Stress in childhood, adolescence and early adulthood, and cortisol levels in older age

Figures & data

Table 1. Descriptive statistics, summarizing key youth stress, older-age cortisol and control variables, for 6-Day Sample participants included at each stage of the study.

	Original 6-DaySample		Participated infollow-up		Included in present study
N (%)	1208	100.0	174	14.4	150	12.4
Sex (N, %)
Males	590	48.8	82	47.1	74	49.3
Females	618	51.2	92	52.9	77	51.3
Age at SMS1947 (years; M, SD)	10.9	0.3	11.0	0.3	11.0	0.3
Childhood IQ (M, SD)	100.0	15.0	110.2	11.1	110.2	10.7
Years of education (M, SD)	10.5	1.0	11.1	1.3	11.1	1.3
Childhood class (N, %)
I	31	2.6	10	5.7	5	3.3
II	119	9.9	28	16.1	23	15.3
III	629	52.1	87	50.0	79	52.7
IV	203	16.8	24	13.8	21	14.0
V	206	17.1	21	12.1	20	13.3
Unclassified	20	1.7	4	2.3	3	2.0
Home occupancy in adolescence (M, SD)	1.7	0.8	1.4	0.7	1.4	0.7
No. jobs in early adulthood (M, SD)	5.4	3.0	5.0	2.3	4.9	2.4
High stress in childhood (N, %)			19	10.9	17	11.3
High stress in adolescence (N, %)			23	13.2	22	14.7
High stress in early adulthood (N, %)			51	29.3	45	30.0
Age at follow-up (years; M, SD)			76.7	0.4	76.6	0.4
Cortisol sample 1 (μg/ml; M, SD)					23.7	10.7
Cortisol sample 2 (μg/ml; M, SD)					25.8	11.1
Cortisol sample 3 (μg/ml; M, SD)					4.2	2.8
Sample 2 delay (min; M, SD)					50.8	27.9
Sample 3 delay (h; M, SD)					13.9	2.3

SMS1947 = Scottish Mental Survey 1947. Data on high stress in childhood, adolescence and early-adulthood are not provided for the original 6-Day Sample as some data contributing to these variables were collected retrospectively at follow-up.

Table 2. Relations between key study variables, survival to older age, and follow-up study participation.

	Alive in 2012		Participated in follow-up
	β	p	β	p
Sex	.16	<.001	−.05	.17
Age at SMS1947	.04	.17	.02	.64
Childhood IQ	.18	<.001	.31	<.001
Years of education	.17	<.001	.23	<.001
Childhood deprivation	−.15	<.001	−.09	.02
Childhood school moves	.03	.38	−.06	.14
Adolescent deprivation	−.16	<.001	−.10	.01
Adolescent home/school moves	.00	.99	−.07	.06
Early-adulthood job instability	−.14	<.001	−.04	.34
Early-adulthood home moves	.08	.01	.05	.22

Significant results at p < .05 are highlighted in bold. All of these results remained significant after correcting for multiple comparisons. The association between childhood IQ (and other variables not included here) and participation in the 6-Day Sample follow-up study has previously been reported by Johnson et al. (2016).

Table 3. Relations between all youth stress measures and all older-age cortisol measures.

	Waking cortisol	Peak cortisol	Evening cortisol	CAR	Diurnal slope	Mean cortisol
Childhood
Parental loss	−.05	−.05	−.07	−.08	−.01	−.11
Deprivation	−.10	−.03	.01	−.05	.15	.07
School moves	−.03	.02	.14	.13	.13	.09
Adolescence
Parental loss	.16	−.06	−.06	−.08	−.16	.02
Deprivation	−.06	−.05	.03	−.06	.15	.07
Illness	.09	.01	.05	−.08	−.02	.13
Home/school moves	−.05	−.14	−.02	.06	.00	−.17
Early adulthood
Parental loss	.09	.03	−.03	.01	−.07	.03
Divorce	.06	−.05	−.02	−.16	−.07	.02
Job instability	.03	−.34	.02	−.14	.01	−.16
Home moves	−.13	.05	−.17	.15	−.01	−.18
High stress
Childhood	−.08	.00	−.07	−.04	.03	−.04
Adolescence	.13	−.05	−.05	−.04	−.15	.02
Early adulthood	.01	−.10	−.08	−.08	−.06	−.11

CAR = cortisol awakening response. Standardized β coefficients are reported. Significant results at p < .05 are highlighted in bold. This one result remained significant after correcting for multiple comparisons. All analyses controlled sex, childhood IQ, years of education and age at follow-up.

Figure 1. Older-age cortisol levels in participants exposed to high levels of stress in childhood, adolescence or early adulthood. Note: Bars represent mean salivary cortisol concentrations upon waking, around 45 min later (peak) and in the evening of the same day; in those exposed to high levels of stress at each stage of life and in remaining participants; error bars represent standard error.

Johnson W, Brett CE, Calvin C, Deary IJ. (2016). Childhood characteristics and participation in Scottish Mental Survey 1947 6-Day Sample follow-ups: implications for participation in aging studies. Intelligence 54:70–9.

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