Armstrong-Carter Emma, Bush Nicole R, Boyce W Thomas, Obradović Jelena
The University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California.
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
Dev Psychobiol. 2023 Mar;65(2):e22373. doi: 10.1002/dev.22373.
This longitudinal study investigated how kindergartners' position in the classroom social hierarchy and cortisol response relate to their change in school engagement across the first year of kindergarten (N = 332, M = 5.3 years, 51% boys, 41% White, 18% Black). We used naturalistic classroom observations of social hierarchy positions, laboratory-based challenges to elicit salivary cortisol response, and teacher, parent, and child reports of emotional engagement with school. Robust, clustered regression models revealed that in the fall, lower cortisol response (but not social hierarchy position) was associated with greater school engagement. However, by spring, significant interactions emerged. Highly reactive, subordinate children showed increases in school engagement from fall to spring of the kindergarten year, whereas highly reactive, dominant children showed decreases in school engagement. This is some of the first evidence that higher cortisol response marks biological sensitivity to early peer-based social contexts.
这项纵向研究调查了幼儿园儿童在课堂社会等级中的地位以及皮质醇反应如何与他们在幼儿园第一年的学校参与度变化相关（N = 332，平均年龄M = 5.3岁，51%为男孩，41%为白人，18%为黑人）。我们通过对社会等级地位进行自然主义的课堂观察、基于实验室的挑战来引发唾液皮质醇反应，以及教师、家长和儿童对学校情感参与度的报告来进行研究。稳健的聚类回归模型显示，在秋季时，较低的皮质醇反应（而非社会等级地位）与更高的学校参与度相关。然而，到春季时，出现了显著的交互作用。反应性高的从属儿童在幼儿园学年从秋季到春季学校参与度有所增加，而反应性高的主导儿童学校参与度则有所下降。这是首批表明较高皮质醇反应标志着对基于同伴的早期社会环境具有生物敏感性的证据之一。
