TY - JOUR
T1 - A longitudinal study of the effects of child-reported maternal warmth on cortisol stress response 15 years after parental divorce
AU - Luecken, Linda
AU - Hagan, Melissa J.
AU - Wolchik, Sharlene
AU - Sandler, Irwin
AU - Tein, Jenn-Yun
N1 - Funding Information:
Source of Funding and Conflicts of Interest: This research was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health (5R01MH071707; 5P30MH068685, 5P30MH039246). The funding source had no role in study design, collection, analysis, interpretation, or writing of the report, or in the decision to submit the article for publication. Sharlene Wolchik and Irwin Sandler declare the following competing financial interest: partnership in Family Transitions-Programs that Work LLC, which trains and supports providers to deliver the New Beginnings Program. The remaining authors have no financial interest in the application of this research.
Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2015 by the American Psychosomatic Society.
PY - 2016
Y1 - 2016
N2 - Objectives: The experience of parental divorce during childhood is associated with an increased risk of behavioral and physical health problems. Alterations in adrenocortical activity may be a mechanism in this relation. Parent-child relationships have been linked to cortisol regulation in children exposed to adversity, but prospective research is lacking.We examined maternal warmth in adolescence as a predictor of young adults' cortisol stress response 15 years after parental divorce. Methods: Participants included 240 youth from recently divorced families. Mother and child reports of maternal warmth were assessed at 6 time points across childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood. Offspring salivary cortisol was measured in young adulthood before and after a social stress task. Structural equation modeling was used to predict cortisol response from maternal warmth across early and late adolescence. Results: Higher child-reported maternal warmth in early adolescence predicted higher child-reported maternal warmth in late adolescence (standardized regression = 0.45, standard error = 0.065, p < .01), which predicted lower cortisol response to a challenging interpersonal task in young adulthood (standardized regression = -0.20, standard error = 0.094, p = .031). Neither mother-reported warmth in early adolescence nor late adolescence was significantly related to offspring cortisol response in young adulthood. Conclusions: Results suggest that for children from divorced families, a warm mother-child relationship after divorce and across development, as perceived by the child, may promote efficient biological regulation later in life.
AB - Objectives: The experience of parental divorce during childhood is associated with an increased risk of behavioral and physical health problems. Alterations in adrenocortical activity may be a mechanism in this relation. Parent-child relationships have been linked to cortisol regulation in children exposed to adversity, but prospective research is lacking.We examined maternal warmth in adolescence as a predictor of young adults' cortisol stress response 15 years after parental divorce. Methods: Participants included 240 youth from recently divorced families. Mother and child reports of maternal warmth were assessed at 6 time points across childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood. Offspring salivary cortisol was measured in young adulthood before and after a social stress task. Structural equation modeling was used to predict cortisol response from maternal warmth across early and late adolescence. Results: Higher child-reported maternal warmth in early adolescence predicted higher child-reported maternal warmth in late adolescence (standardized regression = 0.45, standard error = 0.065, p < .01), which predicted lower cortisol response to a challenging interpersonal task in young adulthood (standardized regression = -0.20, standard error = 0.094, p = .031). Neither mother-reported warmth in early adolescence nor late adolescence was significantly related to offspring cortisol response in young adulthood. Conclusions: Results suggest that for children from divorced families, a warm mother-child relationship after divorce and across development, as perceived by the child, may promote efficient biological regulation later in life.
KW - Cortisol
KW - Mother-child relationship
KW - Parental divorce
KW - Warmth
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U2 - 10.1097/PSY.0000000000000251
DO - 10.1097/PSY.0000000000000251
M3 - Article
C2 - 26465217
AN - SCOPUS:84957430878
SN - 0033-3174
VL - 78
SP - 163
EP - 170
JO - Psychosomatic Medicine
JF - Psychosomatic Medicine
IS - 2
ER -