ArticlePsychoneuroendocrinology2020
Caregiver depression is associated with hair cortisol in a low-income sample of preschool-aged children.
Article in Psychoneuroendocrinology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 10 citations in OpenAlex.
- Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis functioning in offspring of parents with a major affective disorder: a meta-analytic review.European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- Early childhood stress responses to psychosocial stressors: The state of the science.Developmental psychobiology · 2022Pooled it
- Stress in lockdown: exploring the interplay and effects of cortisol and psychological distress in parent-child dyads.Journal of neural transmission (Vienna, Austria : 1996) · 2025Article
- Preschool-aged children's hair cortisol and parents' behavior, psychopathology, and stress.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2023Article
- Maternal distress, DNA methylation, and fetal programing of stress physiology in Brazilian mother-infant pairs.Developmental psychobiology · 2023Article
- Adrenocortical and psychosocial responses of families in Jordan to the COVID-19 pandemic.Child development · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundCaregiver depression and child temperamental characteristics such as effortful control have been associated with child dysregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. Hair cortisol concentrations (HCC) has been increasingly adopted as an integrated marker of HPA axis activity. This study examined the associations between caregiver depressive symptoms, caregiver social support, child effortful control, and child HCC in a sample of a high-risk, low-income preschool-aged children.
methods154 caregivers comprised mostly of mothers and their children (2-to-5 years) who were enrolled in a birth cohort study conducted in poor urban neighborhoods of São Paulo, Brazil. Through personal interviews at their homes, caregivers provided ratings of their psychosocial experiences and of their child's behavior. Hair was sampled from children with at least a 3-cm hair length.
resultsIn a multivariable regression analysis, an unadjusted model showed child age to be negatively associated with HCC (β = -0.32, p < .001). The adjusted model, which accounted for child age and sex, showed a positive relationship between caregiver depressive symptoms and HCC (β = 0.22, p < .01). Caregiver social support and child effortful control were not associated with HCC.
conclusionsThe elevated HCC among children with caregivers reporting greater depression risk is consistent with prior findings showing elevated HCC among children exposed to persistent stress. Stabilization of child HCC may be occurring within preschool children given the negative association between HCC and age. Greater research is needed to determine whether the effects of caregiver social support and effortful control can be captured through HCC.
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Registered trials
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