1-137 - More than Cortisol: Integrating Multiple Physiological Measures to Better Understand Child Development in Stressful Contexts

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

In recent years, there has been a surge of research examining the biomarkers of stress exposure in children, demonstrating effects across a broad range of systems, including immune functioning and sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system activity. As new techniques and technology expand our ability to investigate how these physiological correlates of stress may influence development, there is a call for work that looks beyond a single system or biomarker and moves toward a nuanced understanding of the interplay among the different components of stress response and regulatory systems. The papers in this symposium present research findings that take a multi-systemic approach to stress physiology at its intersection with behavior and development. The first paper examines a cascading effects model in which early disruption to one neurobiological self-regulatory system predicts future disruption of other systems over time. The second paper utilizes a person-centered analysis approach, linking children’s patterns of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and autonomic nervous system reactivity to parent-child relationship security and other behavioral outcomes. Paper three relates a wide variety of biomarkers to risk and resilience in youth growing up in a high stress context. The fourth paper considers the interactive contributions of both branches of the autonomic nervous system (sympathetic and parasympathetic) as they relate to children’s coping behavior. Together, these papers demonstrate a variety of innovative approaches to the challenge of integrating multiple physiological measures in order to gain a better understanding children’s biobehavioral development in stressful contexts.

Sub Unit

• Social, Emotional, Personality

Chair

• John Loughlin-Presnal, Pennsylvania State University

Individual Presentations

• Cascading Effects of Income and Cumulative Risk on Neurobiological Indicators of Self-regulation in Preschool-age Children - Presenting Author: Liliana J. Lengua, Univ of Washington

• Integrating Cortisol and Alpha-Amylase: a Multi-Systemic, Person-Centered Approach to Children’s Stress Reactivity - Presenting Author: John Loughlin-Presnal, Pennsylvania State University; Martha E Wadsworth, Pennsylvania State University

• Family Correlates of Cardiometabolic Risk in Low-Income, Urban, African American Youth - Presenting Author: Wendy Kliewer, Virginia Commonwealth Univ; Jo Lynne Robins, Virginia Commonwealth University; Alicia J Borre, Virginia Commonwealth University

• The Interactive Contributions of Skin Conductance Level and Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia Reactivity to Children’s Emotion Coping - Presenting Author: Wesley Sanders, University of Vermont; Jamie L Abaied, University of Vermont; Caitlin Wagner, University of Vermont