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Foster parent responsiveness and young children's diurnal cortisol production

Aline K Szenczy1, Kristin Bernard1, K Lee Raby2

  • 1Department of Psychology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, USA.

Developmental Psychobiology
|December 28, 2020
PubMed

Insights

Sensitive foster parenting may support healthy stress responses in children. Responsive caregiving, particularly sensitivity, was linked to foster children

Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Child Psychiatry
  • Endocrinology

Background:

  • Children in foster care exhibit heightened risk for dysregulated hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis functioning, impacting long-term health.
  • Responsive parenting is theorized to promote HPA axis regulation in young children, but empirical evidence in foster care settings is limited.
  • Cortisol levels serve as a key biomarker for HPA axis activity and stress regulation.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the association between foster parent responsiveness and children's diurnal cortisol patterns.
  • To examine specific dimensions of parenting, including sensitivity, intrusiveness, and positive regard, in relation to cortisol levels.
  • To understand how sensitive caregiving influences the HPA axis functioning of children in foster care.

Main Methods:

  • A sample of 97 foster parent-child dyads participated in the study.
  • Children's salivary cortisol was measured at waking and bedtime over three consecutive days.
  • Foster parent responsiveness was assessed via video-recorded play interactions, evaluating parent sensitivity, intrusiveness, and positive regard.

Main Results:

  • Foster parent responsiveness significantly predicted children's waking cortisol levels.
  • Parental sensitivity emerged as a unique predictor, with higher sensitivity linked to elevated waking cortisol.
  • No significant association was found between foster parent sensitivity and the daily slope of cortisol change.

Conclusions:

  • Sensitive caregiving by foster parents may play a crucial role in supporting the HPA axis regulation of children in foster care.
  • Findings highlight the importance of sensitive parenting in mitigating potential negative health outcomes associated with HPA axis dysregulation.
  • Further research is warranted to explore the mechanisms through which sensitive parenting influences stress physiology in this vulnerable population.

Keywords:
diurnal cortisolfoster careparental responsiveness

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