 10.1037/a0028246 22545835 PMC3819209 · DOI
- Laurent HK Powers SI Laws H Gunlicks-Stoessel M Bent E Balaban S 2013 HPA regulation and dating couples’ behaviors during conflict: Gender-specific associations and cross-partner interactions Physiology & Behavior 118 218 226 10.1016/j.physbeh.2013.05.037 23711564 PMC3744225 · DOI
- Luecken LJ Kraft A Hagan MJ 2009 Negative relationships in the family-of-origin predict attenuated cortisol in emerging adults Hormones and Behavior 55 412 417 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2008.12.007 19470368 PMC2783646 · DOI · Paper page
- Miller GE Chen E Zhou ES 2007 If it goes up, must it come down? Chronic stress and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical axis in humans Psychological Bulletin 133 25 45 10.1037/0033-2909.133.1.25 17201569 · DOI · Paper page
- Obradović J Bush NR Boyce WT 2011 The interactive effect of marital conflict and stress reactivity on externalizing and internalizing symptoms: The role of laboratory stressors Development and Psychopathology 23 101 114 10.1017/S0954579410000672 21262042 · DOI
- Papp LM Cummings EM Goeke-Morey MC 2009 For richer, for poorer: Money as a topic of marital conflict in the home Family Relations 58 91 103 10.1111/j.1741-3729.2008.00537.x 22162622 PMC3230928 · DOI
- Pruessner JC Kirschbaum C Meinlschmid G Hellhammer DH 2003 Two formulas for computation of the area under the curve represent measures of total hormone concentration versus time-dependent change Psychoneuroendocrinology 28 916 931 10.1016/S0306-4530(02)00108-7 12892658 · DOI · Paper page
- Reuf AM 2001 Empathy in long-term marriage: Behavioral and physiological correlates Doctoral dissertation Retrieved from ProQuest Information & Learning. (Accession Order No. AAI3002245)
- Robles TF Kiecolt-Glaser JK 2003 The physiology of marriage: Pathways to health Physiology & Behavior 79 409 416 10.1016/S0031-9384(03)00160-4 12954435 · DOI · Paper page
- Rodriguez AJ Margolin G 2013 Wives’ and husbands’ cortisol reactivity to proximal and distal dimensions of couple conflict Family Process 52 555 569 10.1111/famp.12037 24033248 PMC3775283 · DOI
- Shirtcliff EA Peres JC Dismukes AR Lee Y Phan JM 2014 Hormones: Commentary: Riding the physiological roller coaster: Adaptive significance of cortisol stress reactivity to social contexts Journal of Personality Disorders 28 40 51 24344886
- Spanier GB 1976 Measuring dyadic adjustment: New scales for assessing the quality of marriage and similar dyads Journal of Marriage and the Family 38 15 28
- Tarullo AR Gunnar MR 2006 Child maltreatment and the developing HPA axis Hormones and Behavior 50 632 639 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2006.06.010 16876168 · DOI · Paper page
- Taylor SE Burklund LJ Eisenberger NI Lehman BJ Hilmert CJ Lieberman MD 2008 Neural bases of moderation of cortisol stress responses by psychosocial resources Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 95 197 211 10.1037/0022-3514.95.1.197 18605860 · DOI · Paper page
- Taylor SE Way BM Seeman TE 2011 Early adversity and adult health outcomes Development and Psychopathology 23 939 954 10.1017/S0954579411000411 21756443 · DOI
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Partner Effects of Childhood Maltreatment: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Vaillancourt-Morel, M.-P., Bussières, È.-L., Nolin, M.-C., & Daspe, M.-È. (2024) · Trauma, Violence, & Abuse · doi:10.1177/15248380231173427 · Cited by 35 · see citing works
“Men’s family-of-origin aggression and men’s childhood family adversity were not significantly related to their partner’s cortisol response during in-lab interactions (Arbel et al., 2016; Kazmierski et al., 2020; Winer et al., 2018).”
Background
- Authors
- Arbel, R., Rodriguez, A. J., & Margolin, G.
- Affiliations
- University of Southern California (US)
- Venue
- Psychology of Violence
- Published
- 2016-10
- Volume
- 6
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 519-528
- ISSN
- 2152-081X (ISSN-L)
- 2152-0828
- PMC
- PMC5193168
- OpenAlex
- W2528941889
- Cited by
- 20
- References
- 6
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 2 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 1
- FWCI
- 1.66
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Psychology of Violence (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- NIH-NICHD (R01 HD 046807 and R21 HD 072170)
- David and Lucile Packard Foundation (00-12802)
- American Association for University Women
- Israeli Council for Higher Education
- NIH-NIMH (F31 MH 094035)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Health › Intimate Partner and Family Violence
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Behavioral Neuroscience › Stress Responses and Cortisol
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child Abuse and Trauma
- Keywords
- cortisol, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, family conflict, marital conflict, parental aggression, intergenerational transmission, hostility, salivary cortisol, intimate relationships, risk and resilience
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
