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Attachment theory suggests that parent responsiveness to infant distress predicts secure parent–child attachment and subsequent healthy child development. While much is known about microsystem factors that interfere with responsive caregiving, there is a paucity of research investigating how exosystem factors, such as neighborhood crime, affect parenting. In a sample of 200 diverse caregivers and their 5- to 21-month-old infants (M = 11.82; 49% male), we leveraged data from a randomized clinical trial of Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-up (ABC), an attachment-based intervention, to assess whether individual level burden (indicated by single-parent status, low income, residential instability, young parenthood, parental psychopathology, and own history of early adversity) and neighborhood crime density (geocoded within a 500 ft radius of parent's residence) were associated with their beliefs about infant crying, an indicator of responsive parenting. Consistent with Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems' theory of development, both greater exposure to individual burden indicators and greater neighborhood crime density predicted greater maladaptive beliefs about infant crying, suggesting that contextual factors outside the household are associated with parenting cognitions. Further, when accounting for the effect of crime and individual burden on parental beliefs about infant crying, participation in the ABC intervention was effective in reducing maladaptive parenting beliefs. We consider implications for multi-level intervention approaches that target family processes, neighborhood-level factors, and policy initiatives to promote community wellbeing and positive child development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Childhood adversity has been associated with hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis dysregulation, which is associated with mental and physical health consequences. However, associations between childhood adversity and cortisol regulation in the current literature vary in magnitude and direction. This multilevel meta-analysis examines the association between childhood adversity and diurnal cortisol measures, as well as potential moderators of these effects (adversity timing and type, study or sample characteristics). A search was conducted in online databases PsycINFO and PubMed for papers written in English. After screening for exclusion criteria (papers examining animals, pregnant women, people receiving hormonal treatment, people with endocrine disorders, cortisol before age 2 months, or cortisol after an intervention), 303 papers were identified for inclusion. In total, 441 effect sizes were extracted from 156 manuscripts representing 104 studies. A significant overall effect was found between childhood adversity and bedtime cortisol, r = 0.047, 95% CI [0.005, 0.089], t = 2.231, p = 0.028. All other overall and moderation effects were not significant. The lack of overall effects may reflect the importance of the timing and nature of childhood adversity to adversity's impact on cortisol regulation. Thus, we offer concrete recommendations for testing theoretical models linking early adversity and stress physiology.