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01-09-2019 | Psychiatry and Preclinical Psychiatric Studies - Original Article

Hair cortisol concentration in mothers and their children: roles of maternal sensitivity and child symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

Authors: Susan Schloß, Viola Müller, Katja Becker, Nadine Skoluda, Urs M. Nater, Ursula Pauli-Pott

Published in: Journal of Neural Transmission | Issue 9/2019

Abstract

Associations between mothers’ and children’s cortisol secretion parameters are well established. According to the bio-behavioral synchrony model, these associations reflect influences of the mother–child relationship, the child’s social adjustment, and might also reflect shared genetic dispositions. From the bio-behavioral synchrony model, we predicted a stronger mother–child hair cortisol concentration (HCC) link in mothers showing highly adequate (compared to those showing less adequate) parenting behaviors and in children showing low (compared to those showing high) ADHD symptoms. From a genetic perspective, no such moderator effects, or a stronger mother–child HCC link in children with high ADHD symptoms, can be expected. The study sample consisted of 111 4–5-year-old children (64 of whom screened positive for increased ADHD symptoms) and their mothers. ADHD symptoms were assessed by a clinical interview and parent and teacher questionnaires. Maternal sensitive/responsive parenting behavior was assessed by an at-home behavior observation procedure. In mothers and children, HCC in the most proximal 3-cm scalp hair segment was analyzed using luminescence immunoassay. Overall HCCs of mothers and their children correlated significantly. Maternal sensitivity/responsiveness and child ADHD symptoms proved to be significant moderator variables of this association: High maternal sensitivity/responsiveness and low ADHD symptoms of the child were associated with a stronger mother–child link in HCC. The findings are in line with the bio-behavioral synchrony model in the mother–child relationship, and are less compatible with a genetic perspective. The results might hint at environmental events influencing the development of stress axis functioning in subgroups of preschoolers with high ADHD symptoms.

One of the 111 primary caregivers (defined as the parent who shared the most amount of time with the child) was a father. Because an exclusion of this caregiver–child pair did not alter the results of the presented analyses, the case was left in the sample. In the following, however, we refer to this father as a “mother” for the sake of simplicity of wording.

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Title: Hair cortisol concentration in mothers and their children: roles of maternal sensitivity and child symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder
Authors: Susan Schloß
Viola Müller
Katja Becker
Nadine Skoluda
Urs M. Nater
Ursula Pauli-Pott
Publication date: 01-09-2019
Publisher: Springer Vienna
Published in: Journal of Neural Transmission / Issue 9/2019
Print ISSN: 0300-9564
Electronic ISSN: 1435-1463
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00702-018-1944-7

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Hair cortisol concentration in mothers and their children: roles of maternal sensitivity and child symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

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