Blunted cortisol responses to stress signal social and behavioral problems among maltreated/bullied 12-year-old children.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Evidence from animal and human studies suggests that early-life stress such as physical maltreatment has long-lasting effects on the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and is associated with blunted HPA axis reactivity in adulthood. Few studies have investigated whether blunted HPA axis reactivity observed in children exposed to early-life stress signals social, emotional, and behavioral problems.

Methods

Participants were 190 12-year-old children (50.5% males) recruited from the Environmental Risk Longitudinal Twin Study, a nationally representative 1994 to 1995 cohort of families with twins. Cortisol responses to psychosocial stress were measured in maltreated/bullied (n = 64) and comparison children (n = 126). We ascertained maltreatment and bullying vic

SUBMITTER: Ouellet-Morin I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3816750 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature