Trends in Psychiatry and Psychotherapy
https://trends.org.br/article/doi/10.1590/2237-6089-2015-0085
Trends in Psychiatry and Psychotherapy
Original Article

Can reactivity to stress and family environment explain memory and executive function performance in early and middle childhood?

Reatividade ao estresse e ambiente familiar podem explicar o desempenho em memória e funções executivas na primeira infância e na idade escolar?

Luciane da Rosa Piccolo; Jerusa Fumagalli de Salles; Olga Garcia Falceto; Carmen Luiza Fernandes; Rodrigo Grassi-Oliveira

Downloads: 0
Views: 534

Abstract

Abstract Introduction: According to the literature, children's overall reactivity to stress is associated with their socioeconomic status and family environment. In turn, it has been shown that reactivity to stress is associated with cognitive performance. However, few studies have systematically tested these three constructs together. Objective: To investigate the relationship between family environment, salivary cortisol measurements and children's memory and executive function performance. Method: Salivary cortisol levels of 70 children aged 9 or 10 years were measured before and after performing tasks designed to assess memory and executive functions. Questionnaires on socioeconomic issues, family environment and maternal psychopathologies were administered to participants' families during the children's early childhood and again when they reached school age. Results: Data were analyzed by calculating correlations between variables and conducting hierarchical regression. High cortisol levels were associated with poorer working memory and worse performance in tasks involving executive functions, and were also associated with high scores for maternal psychopathology (during early childhood and school age) and family dysfunction. Family environment variables and changes in cortisol levels explain around 20% of the variance in performance of cognitive tasks. Conclusion: Family functioning and maternal psychopathology in early and middle childhood and children's stress levels were associated with children's working memory and executive functioning.

Keywords

Socioeconomic status, family environment, maternal psychopathology, cortisol, stress, neuropsychological assessment

Resumo

Resumo Introdução: De acordo com a literatura, o nível socioeconômico e o ambiente familiar estão associados à reatividade ao estresse na criança. Essa reatividade ao estresse, por sua vez, tem sido associada com desempenho cognitivo. No entanto, poucos estudos testaram sistematicamente esses três construtos ao mesmo tempo. Objetivo: Investigar a relação entre ambiente familiar, medidas de cortisol salivar e desempenho em memória e funções executivas das crianças. Método: Os níveis de cortisol salivar de 70 crianças com idade entre 9 e 10 anos foram medidos antes e depois de tarefas de memória e funções executivas. As famílias dos participantes completaram questionários sobre questões socioeconômicas, ambiente familiar e psicopatologia materna durante a primeira infância e a idade escolar da criança. Resultados: Correlações e regressão hierárquica foram realizadas para análise de dados. Níveis de cortisol elevados, bem como alta psicopatologia materna (na primeira infância e em idade escolar) e disfunção familiar foram associados com baixo desempenho em tarefas de funções executivas e memória de trabalho. As variáveis ambiente familiar e alterações nos níveis de cortisol explicam cerca de 20% da variação no desempenho de tarefas cognitivas. Conclusão: O funcionamento familiar e a psicopatologia materna no início e meio da infância, bem como os níveis de estresse das crianças, foram associados com a memória de trabalho e o funcionamento executivo das crianças.

Palavras-chave

Nível socioeconômico, ambiente familiar, psicopatologia materna, cortisol, estresse, avaliação neuropsicológica

References

McEwen BS, Stellar E. Stress and the individual. Mechanisms leading to disease. Arch Intern Med. 1993;153:2093-101.

Blair C, Granger DA, Willoughby M, Mills-Koonce R, Cox M, Greenberg MT. Salivary cortisol mediates effects of poverty and parenting on executive functions in early childhood. Child Dev. 2011;82:1970-84.

Piccolo LR, Sbicigo JB, Grassi-Oliveira R, Salles JF. Do socioeconomic status and stress reactivity really impact neurocognitive performance?. Psychol Neurosci. 2014;7:567-75.

Gunnar MR, Fisher PA. Early Experience, Stress, and Prevention Network. Bringing basic research on early experience and stress neurobiology to bear on preventive interventions for neglected and maltreated children. Dev Psychopathol. 2006;18:651-77.

Brooks-Gunn J, Duncan GJ. The effects of poverty on children. Future Child. 1997;7:55-71.

Feldman R, Eidelman AI. Biological and environmental initial conditions shape the trajectories of cognitive and social-emotional development across the first years of life. Dev Sci. 2009;12:194-200.

