Intervention Effects on Morning and Stimulated Cortisol Responses among Toddlers in Foster Care

Toddlers in child welfare often have a dysregulated stress response. We tested whether toddlers with caregivers randomized to a 10‐week attachment‐based intervention, Promoting First Relationships (PFR; J.F. Kelly, D. Sandoval, T.G. Zuckerman, & K. Buehlman, 2008) would show postintervention change in stimulated salivary cortisol patterns during a research home visit involving a separation–reunion procedure, as compared to a condition including child development and resource advice, but no attachment strategies. At baseline and postintervention, toddlers with a caregiver change within 7 weeks of enrollment ( n = 48, age 10–25 months) provided four saliva samples during a 11⁄2hr research visit, and samples the next morning. The categorical dependent variable was the pattern of cortisol activity during the course of the postintervention research visit: flat, decreasing, or increasing. Multinomial logistic regression was used to test for postintervention group differences in cortisol patterns, controlling for time of day, child's age, morning cortisol level, and baseline cortisol pattern. At baseline and postintervention, 92% of children demonstrated atypically low morning cortisol (

Cortisol awakening response · Developmental psychology · Hydrocortisone · Logistic regression · Morning · Psychiatry · Saliva · Child Abuse and Trauma · Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development · Clinical Psychology · Demography · Maternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and Postpartum · Medicine · Psychology · Internal Medicine

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