The relation between maternal and infant cortisol responses has been a subject of intense research over the past decade. Relatedly, it has been hypothesized that maternal history of childhood maltreatment (MCM) impacts stress regulation across generations. The current study employed four statistical approaches to determine how MCM influences the cortisol responses of 150 mothers and their 4-month-old infants during the Still-Face Paradigm. Results indicated that MCM moderated cortisol patterns in several ways. First, lower MCM mothers and infants had strong positive associations between cortisol levels measured at the same time point, whereas higher MCM mothers and infants did not show an association. Second, infants of higher MCM mothers had cortisol levels that were moderately high and remained elevated over the procedure, whereas infants of lower MCM mothers had decreasing cortisol levels over time. Third, higher MCM mothers and infants showed increasingly divergent cortisol levels over time, compared to lower MCM dyads. Finally, patterns of cross-lagged influence of infant cortisol on subsequent maternal cortisol were moderated by MCM, such that lower MCM mothers were influenced by their infants' cortisol levels at earlier time points than higher MCM mothers. These findings highlight MCM as one contributor to processes of stress regulation in the mother–infant dyad.

中文翻译：

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母亲的童年虐待经历 压力下母婴皮质醇调节的中度模式

在过去的十年中，母婴皮质醇反应之间的关系一直是深入研究的主题。相关地，据推测，母亲的童年虐待史 (MCM) 会影响几代人的压力调节。目前的研究采用四种统计方法来确定 MCM 如何影响 150 名母亲及其 4 个月大的婴儿在静脸范式期间的皮质醇反应。结果表明，MCM 以多种方式调节皮质醇模式。首先，MCM 较低的母亲和婴儿在同一时间点测量的皮质醇水平之间具有很强的正相关性，而 MCM 较高的母亲和婴儿没有显示出相关性。其次，较高 MCM 母亲的婴儿皮质醇水平中等偏高，并且在整个手术过程中保持升高，而低 MCM 母亲的婴儿皮质醇水平会随着时间的推移而降低。第三，与较低的 MCM 二元组相比，较高的 MCM 母亲和婴儿随着时间的推移表现出越来越不同的皮质醇水平。最后，MCM 缓和了婴儿皮质醇对随后母体皮质醇的交叉滞后影响模式，因此，MCM 较低的母亲比 MCM 较高的母亲在更早的时间点受到婴儿皮质醇水平的影响。这些发现强调 MCM 作为母婴压力调节过程的一个贡献者。因此，与较高 MCM 母亲相比，较低 MCM 母亲在更早的时间点受到婴儿皮质醇水平的影响。这些发现强调 MCM 作为母婴压力调节过程的一个贡献者。因此，与较高 MCM 母亲相比，较低 MCM 母亲在更早的时间点受到婴儿皮质醇水平的影响。这些发现强调 MCM 作为母婴压力调节过程的一个贡献者。