Citation

Fuchs A, Moehler E, Resch F, Kaess M. Dev. Psychobiol. 2017; 59(5): 639-652.

Affiliation

University Hospital of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1002/dev.21531

PMID

28574579

Abstract

We investigated circadian mother-child adrenocortical attunement in the context of a maternal history of childhood abuse (HoA). Mothers were screened after birth using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire. Women reporting moderate or severe abuse formed the HoA group (n = 37; HoAG) and were compared with a non-maltreated comparison group (n = 45; CG). Three years later, cortisol awakening response (CAR) and diurnal slope (DSL) were assessed. Mother-child interaction was coded using the Emotional Availability Scales at 12 months of age. For the CAR, we found adrenocortical attunement only in the HoAG (2-way interaction: p = .004), particularly if mothers scored low on structuring (3-way interaction: p = .042) and children scored low on responsiveness (3-way interaction: p = .044). DSL-attunement was dependent on maternal sensitivity (3-way interaction: p = .012) and child involvement (3-way interaction: p = .012). In the context of a maternal HoA, it seems possible for mother-child-dyads to show less optimal interactional quality but be stronger attuned to each other biologically.

© 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Language: en

Keywords

HPA-axis; adrenocortical attunement; child maltreatment; history of abuse; mother-child interaction