Premium
Examining Change in Cortisol Patterns During the 10‐Week Transition to a New Child‐Care Setting
Author(s) -
Bernard Kristin,
Peloso Elizabeth,
Laurenceau JeanPhilippe,
Zhang Zhiyong,
Dozier Mary
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
child development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.103
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1467-8624
pISSN - 0009-3920
DOI - 10.1111/cdev.12304
Subject(s) - developmental psychology , context (archaeology) , child care , psychology , structural equation modeling , hydrocortisone , transition (genetics) , pediatrics , medicine , demography , endocrinology , paleontology , statistics , mathematics , biology , biochemistry , chemistry , sociology , gene
The transition to out‐of‐home child care brings a number of challenges for children, including complex peer interactions and extended separations from parents. Children often show a midmorning to afternoon rise in cortisol on child‐care days, compared to the typical diurnal decline seen at home. Changes in cortisol were examined in a wide age range of children ( N = 168; 1.2 months to 8 years, M = 3.27 years) during the 10‐week transition to a new child‐care setting. Structural equation modeling using latent change scores showed that children experienced an increase in the cortisol rise at child care across the 10‐week transition. Furthermore, child age moderated the difference between home‐ and child‐care cortisol patterns. Findings are placed in a developmental context, and potential implications and future directions are discussed.