Salivary cortisol reactivity in preschoolers is associated with hair cortisol and behavioral problems

Figures & data

Table 1. Demographic Information.

Child age (months)
M (SD)	50.28 (3.10)
Child ethnicity
Caucasian	51.5%
Black	3.0%
Asian	18.2%
Hispanic	6.1%
Middle Eastern	1.5%
Multiracial	19.7%
Maternal education (% with at least a four year college degree)	83.3%
Paternal education (% with at least a four year college degree)	75.8%
Annual Income (% household income over $60,000)	77.2%

Figure 1. Upon arrival, the mother and child engaged in a free play to familiarize the child with the lab before the stressor. The first saliva sample was collected after the stress paradigm which took 20 min, reflecting salivary cortisol baseline levels before the stressor. The second sample was collected 20 min after the first collection, indicating peak salivary cortisol levels immediately following the stressor. The third sample was collected 40 min after the first collection, indicating children’s salivary cortisol levels after the stressor.

Table 2. Raw salivary cortisol and hair cortisol concentration values.

	M (SD)
Child salivary cortisol (µg/dl)
Baseline	0.11 (0.08)
20-min post-stressor	0.13 (0.11)
40-min post-stressor	0.14 (0.12)
Child HCC (pg/mg)	55.43 (68.94)
Parent HCC (pg/mg)	27.23 (11.53)

Figure 2. Preschool children’s salivary cortisol reactivity in response to a challenging task. Salivary cortisol levels increased significantly from baseline to 20-min post- stressor (t = −2.39, p = 0.020), indicating reactivity to the paradigm. Salivary cortisol levels were not significantly different from 20-min to 40-min post-stressor, indicating children did not show recovery within the same time frame. Error bars represent ±1 SE.

Figure 3. Scatterplot showing (a) the relationship between children’s HCC and salivary cortisol total output (AUCg) and (b) the relationship between children’s HCC and salivary cortisol reactivity (AUCi).

Table 3. Correlations amongst Measures.

	1	2	3	4	5	6
1. Salivary cortisol AUCg	–	0.69**	0.32*	0.28*	0.22	0.08
2. Salivary cortisol AUCi		–	0.29*	0.25	0.27*	0.18
3. Child hair cortisol concentration (HCC)			–	0.32*	0.14	0.21
4. Parent HCC				–	0.14	0.26
5. Child externalizing					–	0.69**
6. Child internalizing						–

* p < 0.05.

** p < 0.01.