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Developmental Change in Infants' Responses to Stress
Author(s) -
Lewis Michael,
Ramsay Douglas S.
Publication year - 1995
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/j.1467-8624.1995.tb00896.x
Subject(s) - psychology , hydrocortisone , developmental psychology , circadian rhythm , medicine , neuroscience
Infant stress responses to a well‐baby physical examination and inoculation were observed longitudinally at 2, 4, and 6 months of age. In general, there were cortisol increases over base to the procedures. Cortisol level and cortisol response decreased with age. These data indicate a developmental shift in adrenocortical functioning between 2 and 6 months of age. Further evidence for this shift was seen in the stability of individual responses between 4 and 6 months of age. Individual differences in both cortisol and behavioral responses showed the most stability between these 2 ages. Moreover, diurnal variation in baseline cortisol level was present only at 6 months of age. While a sizable minority of infants showed stress‐related cortisol decreases to the procedures at a given age, there was no evidence for cross‐age consistency in individual infants showing these cortisol decreases.