Five-year-olds’ cortisol reactions to an attachment story completion task

Abstract

An earlier study showed that negative parent-child interactions elicit cortisol increases in 5-year-old children (Smeekens et al., 2007a). In the present study, we examined whether an "imaginary" parent-child interaction situation, in which the child used a parent and child doll to complete a set of more or less stressful story beginnings, also elicited cortisol increases in the children. In a sample of 89 five-year-old children (47 boys), an attachment story completion task (Verschueren and Marcoen, 1994) was administered during a school visit. Saliva samples to assess children's cortisol levels were collected right after arrival of the experimenter at the school (T0, baseline), immediately prior (T1, pretest) and 20min after (T2, posttest) the completion of the task. Hierarchical regression analysis indicated that children who displayed more insecure stories (i.e., stories depicting the parent as unavailable, unsupportive, or hostile) showed larger relative cortisol increases, but only if they had highly negative parent-child interactions 1 week earlier. Children who did not have negative interactions with the parent showed no cortisol increases when playing insecure stories. The results suggest that it is not the playing of insecure stories itself but perhaps the emotional memories of negative parent-child interactions triggered while playing insecure stories that elicit cortisol increases in children. This underscores the profound impact that negative interactions with parents may have on children's functioning and development, not only at the behavioural and emotional level, but also at the level of physiological arousal and regulation. Results also suggest that a secure attachment to one parent may act as a buffer against negative effects of low-quality interactions with the other parent, but more research is needed to more thoroughly test this assumption.