Daily Parent-adolescent Cortisol Associations: Unpacking the Direction of Effects

Overview

Journal Psychoneuroendocrinology

Specialties Endocrinology
Neurology
Psychiatry

Date 2020 Apr 10

PMID 32272359

Citations 3

Authors

Melissa A Lippold

Peter Molenaar

Soomi Lee

Kelly D Chandler

David M Almeida

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Prior studies suggest bidirectional relationships between parent and adolescent behavior. This study examined how parents and their adolescent child's cortisol patterns are associated across days and if there are bidirectional associations between parent and child cortisol. Participants included two samples of employees and their children who participated in a daily diary study where diurnal salivary cortisol was collected on four study days (N = 318 dyads, M = 13.18 years, 52 % female). Autoregressive cross-lagged models were used to estimate parent-driven effects (parent cortisol effects on adolescent cortisol) and adolescent-driven effects (adolescent cortisol effects on parent cortisol). Adolescents' steeper cortisol awakening response (CAR) was significantly associated with parents' steeper CAR the following day. Adolescents' higher bedtime cortisol levels were also significantly associated with parents' higher bedtime cortisol levels the following day. Parents' cortisol did not predict their children's next-day cortisol. Results support a primarily adolescent-driven process of stress transmission in families. These results suggest that interventions to reduce adolescent stress, as well as to reduce parents' reactivity to adolescents, may be warranted.

Citing Articles

Youth daily stressors predict their parents' wellbeing.

Lippold M, Jenkins M, Ehrlich K, Lee S, Almeida D Commun Psychol. 2024; 2(1):55.

PMID: 39242795 PMC: 11332016. DOI: 10.1038/s44271-024-00107-3.

Adolescent borderline personality traits and dyadic behavior shape mother-adolescent cortisol synchrony.

Fleck L, Fuchs A, Lerch S, Mohler E, Koenig J, Resch F Borderline Personal Disord Emot Dysregul. 2023; 10(1):12.

PMID: 37041602 PMC: 10091616. DOI: 10.1186/s40479-023-00218-z.

Adolescent effects on mothers' bedtime cortisol: Cognitive interference as a mediating mechanism.

Lippold M, Molenaar P, Chandler K, Lee S, Almeida D Stress Health. 2021; 38(3):509-521.

PMID: 34766438 PMC: 9255278. DOI: 10.1002/smi.3110.

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