Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, United States.
Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, United States.
Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2024 Jul;165:107034. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2024.107034. Epub 2024 Mar 28.
Despite evidence that early life stress (ELS) can influence the functioning of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and increase maladaptive behaviors in adolescence, less attention has been paid to the role of the coordinated effects of the two primary adrenal hormones, cortisol and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), in these associations.
138 typically developing adolescents (76 females) reported the stressful events experienced during childhood and early adolescence across 30 domains. Two years later we assessed levels of externalizing problems and obtained salivary levels of cortisol and DHEA. Using causal moderated mediation analyses, we examined whether the ratio of cortisol to DHEA (CD ratio) mediates the association between ELS and subsequent externalizing problems.
We found that ELS is associated with both a lower CD ratio and more externalizing problems. Importantly, a lower CD ratio mediated the association between ELS and externalizing problems in boys.
An imbalance in adrenal hormones may be a mechanism through which ELS leads to an increase in externalizing problems in adolescent boys. These findings underscore the utility of using the CD ratio to index HPA-axis functioning.
尽管有证据表明早期生活压力 (ELS) 会影响下丘脑-垂体-肾上腺 (HPA) 轴的功能，并在青春期增加适应不良行为，但人们对两种主要肾上腺激素皮质醇和脱氢表雄酮 (DHEA) 的协调作用在这些关联中的作用关注较少。
138 名典型的发展中青少年（76 名女性）报告了儿童期和青春期早期 30 个领域经历的压力事件。两年后，我们评估了外化问题的水平，并获得了唾液皮质醇和 DHEA 水平。使用因果中介调节分析，我们检验了皮质醇与 DHEA 的比值 (CD 比值) 是否在 ELS 与随后的外化问题之间起中介作用。
我们发现，ELS 与较低的 CD 比值和更多的外化问题有关。重要的是，较低的 CD 比值在男孩中介导了 ELS 与外化问题之间的关联。
肾上腺激素的失衡可能是 ELS 导致青春期男孩外化问题增加的一种机制。这些发现强调了使用 CD 比值来指数 HPA 轴功能的效用。