Linver MR, Brooks-Gunn J, Kohen DE. Family processes as pathways from income to young children's development. Dev Psychol. 2002;38:719-34.

McLoyd VC. Socioeconomic disadvantage and child development. Am Psychol. 1998;53:185-204.

Fisher PA, Gunnar MR, Chamberlain P, Reid JB. Preventive intervention for maltreated preschool children: impact on children's behavior, neuroendocrine activity, and foster parent functioning. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2000;39:1356-64.

Olds D, Henderson Jr CR, Cole R, Eckenrode J, Kitzman H, Luckey D. Long-term effects of nurse home visitation on children's criminal and antisocial behavior: 15-year follow-up of a randomized controlled trial. JAMA. 1998;280:1238-44.

van den Boom DC. The influence of temperament and mothering on attachment and exploration: an experimental manipulation of sensitive responsiveness among lower-class mothers with irritable infants. Child Dev. 1994;65:1457-77.

Conger RD, Donnellan MB. An interactionist perspective on the socioeconomic context of human development. Annu Rev Psychol. 2007;58:175-99.

Grolnick WS, Gurland ST, DeCourcey W, Jacob K. Antecedents and consequences of mothers' autonomy support: an experimental investigation. Dev Psychol. 2002;38:143-55.

Hackman DA, Farah MJ, Meaney MJ. Socioeconomic status and the brain: mechanistic insights from human and animal research. Nat Rev Neurosci. 2010;11:651-9.

Chen E, Miller GE. Socioeconomic status and health: mediating and moderating factors. Annu Rev Clin Psychol. 2013;9:723-49.

Cogill SR, Caplan HL, Alexandra H, Robson KM, Kumar R. Impact of maternal postnatal depression on cognitive development of young children. Br Med J (Clin Res Ed). 1986;292:1165-7.

Hay DF, Pawlby S, Sharp D, Asten P, Mills A, Kumar R. Intellectual problems shown by 11-year-old children whose mothers had postnatal depression. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2001;42:871-89.

Kurstjens S, Wolke D. Effects of maternal depression on cognitive development of children over the first 7 years of life. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2001;42:623-36.

Murray L, Arteche A, Fearon P, Halligan S, Croudace T, Cooper P. The effects of maternal postnatal depression and child sex on academic performance at age 16 years: a developmental approach. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2010;51:1150-9.

Hughes C, Roman G, Hart MJ, Ensor R. Does maternal depression predict young children's executive function? - a 4-year longitudinal study. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2013;54:169-77.

Klimes-Dougan B, Ronsaville D, Wiggs EA, Martinez PE. Neuropsychological functioning in adolescent children of mothers with a history of bipolar or major depressive disorders. Biol Psychiatry. 2006;60:957-65.

McEwen BS. Protection and damage from acute and chronic stress: allostasis and allostatic overload and relevance to the pathophysiology of psychiatric disorders. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2004;1032:1-7.

Chan M, Chen E, Hibbert AS, Wong JH, Miller GE. Implicit measures of early-life family conditions: relationships to psychosocial characteristics and cardiovascular disease risk in adulthood. Health Psychol. 2011;30:570-8.

Liston C, McEwen BS, Casey BJ. Psychosocial stress reversibly disrupts prefrontal processing and attentional control. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009;106:912-7.

Lupien SJ, King S, Meaney MJ, McEwen BS. Can poverty get under your skin? basal cortisol levels and cognitive function in children from low and high socioeconomic status. Dev Psychopathol. 2001;13:653-76.

Evans GW, Schamberg MA. Childhood poverty, chronic stress, and adult working memory. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009;106:6545-9.

Lupien SJ, McEwen BS, Gunnar MR, Heim C. Effects of stress throughout the lifespan on the brain, behaviour and cognition. Nat Rev Neurosci. 2009;10:434-45.

McEwen BS, Gianaros PJ. Central role of the brain in stress and adaptation: links to socioeconomic status, health, and disease. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2010;1186:190-22.

Noble KG, Houston SM, Kan E, Sowell ER. Neural correlates of socioeconomic status in the developing human brain. Dev Sci. 2012;15:516-27.

Willingham DT. Why does family wealth affect learning?. Am Educ. 2012;36:33-9.

Lupien SJ, Parent S, Evans AC, Tremblay RE, Zelazo PD, Corbo V. Larger amygdala but no change in hippocampal volume in 10-year-old children exposed to maternal depressive symptomatology since birth. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2011;108:14324-9.

Albers EM, Riksen-Walraven JM, Sweep FC, de Weerth C. Maternal behavior predicts infant cortisol recovery from a mild everyday stressor. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2008;49:97-103.

