Stress system blunting, recalibration, and transdiagnostic risk for psychopathology in adolescence following early life deprivation

• In Event: Pubertal Recalibration in PI Youth: Associations with Physiology, Mental Health, Behavior, and Inflammation

Abstract

Background: Early psychosocial deprivation is associated with blunted physiological reactivity to stress during childhood. The current study tested whether blunted stress reactivity in early adolescence served as a transdiagnostic mechanism of psychopathology in later adolescence. We also tested the hypothesis that adolescence is a period during which stress system responsiveness can recalibrate following early deprivation, potentially reducing long-term risk of psychopathology.

Methods: Participants included 88 adolescents who spent their early lives in institutions (EIG) and a comparison sample of 46 never-institutionalized adolescents (NIG). Half of the institutionally-reared youth were randomly assigned to a foster care intervention (FCG) at an average age of 22 months, and half were assigned to care as usual (CAUG). At age 12 and 16 years, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and sympathetic nervous system (SNS) reactivity were assessed using a modified Trier Social Stress Test. Psychopathology was assessed at age 12 and 16 years as saved factor scores from a latent bifactor model using caregiver and teacher ratings on the Health and Behavior Questionnaire (HBQ).

Results: Blunted HPA-axis reactivity at age 12 mediated the association between institutional rearing and general psychopathology risk at age 16 (Figure 1 A), while blunted SNS reactivity mediated externalizing-specific problems (Figure 1B). Moreover, group differences in HPA-axis reactivity at age 12 were no longer apparent by age 16. This effect was attributable to significant increases in stress reactivity among institutionally-reared youth from age 12 to 16 years (Figure 2A). Differences between EIG and NIG on SNS reactivity at age 12 persisted through age 16, with similar increases in reactivity across study groups (Figure 2B).

Conclusions: Blunted reactivity to social stress may be a transdiagnostic mechanism linking early life deprivation to psychopathology in adolescence. Fortunately, adolescence may be a period during which stress system responsiveness can recalibrate, potentially reducing psychopathology risk in the aftermath of severe childhood deprivation.

Authors

• Mark Wade, University of Toronto
  Presenting Author

• Margaret A. Sheridan, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  Non-Presenting Author

• Charles H Zeanah, Tulane University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Nathan A Fox, University of Maryland - College Park
  Non-Presenting Author

• Charles A. Nelson, Harvard Medical School
  Non-Presenting Author

• Katie McLaughlin, Harvard University
  Non-Presenting Author