Human attachment triggers different social buffering mechanisms under high and low early life stress rearing

Abstract

Social buffering - the attenuation of stress by maternal safety signals - is a core mammalian-general stress management mechanism implicating two ancient systems: the oxytocinergic and HPA systems. Yet, because human attachments are representation-based, understanding social buffering mechanisms in humans requires the assessment of relationship history and consideration of early life stress (ELS), which alters stress responsivity. We followed a unique trauma-exposed cohort across childhood, versus a low-stress control group, and repeatedly observed maternal sensitive, safety-promoting style. In adolescence, we used an attachment induction paradigm that exposed children to both live and reminders of attachment safety signals and measured oxytocin and cortisol baseline and response, to test how maternal safety signals impact hormonal reactivity in children reared under high- versus low-stress conditions. Only safety-promoting mothers exhibited a stress-buffering function, but their effect was system-specific and depended on the rearing context. For oxytocin, safety-promoting mothers normalized the deficient baseline oxytocin levels observed in ELS youth by implicating a plasticity-by-affiliation mechanism. For cortisol, safety-promoting mothering reduced the initial stress response only among youth reared in low-stress contexts via the typical buffering-by-safety mechanism. Results suggest that human attachments require internalized security evolving over time to trigger a stress buffering function. Under conditions of chronic early stress, the stressful rearing context overrides the maternal safety signals, normative stress buffering mechanisms fail, and safety-promoting mothers switch to an immature, affiliation-based mechanism that relies on maternal presence.