Lupien SJ, King S, Meaney MJ, McEwen BS. Child's stress hormone levels correlate with mother's socioeconomic status and depressive state. Biol Psychiatry. 2000;48:976-80.

Piccolo LR, Falceto OG, Fernandes CL, Levandowski DC, Grassi-Oliveira R, Salles JF. Variáveis psicossociais e desempenho em leitura de crianças de baixo nível socioeconômico. Psic Teor e Pesq. 2012;28:389-98.

Chazan-Cohen R, Raikes H, Brooks-Gunn J, Ayoub C, Pan BA, Kisker EE. Low-income children's school readiness: parent contributions over the first five years. Early Educ Dev. 2009;20:958-77.

Falceto OG, Busnello ED, Bozzetti MC. Validation of diagnostic scales of family functioning for use in primary health care services. Rev Panam Salud Publica. 2000;7:255-63.

Beusenberg M, Orley JH. Health WHOD of M. A User's guide to the self reporting questionnaire (SRQ/compiled by M. Beusenberg and J. Orley. 1994.

Beck AT, Steer RA, Brown G. Manual for the Beck Depression Inventory-II. 1996.

Steer RA, Cavalieri TA, Leonard DM, Beck AT. Use of the Beck Depression Inventory for Primary Care to screen for major depression disorders. Gen Hosp Psychiatry. 1999;21:106-11.

Heck VS, Yates DB, Poggere LC, Tosi SP, Bandeira DR, Trentini CM. Validação dos subtestes verbais da versão de adaptação da WASI. Aval Psicol. 2009;8:33-42.

Wechsler abbreviated scale of intelligence manual. 1999.

Gotlib IH, LeMoult J, Colich NL, Foland-Ross LC, Hallmayer J, Joorman J. Telomere length and cortisol reactivity in children of depressed mothers. Mol Psychiatry. 2015;20:615-20.

Dickerson SS, Kemeny ME. Acute stressors and cortisol responses: a theoretical integration and synthesis of laboratory research. Psychol Bull. 2004;130:355-91.

Neupert SD, Miller LM, Lachman ME. Physiological reactivity to cognitive stressors: variations by age and socioeconomic status. Int J Aging Hum Dev. 2006;62:221-35.

Salles JF de, Fonseca RP, Cruz-Rodrigues C, Mello CB, Barbosa T, Miranda MC. Desenvolvimento do Instrumento de Avaliação Neuropsicológica Breve Infantil NEUPSILIN-INF. Psico-USF. 2011;16:297-305.

Hucklebridge F, Hussain T, Evans P, Clow A. The diurnal patterns of the adrenal steroids cortisol and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) in relation to awakening. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2005;30:51-7.

Chen E, Cohen S, Miller GE. How low socioeconomic status affects 2-year hormonal trajectories in children. Psychol Sci. 2010;21:31-7.

Dowd JB, Simanek AM, Aiello AE. ocio-economic status, cortisol and allostatic load: a review of the literature. Int J Epidemiol. 2009;38:1297-309.

Hostinar CE, Ross KM, Chen E, Miller GE. Modeling the association between lifecourse socioeconomic disadvantage and systemic inflammation in healthy adults: the role of self-control. Health Psychol. 2015;34:580-90.

Best JR, Miller PH, Jones LL. Executive functions after age 5: changes and correlates. Dev Rev. 2009;29:180-200.

Halligan SL, Herbert J, Goodyer I, Murray L. Disturbances in morning cortisol secretion in association with maternal postnatal depression predict subsequent depressive symptomatology in adolescents. Biol Psychiatry. 2007;62:40-6.

McEwen BS, Seeman T. Protective and damaging effects of mediators of stress. Elaborating and testing the concepts of allostasis and allostatic load. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1999;896:30-47.

Chen E, Hanson MD, Paterson LQ, Griffin MJ, Walker HA, Miller GE. Socioeconomic status and inflammatory processes in childhood asthma: the role of psychological stress. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2006;117:1014-20.

Chen E, Miller GE, Kobor MS, Cole SW. Maternal warmth buffers the effects of low early-life socioeconomic status on pro-inflammatory signaling in adulthood. Mol Psychiatry. 2011;16:729-37.

Lupien S, McEwen B. The acute effects of corticosteroids on cognition: integration of animal and human model studies. Brain Res Brain Res Rev. 1997;24:1-27.

Evans GW, Fuller-Rowell TE. Childhood poverty, chronic stress, and young adult working memory: the protective role of self-regulatory capacity. Dev Sci. 2013;16:688-96.

