Parent–child relationship quality and adolescent health: Testing the differential susceptibility and diathesis‐stress hypotheses in African American youths

Abstract

This study tested two competing models of differential susceptibility and diathesis‐stress in a prospective longitudinal study of African American youths (N = 935). It examined whether individual variations in the functioning of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenocortical axis at age 11 interact with middle childhood parent–child relationship quality to predict mental and physical health problems in adolescence (ages 11–15 years old). Adolescent boys with lower levels of cortisol reactivity to laboratory challenges had the highest levels of internalizing problems if they experienced a high conflictual relationship with their parents. Equally low‐reactive boys, however, reported the lowest number of physical illnesses if their relationship with their parents was characterized by high levels of intimacy and support.

The Moderating Role of Cortisol and Negative Emotionality in the Effects of Classroom Size and Window View on Young Children’s Executive Functions

“…In particular, cortisol and negative emotionality have been focal phenotypic markers of physiological reactivity in this realm. In this line of research, studies have explored how individual differences in cortisol reactivity (change in cortisol levels in response to external stimuli, such as stress or a challenge) might moderate the relationship between environmental experiences and developmental outcomes (e.g., [36][37][38][39][40]). Overall, the accumulated evidence on the moderating effects of cortisol reactivity aligns well with the DST, suggesting that individuals exhibiting elevated cortisol reactivity are more susceptible to both enriching and adverse environmental inputs [35,37,39,41], with some findings corresponding to the diathesis-stress model [36,38].…”