Parameterizing Toxic Stress in Early Childhood: Maternal Depression, Maltreatment, and HPA-Axis Variation in a Pilot Intervention Study
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| Title: | Parameterizing Toxic Stress in Early Childhood: Maternal Depression, Maltreatment, and HPA-Axis Variation in a Pilot Intervention Study |
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| Language: | English |
| Authors: | Rachael E. Wagner, Melissa Jonson-Reid, Brett Drake, Patricia L. Kohl, Laura Pons, Yi Zhang, Robert T. Fitzgerald, Mark L. Laudenslager, John N. Constantino |
| Source: | Prevention Science. 2025 26(1):78-89. |
| Availability: | Springer. Available from: Springer Nature. One New York Plaza, Suite 4600, New York, NY 10004. Tel: 800-777-4643; Tel: 212-460-1500; Fax: 212-460-1700; e-mail: customerservice@springernature.com; Web site: https://link.springer.com/ |
| Peer Reviewed: | Y |
| Page Count: | 12 |
| Publication Date: | 2025 |
| Sponsoring Agency: | Administration for Children and Families (ACF) (DHHS) |
| Contract Number: | 90YR0054 |
| Document Type: | Journal Articles Reports - Research |
| Education Level: | Adult Education |
| Descriptors: | Stress Variables, Mothers, Depression (Psychology), Early Experience, Low Income Groups, Infants, Toddlers, Early Intervention, Federal Programs, Social Services, Parent Education, Intervention, Pilot Projects, Child Abuse, Parent Child Relationship, Emotional Response, Child Behavior, Risk Assessment, Resilience (Psychology) |
| Laws, Policies and Program Identifiers: | Early Head Start |
| DOI: | 10.1007/s11121-022-01366-4 |
| ISSN: | 1389-4986 1573-6695 |
| Abstract: | Adverse experiences superseding a child's capacity to sustain regulation of emotion and adaptive function are theorized to constitute "toxic stressors" when they induce a deleterious biological response within an individual. We ascertained presumptive parameters of toxic stress among 164 low-income infants and toddlers (ages 4-48 months) from 132 families enrolled in Early Head Start (EHS). We randomized a subset of these families into a pilot intervention arm of parenting education (the Incredible Years, TIY), which supplemented the EHS curriculum. Official report child abuse and neglect (CAN) and child behavior were serially ascertained over the course of the study. We observed relatively low associations among maternal depression, CAN, caregiver-child relationship quality, hair cortisol, and adverse child behavioral outcomes. Moreover, despite poverty and the high prevalence (51%) of CAN in this sample, the frequency of clinical-level internalizing and externalizing behavior among the children did not exceed that of the general population, by their parents' report. The pilot supplementation of EHS with TIY improved attendance in group meetings but did not significantly reduce adverse behavioral outcomes or CAN. This study revealed marked independence of standard indices of toxic stress (child maltreatment, maternal depression, caregiver emotional unavailability) which have been presumed to be risk factors for the development of psychopathology. That they were weakly inter-correlated, and only modestly predictive of child behavioral outcomes in this EHS sample, caution against presumptions about the toxicity of individual stressors, highlight the importance of ascertaining risk (and compensatory influences) comprehensively, suggest buffering effects of programs like EHS, and demonstrate the need for greater understanding of what parameterizes resilience in early childhood. |
| Abstractor: | As Provided |
| Entry Date: | 2025 |
| Accession Number: | EJ1470182 |
| Database: | ERIC |
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