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Early adversity and internalizing symptoms in adolescence: Mediation by individual differences in latent trait cortisol

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 March 2018

Catherine B. Stroud ,
Frances R. Chen ,
Leah D. Doane  and
Douglas A. Granger
Catherine B. Stroud*
Affiliation:
Williams College
Frances R. Chen
Affiliation:
Georgia State University University of California at Irvine
Leah D. Doane
Affiliation:
Arizona State University
Douglas A. Granger
Affiliation:
University of California at Irvine Johns Hopkins University University of Nebraska, Lincoln
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Catherine B. Stroud, Williams College, Bronfman Science Center, 18 Hoxsey St., Williamstown, MA 01267; E-mail: Catherine.B.Stroud@williams.edu.
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Abstract

Research suggests that early adversity places individuals at risk for psychopathology across the life span. Guided by concepts of allostasis and allostatic load, the present study examined whether early adversity contributes to the development of subsequent internalizing symptoms through its association with traitlike individual differences in hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis regulation. Early adolescent girls (n = 113; M age = 12.30 years) provided saliva samples at waking, 30 min postwaking, and bedtime over 3 days (later assayed for cortisol). Objective contextual stress interviews with adolescents and their mothers were used to assess the accumulation of nine types of early adversity within the family environment. Greater early adversity predicted subsequent increases in internalizing symptoms through lower levels of latent trait cortisol. Traitlike individual differences in hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis activity may be among the mechanisms through which early adversity confers risk for the development of psychopathology.

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Type
Regular Articles
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 31 , Issue 2 , May 2019 , pp. 509 - 524
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

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Footnotes

The authors gratefully acknowledge the families who participated in this study and the staff of the Williams College Youth Emotion Center. In addition, we thank Andrea Gierens at Biochemisches Labor at the University of Trier for technical assistance with the salivary assays. This research was supported by institutional funds from Williams College (C.B.S., Principal Investigator).

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