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Allostasis and allostatic load in the context of poverty in early childhood

Clancy Blair1, C Cybele Raver, Douglas Granger

  • 1New York University, New York, NY 10003, USA. clancy.blair@nyu.edu

Development and Psychopathology
|July 16, 2011
PubMed

Insights

Poverty

Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Stress Physiology
  • Child Health

Background:

  • Early life adversity, particularly poverty, can impact child development.
  • Childhood stress responses are often measured by cortisol levels.
  • Longitudinal studies are crucial for understanding developmental trajectories.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the relationship between early environmental adversity and child cortisol levels.
  • To examine how poverty-related factors influence stress physiology from infancy to 48 months.
  • To identify specific environmental adversities associated with altered cortisol patterns.

Main Methods:

  • Prospective longitudinal study of 1135 children.
  • Salivary cortisol levels measured at 7, 15, 24, 35, and 48 months.
  • Assessment of environmental factors including housing quality, caregiving, home stability, and economic sufficiency.

Main Results:

  • Poor housing, African American ethnicity, and low positive caregiving were linked to higher overall cortisol.
  • Adult exits from the home showed accumulating effects on cortisol over time (allostatic load).
  • Perceived economic insufficiency elevated infant cortisol but led to a steeper age-related decline later.

Conclusions:

  • Early environmental adversity in poverty significantly shapes child stress physiology.
  • Specific factors like housing, ethnicity, caregiving, and household changes have distinct impacts on cortisol.
  • Findings highlight the cumulative and time-dependent effects of poverty-related stressors on child development and health.

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