Taking Stress Response Out of the Box: Stability, Discontinuity, and Temperament Effects on HPA and SNS Across Social Stressors in Mother-Infant Dyads

• Published in: Developmental psychology 2012-01, Vol.48 (1), p.35-45
• Main Authors: Laurent, Heidemarie K., Ablow, Jennifer C., Measelle, Jeffrey
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Anatomy; Attachment Behavior; Babies; Biochemistry; Biological and medical sciences; Biological evolution; Child development; Correlation; Cortisol; Developmental psychology; Discontinuity; Dyads; Emotions; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Human; Humans; Hydrocortisone; Hydrocortisone - metabolism; Hypothalamic Pituitary Adrenal Axis; Hypothalamo-Hypophyseal System - metabolism; Infant; Infants; Linear Models; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Measures (Individuals); Mental stress; Mother Child Relations; Mothers; Nervous system; Newborn. Infant; Parent Child Relationship; Personality; Personality Traits; Physiology; Pituitary-Adrenal System - metabolism; Prediction; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Responses; Salivary alpha-Amylases - metabolism; Social Behavior; Social Environment; Social stability; Social Stress; Stress; Stress Reactions; Stress response; Stress Variables; Stress, Psychological - pathology; Sympathetic Nervous System; Sympathetic Nervous System - physiopathology; Task Analysis; Temperament; Time Factors; Young Adult; Young Children
• ISSN: 0012-1649; 1939-0599
• DOI: 10.1037/a0025518

This study investigated continuity and stability of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) and sympathetic nervous system (SNS) response measures in mother-infant dyads across 2 different types of social stress sessions. Synchrony of response trajectories across systems (SNS-HPA coordination) and partners (mother-infant attunement) was addressed, as were associations with infant temperament. Primiparous mothers and their 18-month-old infants (n = 86 dyads) completed an attachment stressor-Strange Situation (Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters, & Wall, 1978)-at Session 1 and challenge stressors-cleanup task and emotion task battery-at Session 2. Mother and infant saliva samples collected to index pre-stress, stress, and post-stress response during each session were assayed for cortisol (HPA marker) and salivary alpha-amylase (sAA; SNS marker). Multilevel modeling of cortisol/sAA trajectories across sessions revealed rank-order stability in mother/infant stress measures but discontinuity in absolute levels; cortisol trajectories were higher during attachment stress, and sAA trajectories were higher during challenge stress. Varying degrees of mother-infant attunement were found across sessions/systems. Infant surgency predicted higher stress measures, and negative affect and effortful control predicted lower stress measures, though associations depended on session/system. Findings are discussed in terms of advancing a multisystemic, contextual definition of developing stress responsiveness.