Lee Jane Jiyoun, Flouri Eirini
Child Maltreatment Solutions Network, Social Science Research Institute, Pennsylvania State University, 202 Henderson Building, University Park, PA, 16802.
Department of Psychology and Human Development, UCL Institute of Education, University College London, 20 Bedford, Way, London, WC1H 0AL.
Child Youth Serv Rev. 2023 May;148. doi: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2023.106873. Epub 2023 Feb 11.
Little is known about the role of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis functioning for children's cognitive development, especially among vulnerable groups. The current study explores the relationship between diurnal cortisol slope and cognitive outcomes among children at the ages of 5 and 6 who have been maltreated as infants and involved with child protective services, using data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW) I (N=158). Multiple regression analyses showed that a greater decline in salivary cortisol from morning to evening was positively associated with scores on applied problems and expressive communication, even after adjustment for confounding. It was also associated with lower odds of cognitive disability. There were null associations with letter-word identification, passage comprehension, auditory comprehension, matrices, and vocabulary. Results suggest that children involved with child protective services as infants, and thus exposed early to likely 'toxic' levels of stressors, may face dysregulation of the HPA axis and particular difficulties in some aspects of cognitive function. Potential explanations and implications for policy are discussed.
关于下丘脑 - 垂体 - 肾上腺（HPA）轴功能对儿童认知发展的作用，人们了解甚少，尤其是在弱势群体中。本研究利用全国儿童和青少年幸福调查（NSCAW）I（N = 158）的数据，探讨了5至6岁时曾在婴儿期遭受虐待并接受儿童保护服务的儿童的昼夜皮质醇斜率与认知结果之间的关系。多元回归分析表明，即使在调整混杂因素后，从早晨到晚上唾液皮质醇的更大下降与应用问题和表达性沟通得分呈正相关。它还与认知残疾的较低几率相关。与字母 - 单词识别、段落理解、听觉理解、矩阵和词汇没有关联。结果表明，婴儿期接受儿童保护服务、因此早期暴露于可能“有毒”水平应激源的儿童，可能面临HPA轴失调以及认知功能某些方面的特殊困难。讨论了潜在的解释和对政策的影响。
