Pubertal recalibration of cortisol reactivity following early life stress: a cross-sectional analysis.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Children adopted from orphanages or other such institutions tend to display blunted reactivity to stressors - even years after arriving in their generally supportive and highly resourced postadoption homes. Puberty, a proposed sensitive period for environmental influences on stress-mediating systems, may provide an opportunity for postinstitutionalized children to recalibrate stress response systems in accordance with their now more supportive living situations.

Methods

This cross-sectional study examined the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA)-axis reactivity of 280 children ages 7 through 14 years; 122 children were adopted from institutions in 14 countries between the ages of 6 months and 5 years, after spending an average of 95% of their lives in insti

SUBMITTER: DePasquale CE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6458083 | biostudies-literature | 2019 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature