Simmons Julian G, Byrne Michelle L, Schwartz Orli S, Whittle Sarah L, Sheeber Lisa, Kaess Michael, Youssef George J, Allen Nicholas B
Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Orygen Youth Health Research Centre, The University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Dev Psychobiol. 2015 Sep;57(6):670-87. doi: 10.1002/dev.21275. Epub 2015 Mar 8.
Adversity early in life can disrupt the functioning of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal and hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axes and increase risk for negative health outcomes. The interplay between these axes and the environment is complex, and understanding needs to be advanced by the investigation of the multiple hormonal relationships underlying these processes. The current study examined basal hormonal associations between morning levels of cortisol, testosterone, and dehydroepiandrosterone in a cohort of adolescents (mean age 15.56 years). The moderating influence of childhood adversity was also examined, as indexed by self-reported trauma (at mean age 14.91), and observed maternal aggressive parenting (at mean age 12.41). Between-person regressions revealed significant associations between hormones that were moderated by both measures of adversity. In females, all hormones positively covaried, but also interacted with adversity, such that positive covariation was typically only present when levels of trauma and/or aggressive parenting were low. In males, hormonal associations and interactions were less evident; however, interactions were detected for cortisol-testosterone - positively covarying at high levels of aggressive parenting but negatively covarying at low levels - and DHEA-cortisol - similarly positively covarying at high levels of parental aggression. These results demonstrate associations between adrenal and gonadal hormones and the moderating role of adversity, which is likely driven by feedback mechanisms, or cross-talk, between the axes. These findings suggest that hormonal changes may be the pathway through which early life adversity alters physiology and increases health risks, but does so differentially in the sexes; however further study is necessary to establish causation.
生命早期的逆境会扰乱下丘脑 - 垂体 - 肾上腺轴和下丘脑 - 垂体 - 性腺轴的功能，并增加负面健康结果的风险。这些轴与环境之间的相互作用很复杂，需要通过对这些过程背后的多种激素关系进行研究来加深理解。本研究调查了一组青少年（平均年龄15.56岁）早晨皮质醇、睾酮和脱氢表雄酮水平之间的基础激素关联。还研究了童年逆境的调节作用，以自我报告的创伤（平均年龄14.91岁）和观察到的母亲攻击性养育方式（平均年龄12.41岁）为指标。个体间回归显示，两种逆境测量指标都对激素之间的显著关联起到了调节作用。在女性中，所有激素呈正相关，但也与逆境相互作用，即通常只有在创伤和/或攻击性养育水平较低时才会出现正相关。在男性中，激素关联和相互作用不太明显；然而，检测到了皮质醇 - 睾酮之间的相互作用——在高水平的攻击性养育方式下呈正相关，而在低水平下呈负相关——以及脱氢表雄酮 - 皮质醇之间的相互作用——在高水平的父母攻击性下同样呈正相关。这些结果表明肾上腺和性腺激素之间的关联以及逆境的调节作用，这可能是由这些轴之间的反馈机制或相互作用驱动的。这些发现表明，激素变化可能是生命早期逆境改变生理并增加健康风险的途径，但在性别上存在差异；然而，需要进一步研究来确定因果关系。
