Adolescent life stress and the cortisol awakening response: the moderating roles of emotion regulation, attachment, and gender

The cortisol awakening response (CAR) is an index of hypothalamic‐pituitary‐adrenal (HPA) activity that is sensitive to the effects of stress among adults (Chida & Steptoe, 2009). However, less is known about the relationship between stress and CAR in adolescence. The present study examines whether adolescents’ past and current stress have different associations with CAR and tests whether emotion regulation, attachment to parents, or attachment to peers moderates these relationships. Ninety‐nine adolescents were recruited from a longitudinal study to provide home saliva samples for cortisol analyses. In the laboratory, adolescents additionally reported on stressful life experiences, emotion regulation, and attachment to parents and peers. Multi‐level models reveal that current stress is associated with increased CAR. In contrast, past stress is associated with decreased CAR for males only. No moderation was found for the association between current stress and CAR. In contrast, several moderators were identified for the relationship between past stress and CAR: attachment to peers was protective for all adolescents, while emotion regulation and attachment to parents were protective for males only. Additionally, adolescents who are low in attachment to peers appear to represent a distinct risk group from adolescents who are low in attachment to parents or low in emotion regulation. Results highlight the distinct roles peers play in adolescents’ changing social worlds and underscore the gender differences in bio‐psycho‐social development across middle childhood and adolescence.

皮质醇觉醒反应（cortisol awakening response, CAR）是下丘脑-垂体-肾上腺（hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal, HPA）轴活动的一项指标，对成年人的压力效应具有敏感性（Chida & Steptoe, 2009）。然而目前学界对青少年时期压力与皮质醇觉醒反应之间的关联尚缺乏充分研究。本研究旨在考察青少年既往与当下的压力是否与皮质醇觉醒反应存在不同的关联，并检验情绪调节、亲子依恋或同伴依恋是否会对这些关联起到调节作用。本研究从一项纵向研究中招募了99名青少年，采集其居家唾液样本用于皮质醇水平分析。在实验室环境中，受试者还完成了压力性生活经历、情绪调节、亲子依恋及同伴依恋相关的自评报告。多层模型结果显示，当下压力与皮质醇觉醒反应升高存在关联。与之相反，既往压力仅与男性青少年的皮质醇觉醒反应降低相关。未发现当下压力与皮质醇觉醒反应之间的关联存在调节效应。与之相对，既往压力与皮质醇觉醒反应之间的关联存在多项调节因素：同伴依恋对所有青少年均具有保护作用，而情绪调节与亲子依恋仅对男性青少年具有保护作用。此外，同伴依恋水平较低的青少年，似乎构成了一个与亲子依恋水平较低或情绪调节能力较弱的青少年截然不同的风险群体。研究结果凸显了同伴在青少年不断变化的社交世界中的独特作用，并强调了童年中期至青少年期生物-心理-社会发展过程中的性别差异。