Childcare as a stabilizing influence on HPA axis functioning: A reevaluation of maternal occupational patterns and familial relations

Abstract

The influence of family relations, maternal occupational characteristics, and childcare1The UK terms "childcare," childcare centres' and "nurseries" are used throughout this paper to define group care for children prior to starting their first year of formal schooling at age 4 years and are used synonymously with the American terms "day-care" and "preschool." This form of group care is provided in a formal setting, outside the family home and excludes "childminding" (i.e., childcare that may be group based and offered at the home of the care provider/childminder). In the UK, this form of childcare is offered from zero to 4 years old. Children are separated according to their age into small groups usually consisting of 10-15 children. In the present study, all children were in the preschool-aged group (3-4 years old). Where childcare of a different or more generic form is referred to, then this has been made clear in the context or stated in the text. utilization on preschool children's cortisol production were investigated in 56 mother-child dyads. Family characteristics and maternal employment, childcare and child temperament were reported by mothers. Morning and evening levels of children's salivary cortisol were obtained. Children in highly expressive or reserved families exhibited higher cortisol levels compared to children in moderately expressive families. Elevated levels of cortisol were detected in children of mothers reporting low levels of job role quality or high levels of emotional exhaustion. Frequent childcare use was found to protect children against the physiological effects of low maternal job role quality and emotional exhaustion. Findings underscore the pervasive role of the family as set within an external support system and highlight the potential physiological impact of these interacting contexts for children. Further research is needed to fully understand current findings and to develop appropriate psycho-physiological interventions.

A prospective study of diurnal cortisol responses to the social experience of school transition in four‐year‐old children: Anticipation, exposure, and adaptation

“…It is worth noting however, that whilst the influence of childcare is a controversial area, the psychoendocrine effects are not necessarily negative and childcare can be associated with positive outcomes (Chryssanthopoulou et al, 2005). In the present study only evening cortisol at transition was significantly associated with amount of time spent in childcare.…”

Chaos as a social determinant of child health: Reciprocal associations?

“…Many mothers work in hostile work environments and often face discrimination in the form of a “motherhood penalty” (Correll et al, 2007); these mothers may be more likely to avoid missing work to treat childhood illness or take their children to well-visits. Further, a study of physiological stress in children found low job role quality and emotional exhaustion among mothers to be associated with higher levels of stress among children (Chryssanthopoulou et al, 2005), with implications for their physical and mental health.…”

Hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis activity and upper respiratory tract infection in young children transitioning to primary school

“…To ensure that the time of sampling was not related to the cortisol value, the difference between time of waking and time of measure was correlated with the morning cortisol; (2) the evening measure was taken at a time when children would have returned home from school and be adapting from the school to home environment; (3) diurnal change was computed by subtracting awakening from evening values (thus, more negative values reflect a steeper decline from morning to evening) as applied in previous adult and child studies (Chryssanthopoulou et al 2005;Sephton et al 2000;Watamura et al 2003) and (4) mean cortisol was measured averaging the morning and evening values for each time point.…”

“…Parents were asked that their children refrain from eating, drinking, brushing teeth or clearing their throat prior to sample collection at both sampling times. Although we did not use an electronic means of assessing wakeup, the sampling protocol was the same as that in our previous study of children of a similar age (Chryssanthopoulou et al 2005) in which we achieved a high level of compliance. Several steps were taken to control for non-compliance with the awakening sample, including the use of a saliva sampling booklet given to all parents where they were able to document any difficulties with sampling such as any delay between the child waking and the sampling time.…”