Abstract
We aimed to explore the association between family conflict and HPA axis activity, especially with respect to the potential modulating effect of puberty. A total of 205 adolescents and 244 adult parents were recruited. Family conflict was assessed by the family conflict subscale of the Family Environmental Scale and serial salivary cortisol was measured in all participants. A marginally lower AUCg at 30 minutes after wake up in the morning and a significant lower AUCg at 60 minutes and 90 minutes in adult parents with high family conflict was found when compared to those with low family conflict. In adolescents, there were significant interaction effects between pubertal status and family conflict on AUCg (interaction p values <0.05). Among the adolescents with low family conflict, those at late/post pubertal status had higher AUCg than their pre/early pubertal counterparts but this difference was not observed in the adolescents with high family conflict. Adverse family environment is associated with HPA axis dysfunction in adults and late/post pubertal adolescents and pubertal maturation plays a critical role in modulating the association between family environment and HPA axis function.
Highlights
Cortisol level is an indicator of the function of hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis with a significant circadian variability[3]
Recruitment and salivary sample collection were more likely to be completed during winter and spring and less likely to be completed during summer for adolescent participants with high family conflict
We found that participants with high family conflict had a lower level of cortisol secretion in the first 1.5 hours after awakening, which was independent of the concomitant physical, sleep and mental disorders
Summary
Cortisol level is an indicator of the function of hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis with a significant circadian variability[3]. Previous studies have suggested that females have a higher cortisol response to acute stress and awakening on workdays (indicating work-related stress) than males[22,23,24] but little is known whether there are sex differences in HPA axis response to family conflict. In view of the potential roles of puberty in modulating the effects of adverse environments on HPA axis activity, we hypothesized that pubertal status may modulate the association between family conflict and diurnal cortisol profiles. As previous studies have suggested a potential role of puberty in modulating the parent-child conflict[2], we aimed to explore whether there is an interaction effect between the level of family conflict and pubertal status on the diurnal cortisol profiles. We explored whether there are sex differences in HPA axis response to family conflict
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