Improving infants' stress-induced cortisol regulation through attachment-based intervention: A randomized controlled trial
Abstract
Attachment-based parenting interventions have shown positive effects on early cortisol regulation, a key biomarker. Evaluations to date have focused on diurnal cortisol production in high-risk infants. It is important to understand whether attachment-based intervention may also improve stress-induced cortisol production in typically developing infants. This randomized controlled trial tested an enhanced model of U.S. Early Head Start (EHS) services that combined home-based EHS with a brief, attachment-based parenting intervention, Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-up (ABC). The trial included 153 low-income mothers and their infants (M age 12.4 months [SD = 4.1]). Control participants received home-based EHS plus 10 weekly books. Intent-to-treat analyses using multilevel models revealed a significant indirect intervention effect on infants' rates of cortisol change in response to a series of mild stressors. The intervention increased maternal sensitivity, which in turn improved cortisol regulation, particularly infants' rates of cortisol recovery. The findings illustrate the efficacy of EHS plus ABC for supporting infants' stress-induced cortisol regulation and implicate sensitive maternal behavior as the underlying driver of the intervention effect. Findings are discussed in terms of the preventative value of attachment-based parenting interventions that improve both parenting and infants' physiological regulation.
How strong is the evidence?
Evidence Hub reads this as a randomized trial, done in people. Its evidence level is 2 of 5 (High · randomized trial). Randomized trials of a reasonable size are the strongest single-study design.
Read the paper
Related studies
- Cortisol, obesity and the metabolic syndrome: A cross-sectional study of obese subjects and review of the literature
- Relationships between lead biomarkers and diurnal salivary cortisol indices in pregnant women from Mexico City: a cross-sectional study
- Pubertal Recalibration of Cortisol Reactivity Following Early Life Stress: A Cross-Sectional Analysis
- High-end normal adrenocorticotropic hormone and cortisol levels are associated with specific cardiovascular risk factors in pediatric obesity: a cross-sectional study
- Effects of remote virtual work environment during COVID-19 pandemic on technostress among Menoufia University Staff, Egypt: a cross-sectional study
- Low serum albumin, aspartate aminotransferase, and body mass are risk factors for frailty in elderly people with diabetes–a cross-sectional study
Go deeper in Evidence Hub
Evidence Hub adds a study data sheet (design, sample size, evidence level, key numbers), an AI summary and a chat grounded in the paper's text.