How Low Socioeconomic Status Affects 2-Year Hormonal Trajectories in Children

摘要

Disparities by socioeconomic status (SES) are seen for numerous mental and physical illnesses, and yet understanding of thepathways to health disparities is limited. We tested whether SES alters longitudinal trajectories of cortisol output and whattypes of psychosocial factors could account for these links. Fifty healthy children collected saliva samples (four times per day for2 days) at 6-month intervals for 2 years. At baseline, families were interviewed about SES and psychosocial factors. Lower-SESchildren displayed greater 2-year increases in daily cortisol output compared with higher-SES children. These effects werepartially mediated by children's perceptions of threat and by family chaos. These findings may help explain, and provide somefirst steps toward ameliorating, low-SES children's vulnerability to health problems later in life by identifying the tendency toperceive threat in ambiguous situations and experiences of chaos as factors that link low SES to 2-year hormonal trajectories.