13
views
0
recommends
+1 Recommend
0 collections
    0
    shares
      • Record: found
      • Abstract: not found
      • Article: not found

      Salivary alpha amylase–cortisol asymmetry in maltreated youth

      , , ,
      Hormones and Behavior
      Elsevier BV

      Read this article at

      ScienceOpenPublisherPMC
      Bookmark
          There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

          Abstract

          Maltreatment represents a major stressor in the lives of many youth. Given the known effects of stress exposure on subsequent functioning of biological stress response systems, researchers have been interested in the effects of maltreatment on the functioning of these systems. Experimental studies reveal that previous exposure to stress affects the symmetry between components of the physiological stress response to subsequent stress. The present study examined asymmetry between salivary alpha amylase (sAA), a sympathetic indicator, and cortisol reactivity to a social stressor among maltreated and comparison youth age 9 to 14 years. Consistent with earlier studies suggesting that stress leads to asymmetry between hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and sympathetic nervous system activity, we expected that maltreated youth would exhibit greater sAA-cortisol asymmetry than would comparison youth. Forty-seven maltreated and 37 comparison youth visited the laboratory and engaged in a social stress protocol. We collected 2 saliva samples before the stressor and 4 after, at 0 min post-stress and every 10 min for 30 min. Maltreatment status moderated the relation between sAA and cortisol activity in response to the stressor. Comparison youth showed significant links between the sAA and cortisol responses; maltreated youth had no significant associations between responses in the two biomarkers. The data were consistent with sAA-cortisol asymmetry among maltreated youth. Further research should seek to replicate this finding and investigate its implication for developmental trajectories.

          Related collections

          Author and article information

          Journal
          Hormones and Behavior
          Hormones and Behavior
          Elsevier BV
          0018506X
          January 2008
          January 2008
          : 53
          : 1
          : 96-103
          Article
          10.1016/j.yhbeh.2007.09.002
          2266091
          17945232
          df6c9e22-f0ee-43c6-896d-741f6f2cae33
          © 2008

          https://www.elsevier.com/tdm/userlicense/1.0/

          History

          Comments

          Comment on this article