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The relations between social behavior and daily patterns of a stress-sensitive hormone production were examined in preschool children (N = 75) attending center-based child care. Three behavioral dimensions, shy/anxious/internalizing, angry/aggressive/externalizing, and social competence, were assessed by teacher report and classroom observation, and their relations with 2 measures of cortisol activity, median (or typical) levels and reactivity (quartile range score between second and third quartile values) were explored. Cortisol-behavior relations differed by gender: significant associations were found for boys but not for girls. Specifically, for boys externalizing behavior was positively associated with cortisol reactivity, while internalizing behavior was negatively associated with median cortisol. Time of day of cortisol measurement affected the results. Surprisingly, median cortisol levels rose from morning to afternoon, a pattern opposite to that of the typical circadian rhythm of cortisol. This rise in cortisol over the day was positively correlated with internalizing behavior for boys. The methodological and theoretical implications of these findings for the study of the development of hormone-behavior relations are discussed.

In this study, we examined a model that describes both direct and indirect pathways between children's temperament and activity of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis when children are in peer-group settings. We hypothesize that in peer-group settings both shy, inhibited and exuberant, undercontrolled children would exhibit higher cortisol levels, but these associations would operate through different pathways. Sociometric measures of peer rejection, salivary cortisol, and teacher reports of temperament were collected on 82 preschoolers. Children who were rejected by classmates had higher cortisol levels than the other children. The combination of Surgency and Poor Effortful Control (Effortful Control, reverse scored) was associated with elevated cortisol through a pathway mediated by aggressive interactions with peers and peer rejection. With the indirect path explained, the combination of Surgency and Poor Effortful Control also was directly and negatively associated with classroom cortisol levels. These results help explain why temperament associations with HPA activity have been variable and difficult to discern when children are assessed in peer-group contexts. In these contexts, both direct and indirect pathways between temperament and cortisol need to be examined. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 43: 343–358, 2003.

In this report we use results from evaluations of welfare-to-work programs and findings of basic research on children and families to anticipate the implications for children of the 1996 federal welfare legislation, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA; P.L. 104-193). The new law replaces the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) entitlement program with the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) block grant to states. Much of the concern about the possible implications of the legislation has focused on adult recipients, especially whether adults will be able to make a transition to stable employment (McMurrer, Sawhill, & Lerman, 1997; Nightingale, 1997). Yet children comprise the majority of those receiving public assistance. In 1995, approximately two-thirds (9.3 of 13.6 million) of those receiving Aid to Families with Dependent Children each month were children (U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Ways and Means, 1996). Further, provisions of the new legislation, particularly the work requirements, have clear implications for children’s child care situations and experiences within the family. Thus, there is also growing concern about how children may be affected by the new policy (see Blank & Blum, 1997; Collins, 1997; Collins & Aber, 1997; Kisker & Ross, 1997; Knitzer & Bernard, 1997; Larner, Terman, & Behrman, 1997; Moffitt & Slade, 1997; Parcel & Menaghan, 1997). The policy change is too recent for us to have a body of research results focusing specifically on PRWORA and children. Yet research findings from two other sources can aid us in anticipating the implications of the new legislation for children. First, some research in the past decade has extended the use of random assignment evaluation studies of welfare-to-work programs to consider effects on both adults and

We examined 10:30 a.m. salivary cortisol levels in twenty-four 2-year-old children at home, and then at several points during transition into preschool: Week 1, Weeks 6-9, and the 1st week following a month-long holiday break. Cortisol levels did not increase when the children first started school as compared to either home or later school levels. Cortisol levels were correlated across similar, but not across dissimilar, psychosocial contexts. Home levels were correlated wit more shy, anxious, internalizing behavior while the response to starting school was correlated with more assertive, angry, and aggressive behavior. Behavior was assessed using parent temperament reports, teacher reports, and observational measures. We conclude that HPA activity as indexed by salivary cortisol measures is differentially associated with behavior in familiar and novel contexts. Consistent with our prior work, shy/anxious behavior is not significantly associated with elevations in cortisol when young children enter new social situations.

The relations among temperament, social competence, and levels of a stress-sensitive hormone (salivary cortisol) were examined in two studies of preschoolers children (Study 1, N = 29; Study 2, N = 46). In both studies, we sampled cortisol daily for the initial weeks of school year (Group Formation period) and for several weeks later in the year (Familiar Group period). For each child, we examined two measures of cortisol activity (separately for each period) based on the distribution of cortisol levels across days: (a) median cortisol (50th percentile) and (b) cortisol reactivity (the difference between the 75th and 50th percentile). Median cortisol was modestly stable across periods, but cortisol reactivity was not. Children who showed high cortisol reactivity (75th minus 50th percentile > or = 0.10 micrograms/dl) during the Group Formation period but low-to-normal cortisol reactivity during the Familiar Group period were outgoing, competent, and well liked by their peers. In contrast, children who changed from low/normal to high cortisol reactivity and those who maintained high cortisol reactivity from the Group Formation to Familiar Group period were affectively negative and solitary. Children who showed high median cortisol during the Familiar Group period or over both periods scored lower on a measure of attentional and inhibitory control. Together, these results suggest that relations among temperament, social competence, and neuroendocrine reactivity reflect both individual and contextual differences.