Citation

Hutt RL, Buss KA, Kiel EJ. Infancy 2013; 18(5): 708-728.

Affiliation

Miami University.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2013, International Society on Infant Studies, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1532-7078.2012.00141.x

PMID

24659922

PMCID

PMC3959777

Abstract

Previous research has shown that caregiver protective behavior may exacerbate toddler distress in specific contexts. The current study sought to extend this work to examine associations between these variables and toddler cortisol reactivity. Ninety-three 24-month-old toddlers were observed across six novel contexts designed to elicit distress. Toddlers were asked to give saliva samples at the beginning and end of the laboratory procedure. Toddler sadness, toddler fear, and caregiver protective behavior were coded.

RESULTS indicate that caregiver protective behavior accounted for the association between toddler sadness and cortisol reactivity where higher levels of protective behavior were associated with higher cortisol reactivity. The current study showed that caregiver protective behavior, which functions to prevent a child from interacting with a novel stimulus, is an important mechanism to consider when understanding toddler stress responses during novel contexts.

Language: en