ArticlePsychoneuroendocrinology2023
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.
Article in Psychoneuroendocrinology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
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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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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed, 6 citations in OpenAlex.
- Observational
- Inflammatory diet mediates the relationship between early life stress and inflammation in adolescents.Brain, behavior, and immunity · 2026Article
- Perceived uncontrollability as a potential mechanism of parental child abuse predicting executive dysfunction in adulthood 18 years later: Replication across two studies.Developmental psychology · 2025Article
- Subclinical structural atypicality of retinal thickness and its association with gray matter volume in the visual cortex of maltreated children.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- The Role of the Mind-Body Connection in Children with Food Reactions and Identified Adversity: Implications for Integrating Stress Management and Resilience Strategies in Clinical Practice.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
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Authors and funding
11 authors at 8 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundEarly life stress (ELS) is associated with increased morbidity and mortality across the lifecourse. Studies observing a relationship between ELS and stress physiology (cortisol), may help explain the connection to poor health outcomes, but have been limited by cortisol measures used. PURPOSE: We examined the association between ELS measured by a Risky Family (RF) environment questionnaire, and adult diurnal cortisol profile inclusive of multiple cortisol measures.
methodsRF and cortisol were collected from Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults Study participants at follow-up (Year 15). Complete case (n = 672) data were included in multi-variable regression analyses with log transformed cortisol measures (outcomes) including wake-up cortisol, cortisol awakening response [CAR], AUC and five other cortisol diurnal curve measures.
resultsParticipants were age 39.9 + /- 3.7 years and 51.6% Black. For every 1 unit increase in RF, there was a 1.4% greater wake-up cortisol and flatter CAR after adjustment for age, sex, income, and smoking (B=0.014, p = 0.023; B=-0.014, p = 0.028, respectively). Each unit increase in caregiver warmth/affection was associated with a 6.9% higher (steeper) CAR (B=0.069, p = 0.03). Results remained significant after adjusting for other covariates except social support in adulthood. An interaction between child abuse and caregiver warmth was nearly significant (p = 0.068), such that for those with exposure to the greatest caregiver warmth and lowest child abuse, CAR was steepest
conclusionsWe demonstrate that ELS is associated with altered cortisol regulation in adulthood. However, further research is needed to assess how healthy relationships throughout the life course may modulate cortisol regulation in adulthood.
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