Early life adversity in the form of inadequate caregiving has been linked to greater risk of physical and psychological illness over the lifespan. Self-regulatory ability in response to stress has been proposed as a mechanism linking early family experiences to long-term health. Although well-studied in children, little is known about the extent to which caregiving experiences affect self-regulatory ability into adulthood. In addition, individual differences in cognitive and affective self-regulatory responses to stress may mediate or moderate physiological responses. The current study will address this important potential cognitive pathway linking early caregiving experiences to stress-responding in adulthood. Participants will include 60 young adult men and women; half from high conflict/low affection family environments, and half from low conflict/high affection family environments. A social interaction task will be conducted in which participants role-play making a request from a difficult neighbor (a confederate from the research team). Blood pressure will be taken continuously, and salivary cortisol will be measured before and at 3 timepoints following the role-play. The task will be videotaped and analyzed for negative verbal and nonverbal behavior, and coping styles. Emotional responses and cognitive appraisals of the situation and the confederate will be assessed following the task. We hypothesize that participants from high conflict/low affection family environments will display greater negative affectivity during the role-play, maladaptive coping responses, greater negative cognitive appraisals, and elevated cortisol and blood pressure responses relative to those from low conflict/high affection backgrounds. We also hypothesize that cognitive/affective responses will mediate physiological reactivity. This study will provide important information regarding the role of cognitive and emotional responses to stress as a mechanism linking early caregiving experiences to physiological reactivity and long-term health. An understanding of cognitive and emotional mechanisms underlying psychological and physiological vulnerability will help to articulate and define appropriate targets for psychotherapeutic intervention with individuals rendered vulnerable by inadequate early caregiving.
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