Department of Psychology, University of Houston, Houston, Texas, USA.
Department of Psychology, Saint-Petersburg State University, Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation.
Dev Psychobiol. 2021 Dec;63(8):e22213. doi: 10.1002/dev.22213.
Among the well-known physiological consequences of early adverse environments is dysregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. A number of studies demonstrate that negative parenting and living with parents with a history of substance abuse and mental health problems may be associated with HPA axis dysregulation in children. In contrast, studies of more delayed effects in adult offspring, especially prospective, are still scarce. This study was a prospective longitudinal investigation of the association between maternal mental illnesses/substance abuse and maternal negative parenting/parental stress on one side and, on the other side, adult offspring outcomes 10 years later-specifically, we studied the activity of offspring's neuroendocrine (cortisol) and autonomic (heart rate) systems when exposed to a mild psychological stressor. Children of mothers with mental illnesses and/or substance abuse were exposed to more disadvantaged conditions (higher negative parenting and community violence). Despite this, maternal risk groups (having a mother with mental illnesses and/or substance abuse) were not associated with any of the indicators of stress systems activity. Regardless of the risk group, participants with dysregulated HPA axis activity experienced a higher level of negative parenting. Altogether, our study provides evidence that negative parenting may have long-lasting effects on stress-sensitive physiological mechanisms.
在早期不良环境对人体产生的众多显著生理影响中，下丘脑-垂体-肾上腺（HPA）轴失调是其中之一。大量研究表明，消极的育儿方式和与有药物滥用史或精神健康问题的父母共同生活，可能会导致儿童的 HPA 轴失调。相比之下，针对成年子女的延迟效应的研究，尤其是前瞻性研究仍然很少。本研究是一项针对母亲的精神疾病/药物滥用与母亲消极育儿/父母压力对子女的影响的前瞻性纵向研究，这些影响在 10 年后会逐渐显现——具体来说，我们研究了后代神经内分泌（皮质醇）和自主神经系统（心率）在暴露于轻度心理应激源时的活动。患有精神疾病和/或药物滥用的母亲的孩子会面临更多不利条件（更高水平的消极育儿和社区暴力）。尽管如此，具有母体风险的群体（有一位患有精神疾病和/或药物滥用的母亲）与压力系统活动的任何指标均无关联。无论是否处于风险群体中，HPA 轴活动失调的参与者都会经历更高水平的消极育儿。总而言之，我们的研究提供了证据表明，消极的育儿方式可能会对压力敏感的生理机制产生持久影响。
