The relation of chronic stress during middle childhood to allostatic load in adolescence

Abstract

The association between stress and illness is well recognized. One recently proposed pathway between these constructs is the Allostatic Load framework, which is a biological-process model in which chronic stress is linked to physiological dysregulation. The current study tested one part of the Allostatic Load process model by looking at a spectrum of chronic stressors experienced in everyday life by healthy, typically¯-developing children during middle childhood, to find out whether their exposures are associated with the development of Allostatic Load at age 15. This was done by utilizing the National Institute of Child Health and Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (NICHD SECCYD) data and drawing on the Allostatic Load model. The level of chronic stress experienced during middle childhood is associated positively with Allostatic Load in adolescence. The Home/Family context is more predictive of Allostatic Load in adolescence than stress experienced in the Extrafamilial context. However, this relationship is moderated by the sex of the research participant: the relationship between Home/Family stress and Allostatic Load was only significant for males. In contrast, the relationship between Extrafamilial stress and Allostatic Load was only significant for females.