TY - JOUR
T1 - Cortisol secretion in children with symptoms of reactive attachment disorder
AU - Kocovska, Eva
AU - Wilson, Philip
AU - Young, David
AU - Wallace, Alan Michael
AU - Gorski, Charlotta
AU - Follan, Michael
AU - Smillie, Maureen
AU - Puckering, Christine
AU - Barnes, James
AU - Gillberg, Christopher
AU - Minnis, Helen
PY - 2013/8
Y1 - 2013/8
N2 - Maltreated children with Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) have severe problems with social relationships and affect regulation. An association between early maltreatment and changes in the daily rhythm of cortisol secretion has already been reported for maltreated toddlers. We sought to find out whether such changes were apparent in school-age children with symptoms of RAD, who had experienced early maltreatment but were currently adopted in well functioning families. We recruited 66 children: 34 5-12 year old adopted children with an early history of maltreatment and with social difficulties such as indiscriminate friendliness; and 32 age- and sex-matched comparison children with no history of maltreatment or social difficulties. Daily rhythms of cortisol production were determined from saliva samples collected over 2 days. The adopted group had significantly lower absolute levels of cortisol compared to the control group, but a typical profile of cortisol secretion. There was no association between cortisol secretion and symptom scores for psychopathology.
AB - Maltreated children with Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) have severe problems with social relationships and affect regulation. An association between early maltreatment and changes in the daily rhythm of cortisol secretion has already been reported for maltreated toddlers. We sought to find out whether such changes were apparent in school-age children with symptoms of RAD, who had experienced early maltreatment but were currently adopted in well functioning families. We recruited 66 children: 34 5-12 year old adopted children with an early history of maltreatment and with social difficulties such as indiscriminate friendliness; and 32 age- and sex-matched comparison children with no history of maltreatment or social difficulties. Daily rhythms of cortisol production were determined from saliva samples collected over 2 days. The adopted group had significantly lower absolute levels of cortisol compared to the control group, but a typical profile of cortisol secretion. There was no association between cortisol secretion and symptom scores for psychopathology.
KW - maltreatment
KW - adoption
KW - indiscriminate friendliness
KW - reactive attachment disorder
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84881543067&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.psy-journal.com/home
U2 - 10.1016/j.psychres.2012.12.011
DO - 10.1016/j.psychres.2012.12.011
M3 - Article
VL - 209
SP - 74
EP - 77
JO - Psychiatry Research
JF - Psychiatry Research
SN - 0165-1781
IS - 1
ER -