Suchergebnisse

Childhood maltreatment is an established risk factor for varying configurations of psychological problems in emerging adulthood. The current study tested associations between childhood maltreatment, cortisol reactivity, and current mental health symptoms in emerging adulthood. Eighty-eight participants (aged 18–22) completed measures of childhood maltreatment and current internalizing and externalizing symptoms and participated in a 10-min conflict role-play task. Salivary cortisol was sampled throughout the task, and a residualized change score between baseline and peak time points was computed to capture reactivity. Results from robust regression analyses indicated that cortisol reactivity moderated the association between childhood maltreatment and mental health symptoms as hypothesized. Childhood maltreatment was related to greater internalizing problems among participants with higher cortisol reactivity, whereas maltreatment was associated with greater externalizing problems among participants who exhibited lower cortisol reactivity. Results suggest that patterns of cortisol reactivity in emerging adulthood may help elucidate mental health outcomes associated with childhood maltreatment.

We evaluated the long‐term impact of father supportive behaviors post‐divorce on youth physical health perceptions, mediated through youth's protective resources. Youth (N = 240; 49% female, 88% Caucasian) reported on father supportive behaviors post‐divorce four times (between ages 9–12), protective resources once (age 15–19), and perceptions of physical health at age 24–28. Higher father support behaviors predicted more protective resources in adolescence which predicted better perceived health in young adulthood. Father support post‐divorce can have long‐term benefits for offspring health by promoting child‐level protective resources.