Bilodeau-Houle Alexe, Duplessis-Marcotte Félix, Raymond Catherine, Primiani Rachel, Marin Marie-France
Department of Psychology, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montreal, QC, Canada.
Research Center of the Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Montréal, Montreal, QC, Canada.
J Neural Transm (Vienna). 2025 Mar 10. doi: 10.1007/s00702-025-02898-z.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, some children experienced psychological distress. Moreover, pandemic-related stressors were associated with changes in hair cortisol concentrations (HCC) in youth. Research has shown that parental distress influenced children's well-being during the pandemic, but it remains unclear whether parental distress is associated with children's HCC during the pandemic. Furthermore, as some preliminary evidence suggests that children's HCC may predict their emotional response to the pandemic, it is essential to assess whether children's HCC provides insight into their susceptibility to developing symptoms associated with stress-related psychopathologies. The present study aimed to (1) examine the association between parental pandemic-related distress and children's HCC; (2) investigate the moderating role of parental distress on the association between parent and child HCC; and (3) explore the association between children's HCC and their distress longitudinally. In June 2020, 71 parent-child (8-15 y/o) dyads provided a hair sample to assess pre-pandemic HCC (December 2019-March 2020) and pandemic HCC (March-June 2020) in Quebec, Canada. Post-traumatic stress, anxiety, depression, and stress symptoms were also assessed in dyads every three months from June 2020 to March 2021. Results showed that parental stress symptoms and HCC were positively associated with children's HCC during the pandemic. Moreover, children's pre-pandemic and pandemic HCC were independently negatively associated with children's anxiety symptoms during the pandemic. These results provide evidence of an association between parental physiological and psychological stress and their children's HCC during the pandemic and suggest that HCC may help identify youth at risk of developing anxiety symptoms during chronic stressful events.
在新冠疫情期间，一些儿童经历了心理困扰。此外，与疫情相关的压力源与青少年头发皮质醇浓度（HCC）的变化有关。研究表明，父母的困扰在疫情期间影响了孩子的幸福感，但尚不清楚父母的困扰是否与疫情期间孩子的HCC有关。此外，一些初步证据表明，孩子的HCC可能预测他们对疫情的情绪反应，因此评估孩子的HCC是否能洞察他们在发展与压力相关精神病理学相关症状方面的易感性至关重要。本研究旨在：（1）探讨父母与疫情相关的困扰与孩子的HCC之间的关联；（2）研究父母困扰在亲子HCC关联中的调节作用；（3）纵向探索孩子的HCC与他们的困扰之间的关联。2020年6月，71对亲子（8 - 15岁）在加拿大魁北克提供了头发样本，以评估疫情前（2019年12月 - 2020年3月）和疫情期间（2020年3月 - 6月）的HCC。从2020年6月到2021年3月，每三个月还对这些亲子对的创伤后应激、焦虑、抑郁和压力症状进行评估。结果表明，疫情期间父母的压力症状和HCC与孩子的HCC呈正相关。此外，孩子疫情前和疫情期间的HCC与疫情期间孩子的焦虑症状独立呈负相关。这些结果为疫情期间父母的生理和心理压力与孩子的HCC之间的关联提供了证据，并表明HCC可能有助于识别在慢性压力事件中面临发展焦虑症状风险的青少年。
