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Age-Adapted Stress Task in Preschoolers Does not Lead to Uniform Stress Responses

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Abstract

Acute stress response measures serve as an indicator of physiological functioning, but have previously led to contradictory results in young children due to age-related cortisol hypo-responsivity and methodological inconsistencies in assessment. The aim of this study was to investigate stress responses during a validated age-adapted socio-evaluative stress task in children aged 2-6 years in a child care environment and to detect socio-demographic, task- and child-related characteristics of stress responses. Stress responses were assessed in 323 children for salivary cortisol and salivary alpha amylase (sAA), and in 328 children for changes in heart rate variability (HRV). These data were then associated with socio-demographic (e.g. SES), task-related (e.g. task length) and child-related characteristics (e.g. self-regulation) of stress responses using multilevel models. Analyses revealed elevated sympathetic reactivity (sAA: Coeff=0.053, p=0.004) and reduced HRV (Coeff=-0.465, p<0.001), but no hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) response (Coeff=0.017, p=0.08) during the stress task. Child's age (Coeff=-5.82, p<0.001) and movement during the task (Coeff=-0.17, p=0.015) were associated with acute cortisol release, while diurnal sAA was associated with acute sAA release (Coeff=0.24, p<0.001). Age (Coeff=-0.15, p=0.006) and duration of the task (Coeff=0.13, p=0.015) were further associated with change of HRV under acute stress condition. Children showed inconsistent stress responses which contradicts the assumption of a parallel activation of both stress systems in a valid stress task for young children and might be explained by a pre-arousal to the task of young children in a child care setting. Further results confirm that child- and task-related conditions need to be considered when assessing stress responses in these young children.

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Notes

  1. To compute Cohen’s d we used the standard deviation of the heart rate measure at baseline (19.94), as suggested by Feingold (2009) for a pre-post design.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank all children, families and child care centers that contributed data to SPLASHY. We also thank all students and the research team for their valuable contribution.

Funding

The study was funded by a Sinergia grant from the SNF (Grant Number: CRSII3_147673) (http://p3.snf.ch/project-147673) and by the Jacobs Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, University of Fribourg, Rue P.A. de Faucigny 2, 1700, Fribourg, Switzerland

    Kerstin Stülb, Nadine Messerli-Bürgy, Andrea H. Meyer, David Garcia-Burgos & Simone Munsch

  2. Department of Psychology - Clinical Child Psychology and Biological Psychology, University of Fribourg, Rue P.A. de Faucigny 2, 1700, Fribourg, Switzerland

    Nadine Messerli-Bürgy

  3. Endocrinology, Diabetes & Metabolism Service, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV), Avenue Pierre Decker 2, 1011, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Nadine Messerli-Bürgy, Amar Arhab & Jardena J. Puder

  4. Child Development Center, University Children’s Hospital Zurich, Steinwiesstrasse 75, 8032, Zurich, Switzerland

    Tanja H. Kakebeeke, Annina E. Zysset & Oskar G. Jenni

  5. Children’s Research Center, University Children’s Hospital Zurich, Steinwiesstrasse 75, 8032, Zurich, Switzerland

    Tanja H. Kakebeeke & Oskar G. Jenni

  6. Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Prevention Institute, University of Zurich, Hirschengraben 84, 8001, Zurich, Switzerland

    Claudia S. Leeger-Aschmann, Einat A. Schmutz & Susi Kriemler

  7. Department for Psychology, University of Basel, Missionsstrasse 62A, 4055, Basel, Switzerland

    Andrea H. Meyer

  8. Department of Psychology - Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, University of Zurich, Binzmühlestrasse 14/Box 26, 8050, Zurich, Switzerland

    Ulrike Ehlert

  9. Division of Pediatric Endocrinology, Diabetology and Obesity, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV), Hôtel des Patients, Ave de Sallaz 8, 1011, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Jardena J. Puder

Authors
  1. Kerstin Stülb
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  2. Nadine Messerli-Bürgy
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  3. Tanja H. Kakebeeke
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  4. Amar Arhab
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  5. Annina E. Zysset
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  6. Claudia S. Leeger-Aschmann
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  7. Einat A. Schmutz
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  8. Andrea H. Meyer
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  9. David Garcia-Burgos
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  10. Ulrike Ehlert
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  11. Susi Kriemler
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  12. Oskar G. Jenni
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  13. Jardena J. Puder
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  14. Simone Munsch
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The overall study was designed and performed by SK, OJ, JP and SM. SM designed the overall aim and JP the lab values/timing of the substudy. All authors conducted this research project and contributed to the data collection. AM assisted in statistical analyses. KS drafted and NM and SM revised the first version of the manuscript. All co-authors elaborated and commented on the manuscript. All authors approved the final version of the manuscript. The last 4 authors have a shared last authorship.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Simone Munsch.

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Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Ethical approval

The study was approved by the ethical committee of the canton of Vaud figuring as the leading committee representing all Swiss cantons, where children and their families were involved in recruitment and study participation (No 338/13 for main ethical committee of the canton of Vaud, Switzerland).

Informed consent

Parents of the recruited children provided written informed consent.

Additional information

Susi Kriemler, Oskar G. Jenni, Jardena J. Puder, and Simone Munsch are shared last authors.

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Stülb, K., Messerli-Bürgy, N., Kakebeeke, T.H. et al. Age-Adapted Stress Task in Preschoolers Does not Lead to Uniform Stress Responses. J Abnorm Child Psychol 47, 571–587 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-018-0475-x

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