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Cortisol and vagal tone responses to competitive challenge in preschoolers: associations with temperament
B Donzella1, M R Gunnar, W K Krueger
1Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota, 51 East River Road, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA.
Insights
Extroverted children show increased stress responses during competition. Surgency in young children correlates with negative affect and physiological stress markers when facing competitive challenges.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Child Temperament
- Stress and Coping
Background:
- Understanding child temperament's role in stress responses is crucial for developmental research.
- Competition can elicit significant emotional and physiological reactions in young children.
- Previous research highlights the influence of personality traits on stress vulnerability.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between child temperament and stress responses during a competitive task.
- To examine physiological (salivary cortisol, vagal tone) and behavioral (affect, turn-taking) stress indicators.
- To identify specific temperamental traits associated with heightened vulnerability to competition stress.
Main Methods:
- Sixty-one 3- to 5-year-old children participated in a controlled competition task with alternating win/loss periods.
- Measures included salivary cortisol, vagal tone, observed affect, and turn-taking behavior.
- Child temperament was assessed using the teacher-report Child Behavior Questionnaire.
Main Results:
- Surgency (extroversion) correlated with positive affect during wins and negative affect during losses.
- Vagal tone decreased during competition, particularly in children exhibiting tense/angry affect.
- A subset of children (15%) showed cortisol increases, characterized by high surgency, low effortful control, and predominantly male, with higher tense/angry affect during losses.
Conclusions:
- Surgent, extroverted children appear more vulnerable to the stress of competition.
- Temperament significantly modulates physiological and affective responses to competitive challenges.
- Effortful control may act as a protective factor against competition-induced stress in surgent children.
Abstract:
Sixty-one 3- to 5-year-old nursery school children participated in a study of tempera ment and stress responses to competition. Each child individually participated in a competition against a familiar adult experimenter to determine who would win enough games to receive a prize. After initially winning three games (Win Period), the children lost the next three games (Lose Period), before winning the final games and receiving the prize. Salivary cortisol, vagal tone, affect and turn-taking behavior were measured in response to the competition and examined in relation to child temperament using a teacher-report version of the Child Behavior Questionnaire. Behavioral measures indicated that the procedures were emotionally engaging and the threat of losing was aversive. Surgency (extroversion) was positively correlated with positive affect during Win periods and tense/angry affect during the Lose period of the competition. Vagal tone decreased as the children began to play against the adult and children who were more tense/angry while losing showed additional suppression of vagal tone when they began to lose the competition. Most of the children did not show a cortisol response to the competition; however, the 15% who increased cortisol (responses >1 SD of classroom baselines) were described by teachers as more surgent and lower in effortful control. All but one of these children who increased in cortisol was male. Cortisol responsive children also displayed higher levels of tense/angry affect during the Lose period. Surgent, extroverted children appear to be vulnerable to competition stress.