Institute of Health and Wellbeing, College of Medical, Veterinary, and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Caledonia House, Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Yorkhill, Glasgow G3 8SJ, UK.
Psychiatry Res. 2013 Aug 30;209(1):74-7. doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2012.12.011. Epub 2013 Jan 23.
Maltreated children with reactive attachment disorder (RAD) have severe problems with social relationships and affect regulation. An association between early maltreatment and changes in the daily rhythm of cortisol secretion has already been reported for maltreated toddlers. We sought to find out whether such changes were apparent in school-age children with symptoms of RAD, who had experienced early maltreatment but were currently adopted in well-functioning families. We recruited 66 children: 34 adopted children, aged 5-12 years, with an early history of maltreatment and with social difficulties such as indiscriminate friendliness; and 32 age- and sex-matched comparison children with no history of maltreatment or social difficulties. Daily rhythms of cortisol production were determined from saliva samples collected over 2 days. The adopted group had significantly lower absolute levels of cortisol compared to the control group, but a typical profile of cortisol secretion. There was no association between cortisol secretion and symptom scores for psychopathology.
受虐待的患有反应性依恋障碍（RAD）的儿童在人际关系和情感调节方面存在严重问题。已经有研究报道，受虐待的幼儿早期虐待与皮质醇分泌的日常节律变化之间存在关联。我们试图找出在有 RAD 症状的学龄儿童中是否存在这种变化，这些儿童经历过早期虐待，但目前在功能良好的家庭中被收养。我们招募了 66 名儿童：34 名被收养的儿童，年龄在 5-12 岁之间，有早期受虐待的经历，并且有社交困难，如不分青红皂白的友好；32 名年龄和性别匹配的无受虐待或社交困难经历的对照组儿童。通过采集 2 天的唾液样本来确定皮质醇产生的日常节律。与对照组相比，被收养组的皮质醇绝对水平明显较低，但皮质醇分泌的典型模式仍然存在。皮质醇分泌与精神病理学症状评分之间没有关联。
