Ouellette Sarah J, Russell Evan, Kryski Katie R, Sheikh Haroon I, Singh Shiva M, Koren Gideon, Hayden Elizabeth P
University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada.
Dev Psychobiol. 2015 Jul;57(5):519-34. doi: 10.1002/dev.21302. Epub 2015 Mar 28.
Hair cortisol concentrations (HCC) are receiving increased attention as a novel biomarker of psychophysiological responses to chronic stress, with potential relevance for psychopathology risk research. We examined the validity of HCC as a marker of psychosocial stress in mother (M(age) = 37.87 years)-daughter (M(age) = 7.62 years) dyads characterized by higher (n = 30) or lower (n = 30) maternal chronic stress. Additionally, we examined whether early care moderated similarity of HCC levels within dyads. Higher-stress mothers had significantly lower HCC compared to lower-stress mothers, consistent with other research showing that chronic stress leads to blunted HPA axis activity over time. Further, HCC in daughters were significantly and positively associated with previously assessed salivary cortisol stress reactivity. Finally, mother-daughter HCC associations were significantly moderated by negative parenting styles, such that associations became stronger as quality of parenting decreased. Findings overall indicate that HCC may be a useful marker of cortisol responses to chronic stress.
头发皮质醇浓度（HCC）作为对慢性应激心理生理反应的一种新型生物标志物，正受到越来越多的关注，这可能与精神病理学风险研究相关。我们检验了HCC作为心理社会应激标志物在母亲（年龄中位数=37.87岁）-女儿（年龄中位数=7.62岁）二元组中的有效性，这些二元组的母亲慢性应激水平较高（n = 30）或较低（n = 30）。此外，我们还检验了早期养育方式是否调节了二元组内HCC水平的相似性。与低应激母亲相比，高应激母亲的HCC显著更低，这与其他研究一致，即慢性应激会随着时间推移导致下丘脑-垂体-肾上腺（HPA）轴活动减弱。此外，女儿的HCC与之前评估的唾液皮质醇应激反应性显著正相关。最后，母女HCC关联受到消极养育方式的显著调节，即随着养育质量下降，关联变得更强。总体研究结果表明，HCC可能是皮质醇对慢性应激反应的一个有用标志物。
