1-111 - The Adaptive Calibration Model of stress responsivity: Empirical tests across multiple laboratories and domains

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

In the five years since its publication, the Adaptive Calibration Model (ACM; Del Giudice, Ellis, & Shirtcliff, 2011) has become an influential interdisciplinary model of stress, stress responsivity, and health across development. As Hostinar and Gunnar (2013) have stated: “The field has two major theories for talking about stress and health: the Allostatic Load Model, which grew out of biological and neuroscience approaches to understanding health and disease, and the Adaptive Calibration Model, which developed out of an explicitly evolutionary-developmental framework.” Despite this recognition, the ACM has primarily been employed as a framework for synthesizing what is known about stress-health relations and less as a guide for new empirical work. To address this lacuna, this symposium brings together new empirical studies evaluating the four stress responsivity patterns proposed by the ACM. To set up this empirical work, the first presentation briefly reviews the theoretical foundations of the ACM, takes stock of its current status, and outlines directions for improving and revising the model. The first two empirical papers then test ACM predictions regarding up-regulation of cortisol (hyper-reactivity) versus down-regulation of cortisol (hypo-reactivity) in relation to early life stress and current environmental conditions, employing both longitudinal and experimental research methods. The third empirical paper then presents a test of the full set of four ACM stress responsivity patterns across both adrenocortical and autonomic nervous system measures. Taken together, these studies provide measured support for key predictions of the ACM and highlight important empirical issues and methodological challenges for future research.

Sub Unit

• Biology and Neuroscience

Chair

• Bruce J. Ellis, University of Utah

Individual Presentations

• The Adaptive Calibration Model: Foundations, challenges, and prospects - Presenting Author: Marco Del Giudice, University of New Mexico

• How the timing and type of stressful life events contributes to cortisol reactivity: A test of the Adaptive Calibration Model - Presenting Author: Elisabeth Conradt, University of Utah; Yanping Jiang, University of South Carolina; Linda LaGasse, Brown University; Barry Lester, Brown University

• Acute and chronic adversity both alter the cortisol response to psychosocial stress in a sample of healthy young males - Presenting Author: Jens Pruessner, McGill University; Ellen Zakreski, McGill University; Anja Feneberg, McGill University

• The Adaptive Calibration Model of stress responsivity: An empirical test in the TRAILS study - Presenting Author: Bruce J. Ellis, University of Utah; Albertine J. Oldehinkel, University of Groningen and University Medical Center Groningen; Esther Nederhof, University of Groningen