Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis, CA, United States; Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, CA, United States.
Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis, CA, United States.
Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2021 Jul;129:105237. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2021.105237. Epub 2021 Apr 21.
Previous evidence on cortisol output and socioeconomic status (SES) has been mixed, with studies finding that lower SES can be associated with higher or lower cortisol output, and null associations have also been reported. We hypothesized that these inconsistencies may be due to an underlying curvilinear, inverted-U pattern of association, such that low income is related to increased likelihood of both low and high cortisol output. We tested these curvilinear links among family income and cortisol indices in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (N = 803). Maternal reports of family income when the study children were 33 and 47 months of age were averaged to estimate early-childhood family income. Three cortisol indices were derived from samples collected in adolescence (15.5 years of age): the cortisol awakening response (CAR), area under the curve (AUC) cortisol, and the diurnal cortisol slope. As hypothesized, the CAR exhibited a curvilinear, inverted-U relation with childhood income, with low childhood income being associated with both the lowest and the highest CARs. These findings suggest that discrepancies in prior findings on low SES and the CAR may be due to curvilinear patterns of association. However, childhood income was not significantly associated with adolescent cortisol diurnal slope or AUC. Future work should clarify the factors that might predispose to high versus low CAR given equivalent low SES in childhood.
先前有关皮质醇分泌与社会经济地位（SES）的证据相互矛盾，一些研究发现较低的 SES 可能与较高或较低的皮质醇分泌有关，也有研究报告称两者之间没有关联。我们假设这些不一致可能是由于潜在的曲线、倒 U 型关联模式造成的，即低收入与低皮质醇和高皮质醇分泌的可能性增加有关。我们在阿冯纵向父母与子女研究（Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children，ALSPAC）中检验了家庭收入与皮质醇指数之间的这种曲线关系（N=803）。当研究儿童 33 个月和 47 个月大时，母亲报告的家庭收入被平均化，以估计儿童早期的家庭收入。从青少年（15.5 岁）采集的样本中得出了三个皮质醇指数：皮质醇觉醒反应（CAR）、皮质醇曲线下面积（AUC）和皮质醇昼夜节律斜率。正如假设的那样，CAR 与儿童时期的收入呈曲线、倒 U 型关系，儿童时期收入较低与最低和最高的 CAR 都有关。这些发现表明，先前关于低 SES 和 CAR 的发现之间的差异可能是由于关联的曲线模式造成的。然而，儿童时期的收入与青少年皮质醇昼夜节律斜率或 AUC 没有显著关联。未来的研究应该阐明在儿童时期 SES 相当的情况下，导致高皮质醇和低皮质醇的因素。
