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The association between prenatal exposure to cigarettes and cortisol reactivity and regulation in 7‐month‐old infants
Author(s) -
Schuetze Pamela,
Lopez Francisco A.,
Granger Douglas A.,
Eiden Rina D.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
developmental psychobiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.055
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1098-2302
pISSN - 0012-1630
DOI - 10.1002/dev.20334
Subject(s) - reactivity (psychology) , psychology , hydrocortisone , affect (linguistics) , prenatal exposure , prenatal stress , association (psychology) , medicine , physiology , endocrinology , developmental psychology , pregnancy , gestation , biology , genetics , psychotherapist , alternative medicine , communication , pathology
We examined the association between prenatal exposure to cigarettes and adrenocortical responses to stress in 7‐month‐old infants. Cortisol levels were assessed twice prior to and twice following affect‐eliciting procedures in 111 (59 exposed and 52 nonexposed) infants. Cortisol reactivity was defined as the difference between the peak poststressor cortisol level and the pretask cortisol level. Higher values indicated higher cortisol reactivity. Exposed infants had higher peak cortisol reactivity than nonexposed infants. There were no differences in pretask cortisol levels. Maternal hostility mediated the association between cigarette exposure and peak cortisol reactivity. Furthermore, infant gender moderated this association such that exposed boys had significantly higher peak cortisol reactivity than nonexposed infants or exposed girls. These findings provide additional evidence that prenatal cigarette exposure is associated with dysregulation during infancy and that early adverse, nonsocial experiences may have relatively long‐lasting effects on cortisol reactivity in infants. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 50: 819–834, 2008