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Reciprocal Influences among Adrenocortical Activation, Psychosocial Processes, and the Behavioral Adjustment of Clinic‐Referred Children
Author(s) -
Granger Douglas A.,
Weisz John R.,
McCracken James T.,
Ikeda Sandra C.,
Douglas Pamela
Publication year - 1996
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.1467-8624.1996.tb01912.x
Subject(s) - psychology , psychosocial , developmental psychology , anxiety , cognition , clinical psychology , reactivity (psychology) , phobic disorder , hydrocortisone , psychiatry , medicine , alternative medicine , pathology
The reciprocal effects among cognitive‐behavioral, environmental, and biological influences on clinic‐referred children's ( N = 64; 34 boys; M age 12.71 years) short‐term psychological and psychiatric adjustment were studied. At clinic intake and 6 months later, standardized measures of adjustment and control‐related beliefs were assessed. Before and after conflict‐oriented parent‐child interaction tasks the children's saliva was sampled. Adrenocortical responses (i.e., increases in salivary cortisol) to the social conflict task predicted children's internalizing problem behaviors and anxiety disorders at follow‐up. Consistently high adrenocortical reactivity at intake and follow‐up was associated with deflated social competence over the 6‐month period. Also, specific patterns of discontinuity in children's internalizing behavior problems predicted individual differences in their subsequent adrenocortical responsiveness. Specifically, rising behavior problem levels across time predicted higher and declining behavior problem levels predicted lower adrenocortical reactivity at follow‐up. Findings are among the first to suggest links among internalizing behavior problems, adrenocortical responsiveness to social challenge, and clinic‐referred children's short‐term cognitive‐behavioral and emotional adjustment.