Within-adolescent coupled changes in cortisol with DHEA and testosterone in response to three stressors during adolescence

Kristine Marceau, Elizabeth A. Shirtcliff, Paul D. Hastings, Bonnie Klimes-Dougan, Carolyn Zahn-Waxler, Lorah D. Dorn, Elizabeth J. Susman

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

50 Scopus citations

Abstract

It is hypothesized that hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal and hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axes function together to maintain adaptive functioning during stressful situations differently in adolescence than the characteristic inverse relations found in adulthood. We examined within-person correlated changes (coupling) in cortisol, DHEA and testosterone in response to parent-adolescent conflict discussion, social performance, and venipuncture paradigms. Data are derived from two samples of boys and girls from the Northeastern US (213 adolescents aged 11-16, M= 13.7, SD= 1.5 years; 108 adolescents aged 9-14, M= 11.99, SD= 1.55) using different biological sampling vehicles (saliva and blood). Results consistently show that across samples, vehicles, and contexts, cortisol and DHEA and cortisol and testosterone are positively coupled in response to environmental stimuli. Findings underscore the importance of considering the effects of multiple hormones together in order to further our understanding of the biological underpinnings of behavior, especially during adolescence, as adolescence is a developmental transition period that may be qualitatively different from adulthood in terms of hormone functioning.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)33-45
Number of pages13
JournalPsychoneuroendocrinology
Volume41
DOIs
StatePublished - 2014

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We thank the families of the NIMH-NICHD study and the Adolescent Emotions Study (AES). Funding for the NIMH-NICHD was provided by the Intramural Research Program of the NIMH and of the NICHD . Funding for the AES was funded as part of a research program in the Section of Developmental Psychopathology supported by the Intramural Research Program of the NIMH (97-M-0116, Zahn-Waxler). Additional funding was provided by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (F31 DA033737, Marceau) and manuscript preparation was supported in part by grant number T32DA016184 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse at the National Institutes of Health.

Funding Information:
The intramural programs of the National Institute on Mental Health and National Institute on Child Health and Human Development at the National Institutes of Health supported data collection of the studies used in this secondary data analysis. Data analysis and manuscript preparation was supported in part by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (F31 DA033737 and T32DA016184).

Keywords

  • Adolescence
  • Cortisol
  • DHEA
  • Social stress
  • Testosterone
  • Venipuncture
  • Within-person coupling

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