ArticleDevelopment and psychopathology2023
Non-linear associations between HPA axis activity during infancy and mental health difficulties during early childhood among children in rural Pakistan.
Article in Development and psychopathology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
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3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Blunted diurnal cortisol slope as a risk marker for 9-year executive function decline: amplification by daily stress and worry severity.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2026Article
- Hair Cortisol and Perceived Stress-Predictors for the Onset of Tics? A European Longitudinal Study on High-Risk Children.Biomedicines · 2023Article
- Nonlinear associations between punishment sensitivity and problematic Internet use among adolescents: Results from cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses.International journal of clinical and health psychology : IJCHPArticle
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7 authors.
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Abstract
Hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis activity may be a mechanism linking early adversity to child mental health difficulties. However, there is a dearth of longitudinal evidence for the association between HPA axis activity and mental health among children in low-resource contexts. The goal of this study is to examine linear and curvilinear associations between HPA axis activity during infancy and mental health difficulties in early childhood among children in rural Pakistan. Participants included 104 children (46% male) from the Bachpan study, a longitudinal cohort embedded within a maternal depression trial in Pakistan. We examined the associations between hair-derived cortisol and dehydroepiandosterone (DHEA) at 12 months old and mental health difficulties, measured with the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), at 36 months old. There was a significant quadratic association between hair cortisol and SDQ scores, with results showing a U-shaped relationship (i.e., having relatively high or low cortisol predicted increased mental health difficulties). DHEA showed a quadratic association with SDQ scores with an inverted U-shaped relationship (i.e., high and low DHEA was associated with decreased mental health difficulties). Results provide evidence of longitudinal and curvilinear effects of cortisol and DHEA during infancy on mental health difficulties in early childhood.
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