ABSTRACT

Children’s attachments to their parents may help regulate their hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axes. Prior research has largely focused on children with relatively consistent and low-risk caregiving histories, resulting in limited knowledge about the associations between attachment quality and HPA axis reactivity among children who have experienced early adversity. This study investigated whether dimensional measures of attachment quality were associated with HPA responses to the Strange Situation Procedure (SSP) among 64 children ages 11–33 months adopted internationally from institutional or foster care. Children who showed high levels of attachment avoidance exhibited a blunted cortisol response during the SSP. Conversely, children who sought proximity and contact with their adoptive parents exhibited an increase in cortisol reactivity during the SSP, followed by a return to baseline levels after the completion of the procedure. This association was independent of the previously reported association between parental insensitivity and blunted cortisol responses in this sample.

 抽象的

孩子对父母的依恋可能有助于调节他们的下丘脑-垂体-肾上腺（HPA）轴。先前的研究主要集中在具有相对一致和低风险照料史的儿童，导致对经历过早期逆境的儿童的依恋质量和 HPA 轴反应性之间的关系了解有限。本研究调查了国际上从机构或寄养机构收养的 64 名 11-33 个月的儿童中，依恋质量的维度测量是否与 HPA 对陌生情境程序 (SSP) 的反应相关。表现出高度依恋回避的儿童在 SSP 期间表现出皮质醇反应迟钝。相反，寻求与养父母亲近和接触的儿童在 SSP 期间表现出皮质醇反应性增加，随后在手术完成后恢复到基线水平。这种关联与之前报道的样本中父母不敏感和皮质醇反应减弱之间的关联无关。