The Interactive Effects of Stressful Family Life Events and Cortisol Reactivity on Adolescent Externalizing and Internalizing Behaviors

Abstract

This study investigated the associations between stressful family life events and adolescent externalizing and internalizing behaviors, and the interactive effects of family life events and cortisol reactivity on problem behaviors. In a sample of 100 mothers and their adolescents (M age = 15.09; SD age = 0.98; 68% girls), adolescent cortisol reactivity was measured in response to a mother-adolescent conflict interaction task designed to elicit a stress response. Mothers reported on measures of family life events and adolescent problem behaviors. Results indicated that a heightened adolescent cortisol response moderated the relations between stressful family life events and both externalizing and internalizing behaviors. Results support context-dependent theoretical models, suggesting that for adolescents with higher cortisol reactivity (compared to those with lower cortisol reactivity), higher levels of stressful family life events were associated with greater problem behaviors, whereas lower levels of stressful family life events were related to fewer problem behaviors.

The interaction between parenting and children's cortisol reactivity at age 3 predicts increases in children's internalizing and externalizing symptoms at age 6

“…However, to date, studies examining the interactive effect of cortisol reactivity and stress on psychopathology have been mixed. In preschool-age, school-age, and adolescent youth, the combination of environmental stress and both heightened (Hastings et al, 2011; Obradović et al, 2010; Saxbe et al, 2012; Steeger, Cook, & Connell, 2016; von Klitzing et al, 2012) and blunted (Badanes et al, 2011; Kushner et al, 2016) cortisol reactivity have been linked to both greater internalizing and externalizing symptoms. These studies have been largely limited to cross-sectional designs and have typically not examined both children's internalizing and externalizing psychopathology in the same study, making it difficult to determine whether these associations vary over time.…”

Biosocial studies of antisocial behavior: A systematic review of interactions between peri/prenatal complications, psychophysiological parameters, and social risk factors

“…Accordingly, biosocial interactions using other biological measures are outside of the scope of this review. We refer the interested reader to other publications on biosocial interaction in the area of genetics 1 (see Janssens et al, 2015;King et al, 2016;Marsman, Oldehinkel, Ormel, & Buitelaar, 2013;Tuvblad et al, 2016;Watts & McNulty, 2016), brain abnormalities (see Raine et al, 2001), neuropsychology (see Jackson & Beaver, 2016;Levine, 2011;Yun & Lee, 2013), neurotransmitters (see Moffitt et al, 1997), and hormones (see Ellis & Das, 2013;Pascual-Sagastizabal et al, 2014;Steeger, Cook, & Connell, 2017;Yu et al, 2016).…”

Moderated Mediation of the Link between Parent-Adolescent Conflict and Adolescent Risk-Taking: the Role of Physiological Regulation and Hostile Behavior in an Experimentally Controlled Investigation

“…In sum, although adolescents are generally more vulnerable to engaging in risk behavior than other age groups due to their differential brain development, it is situations that require adolescents to make calculated decisions in the context of stress that may highlight this vulnerability even more than neutral situations. In other words, both contextual factors and individual difference factors are important when investigating mechanisms of youth psychopathology and maladjustment (Steeger et al 2017).…”