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Abstract
The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused massive disruptions to daily life in the United States, closing schools and businesses and increasing physical and social isolation, leading to deteriorations in mental health and well-being in people of all ages. Many studies have linked chronic stress with long-term changes in cortisol secretion, which has been implicated in many stress-related physical and mental health problems that commonly emerge in adolescence. However, the physiological consequences of the pandemic in youth remain understudied. Using hair cortisol concentrations (HCC), we quantified average longitudinal changes in cortisol secretion across a four-month period capturing before, during, and after the transition to pandemic-lockdown conditions in a sample of healthy youth (n = 49). Longitudinal changes in HCC were analyzed using linear mixed-effects models. Perceived levels of pandemic-related stress were measured and compared to the physiological changes in HCC. In children and adolescents, cortisol levels significantly increased across the course of the pandemic. These youth reported a multitude of stressors during this time, although changes in HCC were not associated with self-reported levels of COVID-19-related distress. We provide evidence that youth are experiencing significant physiological changes in cortisol activity across the COVID-19 pandemic, yet these biological responses are not associated with perceived stress levels. Youth may be especially vulnerable to the deleterious impacts of chronic cortisol exposure due to their current status in the sensitive periods for development, and the incongruency between biological and psychological stress responses may further complicate these developmental problems.
Acknowledgements
The authors thank Elizabeth Shirtcliff, PhD, Wen Wang, PhD, Lotte van Dammen, PhD, and the whole Stress Physiology Investigative Team (SPIT) lab at Iowa State University and the University of Oregon for their consulting efforts, and for processing the hair cortisol data for the present study.
Author contributions
Madison H. Fung: Conceptualization, Formal Analysis, Methodology, Software, Visualization, Writing – Original Draft, Writing – Review & Editing; Brittany K. Taylor: Conceptualization, Supervision, Writing – Review & Editing; Christine M. Embury: Methodology, Software, Writing – Review & Editing; Rachel K. Spooner: Methodology, Writing – Review & Editing; Hallie J. Johnson, Madelyn P. Willett, Michaela R. Frenzel: Investigation, Project Administration; Amy S. Badura-Brack, Stuart F. White: Conceptualization, Funding Acquisition, Writing – Review & Editing; Tony W. Wilson: Conceptualization, Funding Acquisition, Supervision, Writing – Review & Editing
Disclosure statement
All authors report no financial interests or conflicts of interest. All data that support the findings of this study are available upon reasonable request to the corresponding author (TWW). Data will be made publicly available upon study completion.
Additional information
Funding
Notes on contributors
Madison H. Fung
Madison H. Fung is a graduate PhD student in Developmental Psychology in the Institute of Child Development at the University of Minnesota, and was a research assistant in the Dynamic Imaging of Cognition and Neuromodulation (DICoN) Laboratory at the Institute for Human Neuroscience at Boys Town National Research Hospital.
Brittany K. Taylor
Dr. Brittany K. Taylor is the Director of the Neurodiversity Laboratory at the Institute for Human Neuroscience at Boys Town National Research Hospital.
Christine M. Embury
Dr. Christine M. Embury is a postdoctoral fellow in the Dynamic Imaging of Cognition and Neuromodulation (DICoN) Laboratory at the Institute for Human Neuroscience at Boys Town National Research Hospital.
Rachel K. Spooner
Dr. Rachel K. Spooner is a postdoctoral fellow in the Institute of Clinical Neuroscience and Medical Psychology at Heinrich-Heine University, and was a PhD neuroscience student in the Dynamic Imaging of Cognition and Neuromodulation (DICoN) Laboratory at the Institute for Human Neuroscience at Boys Town National Research Hospital.
Hallie J. Johnson
Hallie J. Johnson was a research assistant in the Dynamic Imaging of Cognition and Neuromodulation (DICoN) Laboratory at the Institute for Human Neuroscience at Boys Town National Research Hospital. She is now a graduate student in clinical psychology at Widener University.
Madelyn P. Willett
Madelyn P. Willett was a research assistant in the Dynamic Imaging of Cognition and Neuromodulation (DICoN) Laboratory at the Institute for Human Neuroscience at Boys Town National Research Hospital. She is now a graduate student in the speech-language pathology program at Cal State East Bay University.
Michaela R. Frenzel
Michaela R. Frenzel was a research coordinator in the Dynamic Imaging of Cognition and Neuromodulation (DICoN) Laboratory at the Institute for Human Neuroscience at Boys Town National Research Hospital.
Amy S. Badura-Brack
Dr. Amy S. Badura-Brack is a Professor of Psychological Science at Creighton University.
Stuart F. White
Dr. Stuart F. White is the Director of the Developmental Clinical Neuroscience Laboratory in the Institute for Human Neuroscience at Boys Town National Research Hospital.
Tony W. Wilson
Dr. Tony W. Wilson is the Director of the Institute for Human Neuroscience and holds the Patrick E. Brookhouser Endowed Chair in Cognitive Neuroscience. He is also the Director of the Dynamic Imaging of Cognition and Neuromodulation (DICoN) Laboratory at Boys Town National Research Hospital.