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. 2009 Winter;21(1):69-85.
doi: 10.1017/S0954579409000054.

Developmental changes in hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal activity over the transition to adolescence: normative changes and associations with puberty

Megan R Gunnar  1 , Sandi Wewerka, Kristin Frenn, Jeffrey D Long, Christopher Griggs
Affiliations

Developmental changes in hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal activity over the transition to adolescence: normative changes and associations with puberty

Megan R Gunnar et al. Dev Psychopathol. 2009 Winter.

Erratum in

  • Dev Psychopathol. 2010 Winter;22(1):237

Abstract

Home baseline and laboratory stressor (Trier Social Stress Test for Children) measures of salivary cortisol were obtained from 82 participants (40 girls) aged 9, 11, 13, and 15 years. Measures of pubertal development, self-reported stress, parent reports of child depressive symptoms and fearful temperament, and cardiac measures of sympathetic and parasympathetic activity were also obtained. Significant increases in the home cortisol baselines were found with age and pubertal development. Cortisol stress reactivity differed by age group with 11-year-olds and 13-year-old boys showing blunted reactivity and 9-year-olds, 13-year-old girls, and 15-year-olds showing significant cortisol reactions. Cortisol reactivity correlated marginally with sexual maturation. Measures of sympathetic activity revealed increased sympathetic modulation with age. Higher sympathetic tone was associated with more fearful temperament, whereas greater cortisol reactivity was associated with more anxious and depressed symptoms for girls. The importance of these findings for the hypothesis that puberty-associated increases in hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activity heightens the risk of psychopathology is discussed.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Home cortisol by age group in micrograms per deciliter (mg/dl). Bars reflect standard errors of the mean.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Laboratory cortisol by age group in micrograms per deciliter (mg/dl). Bars reflect standard errors of the mean. The period from introduction of the TSST-C until the end of the speech/math period is indicated.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Means and standard errors of the mean of cortisol AUC (baseline corrected) in response to the TSST-C by age group. Separation means for boys and girls are depicted at age 13 to reflect the significant gender difference in cortisol response at this age.
Figure 4
Figure 4. Means and standard errors of the mean for HR activity during the TSST-C by age group
Figure 5
Figure 5
Means and standard errors of the mean for PEP during the TSST-C by age group.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Home cortisol measures (AUCh) as a function of puberty score.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

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