Researcher(s)
- Aanya Gupta, , Newark Charter High School
Faculty Mentor(s)
- Mary Dozier, Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Delaware
Abstract
Physical and emotional wellness can be significantly disturbed by abnormal cortisol patterns produced by imbalanced hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activity. Additionally, the nature of early interactions between caregiver and child can have both immediate and lasting psychological and physiological impacts on the child. Numerous studies have evaluated the role of supportive parenting, characterized by encouragement and availability, in children’s attachment and behavioral and emotional regulation. Varied parenting styles and environmental stressors have been shown to impact cortisol levels; however, there is a lack of research measuring the direct, longitudinal correlation between parental supportive presence during toddlerhood and diurnal cortisol in later childhood. Therefore, the current study assessed the association between parental supportive presence at age two and morning cortisol at age nine. Supportive presence, measured using a challenging task, was assessed on a scale of 1-7 with a primary focus on the caregiver’s engagement/attentiveness toward the toddler and their provision of comfort and understanding during free-play, clean-up, and problem-solving tasks. The same toddlers experiencing the tasks (n=25) then had salivary morning cortisol samples collected for three separate days at age nine. Correlations were run to evaluate the relationship between supportive presence at age two and diurnal cortisol at age nine. Parental supportive presence at two was correlated with morning cortisol at age nine (r=0.425, p<0.05). These results are important in understanding the significance of long-term physiological effects of early childhood interaction. Future research could highlight similar physiological effects in adolescence or adulthood or explore potential covariates that impact the present study.