Poverty, Caregiving, and HPA-Axis Activity in Early Childhood

Abstract

The association between poverty and the activity of the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis in early childhood is well established. Both ecological and transactional theories suggest that one way in which poverty may influence children's HPA-axis activity is through its effects on parents' behaviors, and over the past three decades a substantial literature has accumulated indicating that variations in these behaviors are associated with individual differences in young children's HPA-axis activity. More recent research suggests that non-parental caregiving behaviors are associated with HPA-axis activity in early childhood as well. Here we systematically review the literature on the association between both parental and non-parental caregiving behaviors in the context of poverty and the activity of the HPA-axis in early childhood. We conclude by noting commonalities across these two literatures and their implications for future research.

Keywords: caregiving behaviors; early childhood; early education; hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis; parenting; poverty.

Figure 1.

Summary of the results of the literature search. Note that: 1) “report characteristic restrictions” (right-most column, top-most box) refer to inclusion criteria based on report characteristics (e.g., published in English); the text following the heading (e.g., “no caregiver behaviors assessed”) in the box in the right-most column, third from the top lists the reasons studies were excluded following full-text review; and 3) that two studies featured parental and non-parental caregiving and are therefore included in Tables 1 and 2.