Poster #113 - Cortisol and Emotion Expression among Young Children Facing Economic Hardship: Associations in the Early Education Classroom

• In Event: Poster Session 09

Abstract

Major theoretical frameworks (e.g., James-Lange theory) postulate a link between the activity of different neurophysiological systems and emotional experience and expression. Subsequent research has demonstrated consistent associations between levels of cortisol, the end hormonal product of the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis, and emotion expression in young children (cf., Obradovic & Boyce, 2012), but with few exceptions this research has been conducted in laboratory or home settings. This is an important gap in our knowledge, given that: 1) many young children spend a substantial portion of their waking hours in early education settings (Cocoran & Stanley, 2017); 2) these settings are essential contexts for early development (Silva et al., 2021); and 3) both HPA-axis activity and the capacity for emotion regulation undergo rapid consolidation in early childhood. Understanding the link between cortisol and emotion expression in the classroom may have particularly important implications for early education programs that seek to foster the development of young children facing economic hardship (e.g., Head Start), given that poverty is associated with dysregulation of both HPA-axis activity (Blair et al., 2011) and emotion (Raver, 2004).

Given the paucity of extant empirical evidence regarding the association between cortisol and emotion expression in the classroom, our hypotheses were exploratory. We hypothesized that happiness and laughter would be associated with lower levels of cortisol, whereas anger, sadness and crying would be associated with higher cortisol levels.

Method

Participants

Participants included 74 children (mean age = 4.16 years, SD = 0.64 years) attending a Head Start preschool in Philadelphia, PA. Approximately 40% of participants (42%) were female. Per family report, 36% were Black/African, 17.0% were Latino/a/x or Hispanic, 14% were Asian, and 31% White/European. Based on income and family size, 80% of families were classified as in poverty (household income < 100% of the federal poverty level) and 80% were low-income (< 200% of the poverty level).

Procedure

Ethical standards were followed and all procedures were approved by appropriate IRBs. Trained research assistants collected salivary cortisol data on 6 days across the preschool year at 4 times of the day: 10:30 am, 12pm, 1:30am, and 3pm. Children’s emotion expression in the classroom for the 45 minutes directly prior to cortisol collection was recorded. These recordings were subsequently coded using a well-validated observational system (AFFEX; Izard, Dougherty, & Hembree, 1989).

Results and Interpretation

Table 1 displays descriptive statistics for cortisol and observed emotion expression. Core analyses were conducted in a multilevel modeling framework to match the structure of the data, in which cortisol samples were nested within child. Table 2 presents the results of models reporting significant effects. Consistent with our exploratory hypotheses, happiness and laughter were associated with lower levels of cortisol, while anger and crying were associated with higher cortisol levels.

These results suggest that associations between cortisol and emotion expression in the early education classroom reflect those observed in other developmental contexts, and that educational interventions designed to foster self-regulatory development among young children should target both observed emotion and latent neurophysiological function.

Authors

• Steven John Holochwost, City University of New York Lehman College
  Presenting Author

• Ellie Brown, West Chester University

• Mallory Leigh Garnett, University of Delaware

• Blanca Velazquez-Martin

• Suzanne Varnell, Purdue University, West Lafayette

• Alyssa Allen, West Chester University

• Jessa Malatesta