Access to high-quality early music education programs may mitigate the effects of poverty on the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, but fundamental questions remain about the role of early educators in conveying these benefits. In the current study, we measured the basal or resting cortisol levels of 76 children (M[subscript age] = 4.17…

For centuries we have been using food for our well-being and health maintenance. As far back as Hippocrates (known as the father of medicine), food has been a center stone used as the good or suffering of humanity. The Bible references food and fasting, cleansing and revitalization to heal the spirit. Before the scientific discovery of synthetic…

The development of young children can be disrupted by repeated stress because stress triggers a response which changes the chemistry of their bodies (National Scientific Council on the Developing Child (NSCDC), 2014). Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) is used to describe stressful or traumatic experiences which threaten children's development.…

Food neophobia, defined as an unwillingness to consume novel and unfamiliar foods, is common in young children. Assessment of neophobia can be a challenge with this audience. With the increase in nutrition interventions focused on the young child, valid and reliable measures to assess willingness to try new foods that can be administered in groups…

This within-subjects experimental study investigated the influence of the arts on cortisol for economically disadvantaged children. Participants were 310 children, ages 3-5 years, who attended a Head Start preschool and were randomly assigned to participate in different schedules of arts and homeroom classes on different days of the week. Cortisol…

We examined whether the moderating role of cortisol in the relation between physical peer victimization and physical aggression was better accounted for by a diathesis-stress model or a differential susceptibility model using a multi-informant approach (direct observations, teacher reports, and parent reports) of 198 preschool-aged children…

The study included 12 preschool departments, with two teachers in six departments characterised by high levels of stress and burnout and two teachers in six departments characterised by low levels of stress and burnout. A total of 24 females with a mean age of 43.5 years participated in the study. The teachers rated stress, fatigue, work demands…

The aim of this study was to investigate whether the preschool activities challenge the stress regulative system in children. We used a multi-system approach to evaluate the underlying processes of stress responses and measured both cortisol and [alpha]-amylase responses after emotionally and cognitively challenging tasks followed by a recovery…

Institutional care has been shown to lead to insecure and disorganized attachments and indiscriminate friendliness. Some children, however, are surprisingly resilient to the adverse environment. Here the protective role of the long variant of the serotonin receptor gene (5HTT) is explored in a small hypothesis-generating study of 37 Ukrainian…

Children of ages 3 to 4.5 years (N = 107; 45 boys, 62 girls) were studied twice, 6 months apart, to examine whether the cortisol rise in child care at Time 1 (T1) was associated with (a) changes in anxious, vigilant behavior from T1 to Time 2 (T2) and (b) higher internalizing symptoms at T2. Controlling for measures of home environment and child…

The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of early educational quality on children's cortisol levels. It was hypothesised that the environmental stressors might load children's immature stress regulative systems thus affecting their diurnal cortisol levels. The study sample consisted of 146 preschool-aged children. Cortisol was measured…

The purpose of this research is to explore the dynamics of cortisol regulation in the context of center-based child care by examining the impact of social context (large classroom vs. small group) and relationship quality with caregivers (conflict with mothers and teachers). We extend the research on children's physiologic stress system…

This study introduces a novel application of structural equation modeling (SEM) for the analysis of cortisol data that are collected using a pre-post-post design. By way of an extended example, an SEM model is developed that permits an examination of both the overall level of cortisol, as well as changes in cortisol (reactivity and regulation), as…

Teacher-child relationships were examined as predictors of cortisol change in preschool children. Saliva for assays was collected from one hundred and ninety-one 4-year-olds (101 boys) in the mornings and afternoons on 2 days at child care, and before and after a series of challenging tasks and a teacher-child interaction session outside the…