Citation

Morris MC, Abelson JL, Mielock AS, Rao U. Stress 2017; 20(4): 350-354.

Affiliation

Center for Behavioral Health Research, University of Tennessee , Knoxville , TN.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/10253890.2017.1340450

PMID

28595479

Abstract

Childhood trauma (CT) is associated with long-lasting alterations of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and elevated risk for stress exposure in adulthood. Although HPA alterations are present in the early aftermath of trauma, it remains unclear how initial HPA activity is associated with subsequent stress exposure and whether CT exposure influences the strength and direction of this association. The present study examined prospective associations between hair cortisol content (HCC) and stress exposure from baseline to 3-month follow-up in young adult women with recent (i.e., past 3 months) exposure to interpersonal violence (IPV; i.e., physical or sexual assault) and non-traumatized controls. History of significant CT (abuse or neglect was determined based on clinical cutoffs for a self-report childhood trauma measure: 12 women had abuse or neglect and recent IPV exposure (CT+IPV); 7 women had abuse or neglect but no IPV exposure (CT); 15 women had no history of trauma (NTC). HCC was computed for 3cm sections reflecting cortisol secretion during the 3 months preceding the baseline assessment. The interaction of cumulative trauma and HCC predicted stress exposure over 3-month follow-up, controlling for baseline stress exposure and depressive symptoms. Simple slopes analyses revealed that lower baseline HCC predicted greater stress exposure in the CT+IPV group compared to the CT group; HCC was not associated with stress exposure in the NTC group. The present findings highlight the potential utility of HCC as a predictor of stress exposure for women with a history of childhood abuse or neglect, particularly in the context of recent IPV.

Language: en

Keywords

abuse; childhood trauma; hair cortisol; interpersonal violence; neglect; stress