Cortisol secretion in children with symptoms of reactive attachment disorder.

Abstract

Maltreated children with reactive attachment disorder (RAD) have severe problems with social relationships and affect regulation. An association between early maltreatment and changes in the daily rhythm of cortisol secretion has already been reported for maltreated toddlers. We sought to find out whether such changes were apparent in school-age children with symptoms of RAD, who had experienced early maltreatment but were currently adopted in well-functioning families. We recruited 66 children: 34 adopted children, aged 5-12 years, with an early history of maltreatment and with social difficulties such as indiscriminate friendliness; and 32 age- and sex-matched comparison children with no history of maltreatment or social difficulties. Daily rhythms of cortisol production were determined from saliva samples collected over 2 days. The adopted group had significantly lower absolute levels of cortisol compared to the control group, but a typical profile of cortisol secretion. There was no association between cortisol secretion and symptom scores for psychopathology.

• Authors: Eva Kočovská, Philip Wilson, David Young, Alan Michael Wallace, Charlotta Gorski, Michael Follan, Maureen Smillie, Christine Puckering, James Barnes, Christopher Gillberg, Helen Minnis
• Journal: Psychiatry research (Psychiatry Res) Vol. 209 Issue 1 Pg. 74-7 (Aug 30 2013) ISSN: 1872-7123 [Electronic] Ireland
• PMID: 23351606 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)
• Copyright: Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Chemical References

• Hydrocortisone

Topics

• Child
• Child Abuse (psychology)
• Child, Preschool
• Female
• Humans
• Hydrocortisone (metabolism)
• Male
• Reactive Attachment Disorder (metabolism)
• Saliva (metabolism)
• Surveys and Questionnaires