Miller GE, Lachman ME, Chen E, Gruenewald TL, Karlamangla AS, Seeman TE. Pathways to resilience: maternal nurturance as a buffer against the effects of childhood poverty on metabolic syndrome at midlife. Psychol Sci. 2011;22:1591-9.

Micco JA, Henin A, Biederman J, Rosenbaum JF, Petty C, Rindlaub LA. Executive functioning in offspring at risk for depression and anxiety. Depress Anxiety. 2009;26:780-90.

Field T, Pickens J, Prodromidis M, Malphurs J, Fox N, Bendell D. Targeting adolescent mothers with depressive symptoms for early intervention. Adolescence. 2000;35:381-414.

Obradovic J, Burt KB, Masten AS. Testing a dual cascade model linking competence and symptoms over 20 years from childhood to adulthood. J Clin Child Adolesc Psychol. 2010;39:90-102.

Enlow MB, Blood E, Egeland B. Sociodemographic risk, developmental competence, and PTSD symptoms in young children exposed to interpersonal trauma in early life. J Trauma Stress. 2013;26:686-94.

Lupien SJ, Gillin CJ, Hauger RL. Working memory is more sensitive than declarative memory to the acute effects of corticosteroids: a dose-response study in humans. Behav Neurosci. 1999;113:420-30.

Oei NY, Everaerd WT, Elzinga BM, van Well S, Bermond B. Psychosocial stress impairs working memory at high loads: an association with cortisol levels and memory retrieval. Stress. 2006;9:133-41.

Schoofs D, Preuss D, Wolf OT. Psychosocial stress induces working memory impairments in an n-back paradigm. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2008;33:643-53.

Schwabe L, Böhringer A, Wolf OT. Stress disrupts context-dependent memory. Learn Mem. 2009;16:110-3.

de Kloet ER, Oitzl MS, Joëls M. Stress and cognition: are corticosteroids good or bad guys?. Trends Neurosci. 1999;22:422-6.

Het S, Ramlow G, Wolf OT. A meta-analytic review of the effects of acute cortisol administration on human memory. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2005;30:771-84.

Lupien SJ, Schramek TE. The differential effects of stress on memory consolidation and retrieval: a potential involvement of reconsolidation? Theoretical comment on Beckner et al. (2006). Behav Neurosci. 2006;120:735-8.

Beckner VE, Tucker DM, Delville Y, Mohr DC. Stress facilitates consolidation of verbal memory for a film but does not affect retrieval. Behav Neurosci. 2006;120:518-27.

Noble KG, Korgaonkar MS, Grieve SM, Brickman AM. Higher education is an age-independent predictor of white matter integrity and cognitive control in late adolescence. Dev Sci. 2013;16:653-64.

Lawson GM, Duda JT, Avants BB, Wu J, Farah MJ. Associations between children's socioeconomic status and prefrontal cortical thickness. Dev Sci. 2013;16:641-52.

Piccolo L da R, Salles JF. Vocabulário e memória de trabalho predizem desempenho em leitura de crianças. Psicol Teor Prat. 2013;15:180-91.

Peeters M, Verhoeven L, de Moor J, van Balkom H, van Leeuwe J. Home literacy predictors of early reading development in children with cerebral palsy. Res Dev Disabil. 2009;30:445-61.

Kim Y-S. The relationship between home literacy practices and developmental trajectories of emergent literacy and conventional literacy skills for Korean children. Read Writ. 2007;22:57-84.

Stalder T, Kirschbaum C. Analysis of cortisol in hair--state of the art and future directions. Brain Behav Immun. 2012;26:1019-29.

Hackman DA, Farah MJ. Socioeconomic status and the developing brain. Trends Cogn Sci. 2009;13:65-73.

Noble KG, Houston SM, Brito NH, Bartsch H, Kan E, Kuperman JM. Family income, parental education and brain structure in children and adolescents. Nat Neurosci. 2015;18:773-8.

Forns J, Julvez J, García-Esteban R, Guxens M, Ferrer M, Grellier J. Maternal intelligence-mental health and child neuropsychological development at age 14 months. Gac Sanit. 2012;26:397-404.

Power TG. tress and coping in childhood: the parents' role. Parent Sci Pract. 2004;4:271-317.

McEwen BS. Protective and damaging effects of stress mediators. N Engl J Med. 1998;338:171-9.

6169e323a953955c9a506a55 trends Articles
Links & Downloads

Trends Psychiatry Psychother

Share this page
Page Sections