Maternal suppression moderates the relation between maternal and child hair cortisol

• In Event: 1-184 - Biomarkers of Chronic Stress, Disparities, and Development: Does Hair Cortisol Reflect Minority Experiences Across the Lifespan?

Integrative Statement

Stress is contagious. Research has demonstrated that parental levels of stress and experience of stressful life events are associated with child levels of stress (Nater et al., 2005; Koch et al., 2010). Maternal stress is negatively associated with maternal-child engagement and child health outcomes; higher maternal stress could increase child’s susceptibility to health issues if sustained in the long run (Clowtis et al., 2016). Cortisol, as a biomarker of stress, has been predominantly measured through saliva, though hair cortisol has been recently established as an indicator of chronic exposure to stress. Mothers’ and children’s hair cortisol levels are related (Karlén et al., 2013). Minimal research has delved into the definitive effects of maternal behaviors on mother-child stress. At the same time how mothers respond to their own and their children’s emotions are culturally constrained (Richman et al., 1988; Raval et al., 2018) and are likely to influence relations between maternal and child stress-levels. During socially stressful scenarios, cross-cultural differences in maternal affect and vocalizations are heightened, as mothers revert to their culturally prominent behaviors to regulate their infants (Liu et al., 2013). Few studies have examined the extent to which maternal emotional regulation can moderate the relations between mothers’ and children’s hair cortisol levels. Maternal intrusiveness has been found to moderate the association of maternal hair cortisol and infant salivary cortisol such that the association exists only when mothers are more intrusive (Tarullo et al., 2017). Cross-national comparisons have shown that reappraisal and suppression are positive correlated in cultures that focus on upholding social order, and negatively corelated for cultures that downplay the maintenance of social order (Matsumoto, Yoo, & Nakagawa, 2008).

Our study aims at specifically exploring maternal emotional regulation strategies of suppression and reappraisal and its role in mitigating the relationship between maternal and child hair cortisol. The sample for this study included 65 mother-child dyads (Mchildage = 50.28 months, SD = 3.10 months). Hair cortisol was collected from both parent and child. Mothers reported on their emotion regulation (using the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire).We also assessed demographics, and individual differences in state reactivity (via saliva) during a stressor task for children. Our results, as expected, exhibited a significant correlation of mother and child cortisol, r(55) = .5. Interestingly, the relation between maternal and child hair cortisol was moderated by maternal suppression of emotion. The overall model was significant even after controlling for child age and individual differences in salivary cortisol reactivity F(7, 35) = 3.02, p =.01. Mother and child hair cortisol were related at low levels of maternal suppression (B = .9, SE= .39, p =.02), but not at higher levels of suppression. Maternal reappraisal of emotion was not associated with cortisol levels. Our data suggests that in addition to genetic factors, psychosocial factors may also influence the relations between maternal and child hair cortisol. Notably, we highlighted for the first time, that maternal emotion regulation strategies, namely suppression, moderates these relations. This has important implications in the study of stress and maternal behaviors of those from culturally disparate communities.

Authors

• Shruthi Venkatesh, Claremont McKenna College
  Non-Presenting Author

• Melissa Pedroza, Rutgers University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Amanda Tarullo, Boston University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Stacey N Doan, Claremont Mckenna College
  Presenting Author