Extant research is mixed regarding the relations among lifetime exposure to stressors, adrenocortical activity, and executive function (EF), particularly in children. Aggregate measures of adrenocortical activity like hair cortisol concentration (HCC), timing of stress exposure, and age at assessment may clarify these associations. This cross-sectional study examined the association among parent-reported exposure to stressors, hair cortisol concentration (HCC), and children's EF via a tablet task in a community sample (n = 318, 52.5% female) of children across a wide age range (4–13 years, M = 9.4, SD = 2.3). Path analyses revealed that parent-reported child lifetime exposure to stressors, but not past-year stressful life events, negatively predicted HCC. There was also a marginally significant moderation by age such that HCC was associated negatively with EF for younger children (age < 9.7 years) but not older children. HCC did not significantly mediate the association between lifetime exposure to stressors and EF. Findings are consistent with the proposition that chronically high cortisol production has a neurotoxic effect on brain regions supporting EF. However, lifetime exposure to stressors predicted relatively lower cumulative cortisol production, consistent with a stress inoculation effect in this normative-risk sample.

中文翻译：

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终生压力源、头发皮质醇和执行功能：儿童时期与年龄相关的关联

关于终生暴露于压力源、肾上腺皮质活动和执行功能 (EF) 之间的关系，现有的研究结果参差不齐，尤其是在儿童中。肾上腺皮质活动的综合测量值，如头发皮质醇浓度 (HCC)、压力暴露时间和评估年龄，可能会阐明这些关联。这项横断面研究通过在社区样本（n  = 318，52.5% 的女性）中的广泛年龄范围的儿童样本中的平板电脑任务，检查了父母报告的压力源暴露、头发皮质醇浓度 (HCC) 和儿童 EF 之间的关联（4-13 岁，M  = 9.4，SD = 2.3)。路径分析显示，父母报告的儿童终生暴露于压力源，而不是过去一年的压力生活事件，负面预测 HCC。年龄也有轻微的显着缓和，因此对于年幼的儿童（年龄 < 9.7 岁），HCC 与 EF 呈负相关，但与年龄较大的儿童无关。HCC 并没有显着介导终生暴露于压力源和 EF 之间的关联。研究结果与长期高皮质醇产生对支持 EF 的大脑区域具有神经毒性作用的命题一致。然而，终生暴露于压力源预测相对较低的累积皮质醇产生，这与该规范风险样本中的压力接种效应一致。