ArticleHealth psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association2018
Does the cortisol awakening response link childhood adversity to adult BMI?
Article in Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Links of Adversity in Childhood With Mental and Physical Health Outcomes: A Systematic Review of Longitudinal Mediating and Moderating Mechanisms.Trauma, violence & abuse · 2023Pooled it
- Individual differences in glucocorticoid regulation: Does it relate to disease risk and resilience?Frontiers in neuroendocrinology · 2020Pooled it
- A lifestyle intervention randomized controlled trial in obese women with infertility improved body composition among those who experienced childhood adversity.Stress and health : journal of the International Society for the Investigation of Stress · 2021Trial
- Does cortisol mediate the association between school bullying and weight status in preadolescents?European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2026Article
- Cortisol, dehydroepiandrosterone, and depressive symptoms as pathways from child abuse to obesity.Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association · 2025Article
- Interplay of Adolescents' and Parents' Mindsets of Socioeconomic Status on Adolescents' Stress-Related Outcomes.Journal of youth and adolescence · 2024Article
- Evidence for the Association Between Adverse Childhood Family Environment, Child Abuse, and Caregiver Warmth and Cardiovascular Health Across the Lifespan: The Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) Study.Circulation. Cardiovascular quality and outcomes · 2024Article
- Childhood environment early life stress, caregiver warmth, and associations with the cortisol diurnal curve in adulthood: The coronary artery risk development in young adults (CARDIA) study.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2023Article
- Risky Early Family Environment and Genetic Associations with Adult Metabolic Dysregulation.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Does secure base script knowledge mediate associations between observed parental caregiving during childhood and adult romantic relationship quality and health?Attachment & human development · 2021Article
- Not the Root of the Problem-Hair Cortisol and Cortisone Do Not Mediate the Effect of Child Maltreatment on Body Mass Index.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesChildhood adversity is a risk factor for the development of obesity in adulthood. Dysregulated hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) activity, which has been associated separately with both adverse childhood experiences and obesity, has been posited as a mechanism by which stressful experiences influence body mass index (BMI); however, this mechanism has not yet been tested longitudinally. The present study uses multireporter, longitudinal data across three time points to test whether the adolescent cortisol awakening response (CAR), an index of diurnal HPA activity, mediates the association between adversity in childhood and BMI in adulthood.
methodEighty-two youth, mothers, and fathers reported on adverse childhood experiences from middle childhood to late adolescence. During adolescence, youth provided saliva samples three times each morning across three days, which were assayed for cortisol to calculate CAR. During early adulthood, youth reported height and weight to calculate BMI.
resultsGreater adversity predicted flatter CAR and higher young adult BMI. Flatter CAR partially mediated the association between childhood adversity and young adult BMI.
conclusionsStress-related alterations to HPA activity account in part for the childhood adversity-adult obesity link. Findings are consistent with theoretical models implicating HPA alterations as linking childhood adversity to metabolic and behavioral determinants of BMI in adulthood. (PsycINFO Database Record
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