2-192 - The Role of Parenting in Ameliorating the Impact of Early Life Stress on Children’s Behavioral and Biological Functioning

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Research consistently demonstrates that early life stress (ELS) alters biobehavioral development during childhood and contributes to heterogeneity in long-term health deficits across the lifespan. On the other hand, sensitive and responsive caregiving early in life plays an important role in shaping normative development. However, less is known about the role of parenting following or in conjunction with experiences of early life stress. The central aim of this proposed symposium is to understand the role of variations in parenting in ameliorating the impact of early life stress. Collectively, the papers address this key question across multiple forms of early adversity and by examining different important dimensions of caregiving.

In this symposium four empirical papers examine the impact of parenting on altering the influence of early life stress on children across both behavioral and biological domains. The first investigates the impact of responsive parenting in shaping children’s language development and behavioral problems following early social deprivation. The second paper considers the role of both predictable and sensitive post-adoption parenting in fostering recovery in children’s executive functioning following removal from institutional care. The third paper examines the impact of parental stress in modifying the impact of caregiver separations on children’s gut microbiome and depressive symptoms. Finally, the fourth paper tests whether parents buffer the effects of “toxic” stress children’s hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis functioning. Together these papers advance our understating of the role parenting plays in shaping developmental processes for children experiencing early life adversity and may inform parenting interventions targeted at vulnerable populations.

Sub Unit

• Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships

Chairs

• Kalsea J Koss, Princeton University

• Jamie Lawler, University of Michigan

Individual Presentations

• The Significance of Responsive Parenting for Language Development and Behavior Problems among Children Adopted Internationally - Presenting Author: Lee Raby, University of Utah; Lindsay Zajac, University of Delaware; Teresa Lind, University of Delaware; Emily Freedman, University of Delaware; Michael Sanders, Pennsylvania State University; Mary Dozier, University of Delaware

• Early Adversity and Regulatory Deficits: Does Post-Adoption Parenting Facilitate Recovery in Post-Institutionalized Children? - Presenting Author: Kalsea J Koss, Princeton University; Jamie Lawler, University of Michigan; Shanna Mliner, University of Minnesota; Megan Gunnar, Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota

• Parental Buffering Role on the Relationship Between Early Life Stress, Child Internalizing Symptoms and Gut Microbiome Diversity - Presenting Author: Jessica E Flannery, University of Oregon; Leslie E. Roos, University of Oregon; Ryan J. Giuliano, University of Oregon; Roxana Hickey, University of Oregon; Philip A. Fisher, University of Oregon

• Testing the Toxic Stress Framework: Does Parental Buffering Make the Toxic Tolerable? - Presenting Author: Sarah Enos Watamura, University of Denver; Marina M. Mendoza, National Institute of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice; Eliana Hurwich-Reiss, University of California San Diego; Amy Dominguez, University of Denver; Lisa Schlueter, University of Denver