Hair cortisol as a biomarker of chronic stress in preadolescents: influence of school context and bullying

Bullying has been identified as the most common form of aggression and a major source of stress among children and adolescents. The main objective of this study was to analyze the association that school context in general and bullying in particular might have with hair cortisol concentration (HCC),...

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Detalhes bibliográficos
Autores: Babarro, Izaro, Ibarluzea, Jesús, Theodorsson, Elvar, Fano, Eduardo, Lebeña, Andrea, Guxens Junyent, Mònica, Sunyer Deu, Jordi, Andiarena, Ainara
Tipo de documento: artigo
Estado:Versão publicada
Data de publicação:2022
País:España
Recursos:Universitat Pompeu Fabra
Repositório:Repositorio Digital de la UPF
OAI Identifier:oai:repositori.upf.edu:10230/54957
Acesso em linha:http://hdl.handle.net/10230/54957
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09297049.2022.2115991
Access Level:Acceso aberto
Palavra-chave:Hair cortisol
Bullying
Executive function
Preadolescents
School context
Descrição
Resumo:Bullying has been identified as the most common form of aggression and a major source of stress among children and adolescents. The main objective of this study was to analyze the association that school context in general and bullying in particular might have with hair cortisol concentration (HCC), examining the effect of executive function and sex on this association. The study included 659 11-year-old preadolescents from the cohorts of Gipuzkoa and Sabadell of the INMA (INfancia y Medio Ambiente-Children and Environment) project. We gathered information about school-related factors (bullying, school environment, problems with peers and academic performance) and executive function (risky decision-making). Hair samples were collected to measure cortisol concentrations and Structural Equation Modeling was used to examine associations between school-related factors, executive function and HCC. Results showed that being involved as a bully/victim was related to higher HCC and, higher HCC was associated with poorer executive function. This study may contribute to a better understanding of the consequences that chronic exposure to a stressful factors may have on preadolescents' health and developmental outcomes. Besides, our results are relevant for designing programs for prevention and intervention, which could modify individual physiological responses to stress and reduce the effects of stress on the health.