The purpose of the proposed research is to examining individual differences in stress susceptibility as a moderating factor in the relationship between environmental stressors and child health. Centering on previously observed associations between stress and illness experience this application advances a new account for the apparent unevenness of stress-related effects on health in childhood. It is proposed that past work on the stress-illness hypothesis has been flawed by a failure to address one component of the classic host-environment-illness triad of epidemiologic investigation. Missing from much of previous research is a systematic consideration of individual variability in children's physiologic and behavioral response to stressors. Based on an emerging body of research examining psychobiologic differences in stress response patterns, the proposal predicts the identification of a subgroup of preschool children with evidence of exaggerated. hyperdynamic responses to environmental challenge- lt is further predicted that children demonstrating excessive responsiveness will react to naturally occurring stressors with disproportionate rates of injuries and respiratory tract infections. Finally, the proposal argues that the elucidation of host response as an important, additional factor in the relationship between stress and child health will have significant implications for the development of preventive strategies in pediatrics and behavioral medicine. A population of 70 preschool children attending two university- affiliated daycare centers will be followed for one year, prospectively ascertaining the incidence and severity of injuries and infectious respiratory illnesses. Environmental stress-- comprising acute and chronic stressors occurring in both the family and daycare settings--will be measured using interviews, questionnaires, and daycare staff checklists at baseline and throughout the study period. Stress response will be assessed using: a) physiologic measures of cardiovascular and neuroendocrine reactivity to laboratory challenge, and b) naturalistic observations of behavioral markers, in the form of aggressive and/or inhibited behavior. It is hypothesized that a significant interaction will be found between environmental stressors and individual stress responses, such that children with both a large number of stressors and a high level of stress responsiveness will have the greatest incidence and severity of changes in health.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01HD024718-03
Application #
3325559
Study Section
Behavioral Medicine Study Section (BEM)
Project Start
1989-04-01
Project End
1994-03-31
Budget Start
1991-04-01
Budget End
1994-03-31
Support Year
3
Fiscal Year
1991
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
University of California San Francisco
Department
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
073133571
City
San Francisco
State
CA
Country
United States
Zip Code
94143
Boyce, W Thomas (2016) Differential Susceptibility of the Developing Brain to Contextual Adversity and Stress. Neuropsychopharmacology 41:142-62
Ellis, Bruce J; Essex, Marilyn J; Boyce, W Thomas (2005) Biological sensitivity to context: II. Empirical explorations of an evolutionary-developmental theory. Dev Psychopathol 17:303-28
Boyce, W Thomas; Ellis, Bruce J (2005) Biological sensitivity to context: I. An evolutionary-developmental theory of the origins and functions of stress reactivity. Dev Psychopathol 17:271-301
Quas, Jodi A; Murowchick, Elise; Bensadoun, Jennifer et al. (2002) Predictors of children's cortisol activation during the transition to kindergarten. J Dev Behav Pediatr 23:304-13
Quas, J A; Hong, M; Alkon, A et al. (2000) Dissociations between psychobiologic reactivity and emotional expression in children. Dev Psychobiol 37:153-75
Alkon, A; Ragland, D R; Tschann, J M et al. (2000) Injuries in child care centers: gender-environment interactions. Inj Prev 6:214-8
Alkon, A; Genevro, J L; Tschann, J M et al. (1999) The epidemiology of injuries in 4 child care centers. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 153:1248-54
Alkon, A; Boyce, J C (1999) Health assessment in child care centers: parent and staff perceptions. Pediatr Nurs 25:439-42
Liang, S W; Jemerin, J M; Tschann, J M et al. (1997) Life events, frontal electroencephalogram laterality, and functional immune status after acute psychological stressors in adolescents. Psychosom Med 59:178-86
Tschann, J M; Kaiser, P; Chesney, M A et al. (1996) Resilience and vulnerability among preschool children: family functioning, temperament, and behavior problems. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 35:184-92

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