Effect of Childhood Trauma on the Association Between Stress-Related Psychological Factors and Hair Cortisol Level in Young Adults

Abstract

Objective Relationship between hair cortisol concentration (HCC) and stress-related psychological measures are inconclusive, possibly due to overlooked heterogeneity regarding childhood trauma and a lack of comprehensive research on stress-related psychological factors. This study aims to compare young adults without history of childhood trauma to young adults who experienced childhood trauma using HCC and various stress-related psychological factors, as well as investigate the impacts of childhood trauma on the association between HCC and stress-related psychological measures.Methods A total of 206 young, healthy adults were recruited. We divided participants into two groups depending on whether or not they had suffered moderate-to-severe childhood trauma (CT+ and CT-) and compared HCC and various stress-related psychological measures between groups. Using multiple linear regression analyses, we assessed the associations between HCC and stress-related psychological measures for each group.Results We found no difference between the groups in HCC or the reported number of stressful life events in the past year; however, CT+ individuals reported higher stress perception, more depressive and anxiety-related symptoms, and more difficulties in emotion regulation than CT- individuals. HCC was associated with emotion dysregulation among the CT- individuals, but not among the CT+ individuals.Conclusion These findings suggest that history of childhood trauma should be considered in studies using HCC as a biomarker for stress in young adults. Furthermore, HCC might be a useful biomarker of stress and stress-related emotion dysregulation in individuals without moderate-to-severe childhood trauma.

Theory of mind and hair cortisol in healthy young adults: the moderating effects of childhood trauma

“…This data set was used in a previous study (Won Jae Kim et al, 2021b ). Briefly, healthy individuals were recruited via advertisement on a job vacancy website.…”

“…Given the long-lasting impact of childhood adversity on the HPA axis, HCC could be a reliable measurement to reflect long-term cumulative cortisol secretion over several months (Russell et al, 2012 ). We previously found an association between stress-related psychological factors and HCC regarding a history of CT (Won Jae Kim et al, 2021b ). Because psychiatric illnesses (Fiksdal et al, 2019 ) or age (Dettenborn et al, 2012 ) could affect baseline cortisol levels, mentally healthy participants with a limited age to young adulthood would be beneficial to exclude the confounding effects.…”