title: The symphonic structure of childhood stress reactivity: patterns of sympathetic, parasympathetic, and adrenocortical responses to psychological challenge.
abstract: Despite widespread recognition that the physiological systems underlying stress reactivity are well coordinated at a neurobiological level, surprisingly little empirical attention has been given to delineating precisely how the systems actually interact with one another when confronted with stress. We examined cross-system response proclivities in anticipation of and following standardized laboratory challenges in 664 4- to 14-year-olds from four independent studies. In each study, measures of stress reactivity within both the locus coeruleus-norepinephrine system (i.e., the sympathetic and parasympathetic branches of the autonomic nervous system) and the corticotrophin releasing hormone system (i.e., the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis) were collected. Latent profile analyses revealed six distinctive patterns that recurred across the samples: moderate reactivity (average cross-system activation; 52%-80% of children across samples), parasympathetic-specific reactivity (2%-36%), anticipatory arousal (4%-9%), multisystem reactivity (7%-14%), hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis specific reactivity (6%-7%), and underarousal (0%-2%). Groups meaningfully differed in socioeconomic status, family adversity, and age. Results highlight the sample-level reliability of children's neuroendocrine responses to stress and suggest important cross-system regularities that are linked to development and prior experiences and may have implications for subsequent physical and mental morbidity.
authors.affiliation: University of California-Irvine.
authors.forename: Jodi A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Quas
authors.affiliation: University of California-Irvine.
authors.forename: Ilona S
authors.initials: IS
authors.lastname: Yim
authors.affiliation: University of British Columbia.
authors.forename: Tim F
authors.initials: TF
authors.lastname: Oberlander
authors.affiliation: University of British Columbia.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Nordstokke
authors.affiliation: University of Wisconsin-Madison.
authors.forename: Marilyn J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Essex
authors.affiliation: University of Wisconsin-Madison.
authors.forename: Jeffrey M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Armstrong
authors.affiliation: University of California-San Francisco.
authors.forename: Nicole
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Bush
authors.affiliation: Stanford University.
authors.forename: Jelena
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Obradović
authors.affiliation: University of California-San Francisco.
authors.forename: W Thomas
authors.initials: WT
authors.lastname: Boyce
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development / Q000502:physiology; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007030:Hypothalamo-Hypophyseal System / Q000502:physiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D010275:Parasympathetic Nervous System / Q000502:physiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D010913:Pituitary-Adrenal System / Q000502:physiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000503:physiopathology*; D013564:Sympathetic Nervous System / Q000502:physiology* / Q000503:physiopathology