Youth Offspring of Mothers with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Have Altered Stress Reactivity in Response to a Laboratory Stressor

Publication Date

1-12-2015

Document Type

Article

Organizational Units

College of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences, Psychology

Keywords

Traumatic stress, Intergenerational transmission, Salivary cortisol, Psychopathology

Abstract

Parental Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), particularly maternal PTSD, confers risk for stress-related psychopathology among offspring. Altered hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis functioning is one mechanism proposed to explain transmission of this intergenerational risk. Investigation of this mechanism has been largely limited to general stress response (e.g., diurnal cortisol), rather than reactivity in response to an acute stressor. We examined cortisol reactivity in response to a laboratory stressor among offspring of mothers with a lifetime diagnosis of PTSD (n = 36) and age- and gender- matched control offspring of mothers without PTSD (n = 36). Youth (67% girls; mean age = 11.4, SD = 2.6) participated in a developmentally sensitive laboratory stressor and had salivary cortisol assessed five times (one pre-stress, one immediate post-stress, and three recovery measures, spaced 15 min apart). Results were consistent with the hypothesis that offspring of mothers with PTSD would exhibit a dysregulated, blunted cortisol reactivity profile, and control offspring would display the expected adaptive peak in cortisol response to challenge profile. Findings were maintained after controlling for youth traumatic event history, physical anxiety symptoms, and depression, as well as maternal depression. This finding contributes to the existing literature indicating that attenuated HPA axis functioning, inclusive of hyposecretion of cortisol in response to acute stress, is robust among youth of mothers with PTSD. Future research is warranted in elucidating cortisol reactivity as a link between maternal PTSD and stress-related psychopathology vulnerability among offspring.

Copyright Date

1-12-2015

Copyright Statement / License for Reuse

All Rights Reserved
All Rights Reserved.

Rights Holder

Elsevier

Provenance

Received from author

Language

English (eng)

Extent

9 pgs

Publication Statement

Copyright held by Elsevier Ltd. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.

Publication Title

Psychoneuroendocrinology

Volume

53

First Page

170

Last Page

178

ISSN

1873-3360

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