Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Department of Clinical Child and Family Studies & Amsterdam Public Health, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Dev Psychobiol. 2023 Dec;65(8):e22438. doi: 10.1002/dev.22438.
Prolonged stress exposure is associated with alterations in cortisol output. The COVID-19 pandemic represented a stressor for many, including children. However, a high-quality caregiving environment may protect against psychological problems and possibly against elevations in cortisol. We examined adolescents' physiological stress responses to the pandemic and the role of attachment in two longitudinal samples from the Netherlands and the United States (https://aspredicted.org/HHY_8MK).
Cortisol was assessed from hair samples before and during the pandemic, while attachment was self-reported prepandemic. Study 1 included a Dutch sample (N = 158; examined at ages 10 and later at 14 years old), whereas Study 2 included a US sample (N = 153; examined at ages 9-11 and again 2 years later) and an age-matched prepandemic sample (N = 29, 10-13 years old). Repeated-measures analyses of variance examined changes in cortisol from prepandemic to during the pandemic and the effect of attachment in each sample separately.
After accounting for age, both studies revealed nonsignificant changes in hair cortisol and a nonsignificant effect of attachment. A significant effect of sex emerged in Study 1, with Dutch girls showing a significant cortisol increase during the pandemic, which was not explained by puberty.
These findings suggest differential associations of the pandemic with hair cortisol increases by sex and country.
长期的压力暴露与皮质醇分泌的改变有关。新冠疫情是许多人面临的压力源，包括儿童。然而，高质量的养育环境可能有助于预防心理问题，也可能有助于降低皮质醇水平。我们研究了青少年在新冠疫情期间的生理应激反应，以及依恋关系在来自荷兰和美国的两个纵向样本中的作用（https://aspredicted.org/HHY_8MK）。
在疫情前和疫情期间，通过头发样本评估皮质醇，而依恋关系则在疫情前进行自我报告。研究 1 包括一个荷兰样本（N=158；分别在 10 岁和 14 岁时进行了检查），而研究 2 包括一个美国样本（N=153；分别在 9-11 岁和 2 年后再次进行了检查）和一个年龄匹配的疫情前样本（N=29，10-13 岁）。重复测量方差分析分别考察了每个样本中从疫情前到疫情期间皮质醇的变化，以及依恋关系的影响。
在考虑到年龄的情况下，两项研究都显示头发皮质醇没有显著变化，依恋关系也没有显著影响。研究 1 中出现了一个显著的性别效应，荷兰女孩在疫情期间皮质醇显著增加，这与青春期无关。
这些发现表明，疫情对男女和国家的头发皮质醇增加的关联存在差异。
