Dimensions of Child Maltreatment and Longitudinal Diurnal Cortisol Patterns: The Roles of Resilience and Sex

• In Event: Adverse experiences and adolescents’ physiological and mental health: The protective effects of resources

Abstract

Introduction. A substantial body of research has indicated that child maltreatment may drive anomalies in hypothalamic—pituitary—adrenal (HPA) axis functioning, but the findings remain mixed (see Holochwost et al., 2020 for a review). The Dimensional Approach suggests that elucidating the distinct effects of dimensions of adversity (e.g., abuse is viewed as threat while neglect is viewed as deprivation) on neurophysiological systems may contribute to a more nuanced understanding about the associations between adversity and neurophysiology (McLaughlin et al., 2014). HPA axis functioning may show salient developmental changes during the transition from childhood into adolescence (Koss & Gunnar, 2018), however, few studies have investigated changes in HPA functioning over time. Moreover, there is a paucity of studies of individual differences (e.g., sex differences) in the links from maltreatment to child HPA axis functioning. To fill these gaps and build upon the dimensional approach, the present study examined the potentially distinct effects of abuse versus neglect on multiple diurnal cortisol parameters (i.e., awakening cortisol, cortisol awakening response, diurnal cortisol slope) at baseline and changes in these cortisol parameters over one year in girls and boys, respectively. Furthermore, the moderating effects of resilience in the above associations were investigated.

Method. Participants were children from two elementary schools in Anhui Province, China. At the baseline assessment, children completed self-reported questionnaires concerning child abuse and neglect (Bernstein et al., 2003) and resilience (Campbell-Sills & Stein, 2007). Children also provided saliva cortisol samples three times per day on three consecutive days at both the baseline assessment and one year later. Following prior research (Reid et al., 2021), children with valid cortisol data at either assessment were included (N = 312, age range = 9-13, Mage = 10.81, SD = 0.84).
Multilevel analyses were conducted to examine the potentially distinct effects of abuse versus neglect on baseline cortisol and on changes in diurnal cortisol parameters within one year, and the moderating effects of resilience. Analyses were performed separately for girls (n = 103) and boys (n = 209).

Results. Results showed distinct effects of abuse versus neglect on diurnal cortisol in girls but not boys (Table 1). Specifically, distinct effects emerged as a function of (1) diurnal cortisol parameters such that higher levels of abuse were associated with more steepness of diurnal cortisol slope over one year when considering the moderating effect of resilience, whereas higher levels of neglect were associated with lower cortisol awakening response at baseline; and (2) distinct time scales such that higher levels of abuse but not neglect were associated with changes in cortisol parameters over one year (i.e., changes in diurnal cortisol slope as mentioned above and lesser decreases in awakening cortisol over one year).
Furthermore, resilience moderated the links from abuse to diurnal cortisol among girls but not boys. Specifically, the relation between abuse and higher awakening cortisol at baseline and the relation between abuse and more steepness of diurnal cortisol slope over one year were only significant for girls with lower levels of resilience (Figure 1).

Authors

• Jianing Sun, Pennsylvania State University, University Park
  Presenting Author

• Erika S. Lunkenheimer, Pennsylvania State University, University Park