3-069 - Multimodal Investigation of Childhood Adversity, Stress System Regulation, and Adolescent Physical and Mental Health

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Childhood adversity has consistently been associated with altered hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis regulation into adolescence although these associations are often moderated by severity, type, and timing of adversity, age, and sex, and dependent on co-occurring emotional and behavioral problems. It has been hypothesized that alterations in HPA regulation mediate associations between childhood adversity and adolescent mental and physical health. However, few investigations have specifically tested this hypothesis. To fill this gap, we will present four papers that span different types of childhood adversity and adolescent mental and physical health outcomes. In addition, multiple aspects of HPA axis functioning, including HPA reactivity, diurnal regulation, chronic activation via hair cortisol, and interactions with other stress-responsive systems will be examined. The first paper examines whether cortisol reactivity moderates the prospective association between childhood maltreatment and BMI trajectories across adolescence. The second examines the cortisol awakening response and associations with externalizing problems as a function of early institutional care and adolescent stress. The third tests whether childhood adversity is associated with uncoupling of cortisol and the pubertal androgen dehydroepiandrosterone across puberty, with implications for adolescent health. The final paper tests whether hair cortisol is a mediator between prospectively measured childhood abuse and neglect and adolescent internalizing and externalizing problems. Together these findings (i) underscore the importance of measuring heterogeneity in childhood adversity and capturing multiple aspects of HPA functioning in relation to adolescent health, and (ii) provide evidence of HPA functioning as an important mechanism in the connection between childhood adversity and adolescent health.

Sub Unit

• Biological Processes: Psychophysiology

Chair

• Jenalee Doom, University of Michigan

Individual Presentations

• BMI Trajectories Across Adolescence: Investigating the Role of Maltreatment Type and Cortisol Reactivity - Presenting Author: Sonya Negriff, Kaiser Permanente Southern California; Non-Presenting Author: Melissa Peckins, University of Michigan; Non-Presenting Author: Janet U. Schneiderman, University of Southern California; Non-Presenting Author: Elana B. Gordis, University at Albany, SUNY; Non-Presenting Author: Elizabeth J. Susman, The Pennsylvania State University

• Cortisol Awakening Response Recalibration as a Function of Stress During Adolescence - Presenting Author: Carrie E DePasquale, Institute of Child Development; Non-Presenting Author: Heather Taylor, University of Minnesota; Non-Presenting Author: Keira B. Leneman, University of Minnesota; Non-Presenting Author: Bonny Donzella, University of Minnesota; Non-Presenting Author: Megan Gunnar, University of Minnesota

• Associations of Severity of Early Life Stress with Coupling of Cortisol and DHEA Across Puberty - Presenting Author: Lucy S. King, Stanford University, Department of Psychology; Non-Presenting Author: Madelaine Graber, Stanford University, Department of Psychology; Non-Presenting Author: Ian H. Gotlib, Stanford University, Department of Psychology

• Testing Hair Cortisol as a Mediator between Childhood Abuse/Neglect and Adolescent Mental Health Problems - Presenting Author: Jenalee Doom, University of Michigan; Non-Presenting Author: Melissa Peckins, University of Michigan; Non-Presenting Author: Tyler Hein, University of Michigan; Non-Presenting Author: James L. Abelson, University of Michigan; Non-Presenting Author: Colter Mitchell, University of Michigan; Non-Presenting Author: Nestor L. Lopez-Duran, University of Michigan; Non-Presenting Author: Luke W. Hyde, University of Michigan; Non-Presenting Author: Jeanne Brooks-Gunn, Columbia University Teachers College; Non-Presenting Author: Sara McLanahan, Princeton University; Non-Presenting Author: Christopher Stephen Monk, University of Michigan – Ann Arbor