Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, 1285 Franz Hall, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1563, USA.
Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2011 Apr;6(2):244-51. doi: 10.1093/scan/nsq037. Epub 2010 Apr 16.
Animal and human research indicates that the early environment can exert effects on hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis functioning across the lifespan. Using data from the National Study of Midlife Development in the United States and the National Study of Daily Experience substudy, we identified curvilinear relations between adult reports of parental affection in childhood and adult diurnal cortisol rhythms. Reports of both very affectionate and very unaffectionate parental relations in childhood were associated with flatter diurnal rhythms, suggesting potential dysregulation of the HPA axis at both extremes of family environment. Participants in the bottom tertile showed more signs of HPA axis dysregulation than those in the top tertile. We discuss processes that may underlie these effects, with reference to the theory of allostatic load.
动物和人类研究表明，早期环境可以对整个生命周期的下丘脑-垂体-肾上腺（HPA）轴功能产生影响。本研究使用来自美国国家中年发展研究和国家日常经验子研究的数据，确定了成年后对童年时期父母关爱的报告与成人日间皮质醇节律之间的曲线关系。童年时期父母关系非常亲密和非常不亲密的报告都与昼夜节律变平有关，这表明 HPA 轴在家庭环境的两个极端都可能存在潜在的失调。与处于顶端三分位的参与者相比，处于底部三分位的参与者表现出更多的 HPA 轴失调迹象。我们讨论了可能存在的潜在机制，参考了压力适应理论。
