title: Parents' psychological stress over time may affect children's cortisol at age 8.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine possible relations between parents' psychological stress and children's saliva cortisol levels in connection with a mild stressor (drawing a blood sample).
  
  
  METHODS
  Parenting stress and serious life events at birth, age 1, age 2, age 5, and age 8 were assessed. Eighty-two paired saliva samples collected from their 8-year-old children just before and 30 min after blood was drawn were analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Instead of increasing, cortisol levels significantly decreased. Repeated measures GLM indicated a significant relation between higher parenting stress at child age 1 and at age 8, and elevated cortisol levels. A t-test indicated that cortisol levels after the blood draw were significantly higher in children whose parents reported a serious life event at age 8.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Parenting stress could be a relevant factor for children's adjustment of the HPA axis with long-term effects and leave children more vulnerable to experiences of stress.
authors.affiliation: Division of Pediatrics, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden. felix.koch@liu.se
authors.forename: Felix-Sebastian
authors.initials: FS
authors.lastname: Koch
authors.forename: Johnny
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ludvigsson
authors.forename: Anneli
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sepa
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006801:Humans; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000097:blood*; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008016:Life Change Events; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000097:blood* / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
chemical_list: D006854:Hydrocortisone