Playtime and Bedtime Relate to Cortisol Levels for Young Children Facing Poverty-Related Stress

• In Event: Poster Session 09
  In Poster Session: PS 09 Topic - Family Context & Processes

Abstract

Poverty circumstances tax physiological systems that respond to stress (Lupien, King, Meany & McEwen, 2001; Blair et al., 2011) as well as the brain areas influenced by stress hormones, such as the prefrontal cortex (Hanson et al., 2013; Hair et al., 2015; Noble et al., 2015; Blair & Raver, 2016). Yet research suggests that supportive parenting may offer some protection (Blair & Raver, 2016). The present study uses daily interview methodology to probe how parents might structure children’s days to promote lower stress levels in the context of poverty risks.

Participants were 139 children who attended a Head Start preschool in a large Mid-Atlantic US city, and their primary caregivers. Mean age of the children was 4 years, 2.08 months (SD = 6.81 months). Of the children, 48.9% were identified as female, and 51.1% as male. Approximately 52.6% identified as Black/African American, 16.6% as Latino/Hispanic American, 8.6% as Asian American and 22.3% as White/European American. Nearly 100% faced economic hardship, with income-to-needs ratios falling below 2X the federal threshold for poverty status.

Ethical standards were followed and all procedures were approved by the appropriate institutional review board. Primary caregivers completed initial demographic interviews as well as follow-up parent interviews, conducted over the telephone by trained research assistants, to collect information about daily routines, on 10 days across two weeks. Questions were phrased so as to probe the prior day’s activities, and parents were asked what their children did during the hours they were home together, and were asked what time they went to sleep. Child activities were coded by trained research assistants as falling into one of five categories: play (e.g., blocks, dolls, sports, drawing), leisure (e.g., TV, music listening, eating), socializing (e.g., talking with someone in person, on the phone, or virtually), chores (e.g., setting the table, taking a bath), or learning (e.g., reading a book, practicing writing). Scores were coded as a proportion of the total time the parent and child were home together, and were averaged across the 10 days of the interview. Child cortisol was measured via assays of saliva samples collected at 9am, just following preschool drop-off and prior to breakfast. Collection, storage, and analysis was conducted according to standard procedures (Blair et al., 2005).

Results of a zero-order correlational analysis (see Table 1) suggested that, of the activity categories in the present study, more playtime related to lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol, and later bedtime related to higher levels of cortisol. In a regression analysis that included key demographic controls (see Table 2), both playtime and bedtime explained unique variance in cortisol. Implications concern how parents might structure children’s days to foster physiological regulation in the context of poverty-related stress, and suggest that both playtime and bedtime matter. Limitations concern unmeasured third variables that could help to explain demonstrated relations. Assuming the results hold up to further study, they indicate that parents would be wise to let their children play, as well as get them to sleep on time.

Authors

• Ellie Brown, West Chester University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Fola Shokunbi, West Chester University
  Presenting Author

• Molly Murphy, West Chester University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Mallory Leigh Garnett, University of Delaware
  Non-Presenting Author