The effects of SES on infant and maternal diurnal salivary cortisol output

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infbeh.2014.04.008Get rights and content

Highlights

  • The present study directly compared diurnal salivary cortisol output and maternal-infant synchrony in low and high socio-economic status (SES) mother–infant dyads.

  • Low-SES infants and mothers exhibited higher average salivary cortisol output, without dysregulation, compared to high-SES infants.

  • Low-SES infants and mothers also showed reduced synchrony in cortisol output compared to high-SES infants and mothers.

Abstract

The present study directly compared diurnal salivary cortisol output and maternal-infant synchrony in low and high socio-economic status (SES) mother–infant dyads. Saliva cortisol samples were collected from 32 6–12-month-old infants and their mothers on the same day in the morning, afternoon and evening, and assayed for free cortisol concentration. Low-SES infants and mothers exhibited higher average salivary cortisol output, without dysregulation, compared to high-SES infants. Low-SES infants and mothers also showed reduced synchrony in cortisol output compared to high-SES infants and mothers. Results are discussed with respect to maternal sensitivity and early stress reduction interventions.

Section snippets

Participants

Thirty-two mother–infant dyads participated in this study. Infants were 6–12 months of age (X = 9.24 mos, range 6.3–12.2 mos). There were 16 high-SES mothers and infants (11 males, 5 females; 1 Hispanic, 1 Indian, 14 Caucasian) and 16 low-SES mothers and infants (10 males, 6 females; 1 Hispanic, 15 Caucasian). One additional high-SES infant–mother dyad was excluded from data analyses as an outlier. Participants were recruited through advertisements in the local newspaper, community list-servs,

Results

Cortisol output was analyzed in a mixed model Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), with SES as the between-subjects variable and time of day as the within-subjects variable. Post hoc t-tests (differences between groups at each time point) were performed as needed on the basis of these ANOVA tests. The corresponding analyses were also performed on the diurnal slope and dyad output differences.

Infant cortisol levels are presented in Fig. 1. A 2 (SES: low vs. high) × 3 (time of day: morning, afternoon and

Discussion

The present study compared diurnal salivary cortisol output in high and low SES mother–infant dyads. We hypothesized that both low-SES mothers and infants would exhibit higher average levels of salivary cortisol output compared to their high-SES counterparts. This hypothesis was supported. We further explored the synchrony between infants and mothers, comparing low and high SES mothers, and found more synchrony in the high-SES dyads then the low-SES dyads.

Low SES infants showed significantly

Acknowledgments

We thank Drs. Tim Machonkin and Tom Knight for invaluable assistance with the assays, and the parents and children who contributed to the study. Portions of these data were presented at the biannual meeting of the Society for the Study of Human Development, Ft Lauderdale, 2013.

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