父子依恋、母子依恋与儿童应激下皮质醇反应的关系

本研究以北京115名五、六年级的学生为被试,采用儿童版特里尔社会应激测试(Trier Social Stress Test for Children,TSST-C),探究父子依恋、母子依恋与儿童应激下皮质醇反应的关系。研究分别在基线阶段、TSST-C开始前、TSST-C结束后、TSST-C结束后的10分钟、25分钟和50分钟收集儿童的唾液样本,并让儿童完成亲子依恋问卷。采用SPSS 20.0进行方差分析和回归分析。结果发现:(1)安全型父子依恋儿童的应激下皮质醇反应显著高于不安全型父子依恋儿童,反映在皮质醇值和皮质醇基于增加的曲线下面积(area under the curve with respect to increase,AUCI)两个指标上;(2)不同母子依恋类型儿童的应激下皮质醇反应(即皮质醇值和AUCI)不存在显著差异;(3)在控制了人口学变量之后,父子依恋依旧可以显著地正向预测儿童的皮质醇反应(皮质醇AUCI),但母子依恋对儿童皮质醇反应的预测作用不显著,且父子依恋对儿童皮质醇反应的预测作用边缘显著大于母子依恋对儿童皮质醇反应的预测作用。研究结果表明,安全型父子依恋与儿童应激下更高的皮质醇反应相关。

The Effects of Paternal-and Maternal-attachment on Children's Cortisol Reactivity to Stress

To test the associations between paternal-and maternal-attachment and children's cortisol reactivity to stress, a sample of 115 healthy children (ages 9.25~13.67) was recruited from an elementary school in Beijing, China. The present study performed the Trier Social Stress Test for Children (TSST-C) protocol, which is the most widely used psychosocial stress protocol in laboratory studies of human subjects. Children were asked to complete a videotaped 5-min public speaking task and a 5-min mental arithmetic task in front of two evaluative and non-responsive audience members. Six salivary samples were collected throughout the session:baseline (-20min), after preparation (-3min), after TSST-C task (+1min), first recovery (+10min), second recovery (+25min) and third recovery (+50min). Parental-attachment was assessed via self-report by using the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (IPPA). Results showed that:(1) In comparison with children who reported secure paternal-attachment, children who reported insecure paternal-attachment displayed blunted cortisol responses to stress, as indexed by the lower cortisol levels across time and smaller area under the curve with respect to increase (AUC_I). (2) Maternal-attachment was not associated with cortisol levels across time or AUC_I. (3) Regression analyses indicated that after controlling for age, gender, BMI, subject social status, pubertal status, and monthly income, higher levels of paternal-attachment predicted larger AUC_I. These findings suggested that secure paternal-attachment was associated with children's higher cortisol responses to stress.