relationship of adolescent baseline cortisol and maternal support on adulthood depression in female victims of childhood sexual abuse
Open Access
- Author:
- Ward, Kimberly Irene
- Area of Honors:
- Biobehavioral Health
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Science
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Jennie G Noll, Thesis Supervisor
David John Vandenbergh, Thesis Honors Advisor
Jennie G Noll, Faculty Reader - Keywords:
- cortisol
depression
childhood sexual abuse
maternal support - Abstract:
- Childhood maltreatment is an issue of major public health concern linked to adverse developmental outcomes throughout childhood, adolescence and adulthood. Recent studies and literature emphasize the need to investigate the biobehavioral risk factors of psychopathology amongst populations where maltreatment, specifically childhood sexual abuse, has occurred. Previous research has found that victims of chronic stress and trauma present with an attenuated stress response to compensate for prolonged hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activation. A prolonged stress response is associated with adult depression, a condition also associated with early life adversity, while positive social support is known to buffer against future psychopathology. This study focuses specifically on the relationship between childhood sexual abuse, baseline cortisol levels, maternal social support, and depressive symptoms in adulthood. The data used comes from an ongoing prospective, longitudinal study of women who have undergone substantiated childhood sexual abuse (n=64) and a comparison group (n=86). Sexual abuse was determined at the initial visit (Time 1). Baseline cortisol was measured 7 years after the initial visit during adolescence (Time 4) as well as the participants’ perceived maternal support. Depressive symptoms were assessed 6 years later during adulthood (Time 6). While controlling for race and age, a multiple linear regression showed that there were no significant interactions between childhood sexual abuse, baseline cortisol, maternal social support, and depressive symptoms in adulthood. These results show that there are discrepancies amongst research and future studies must continue to focus on the biobehavioral risks that victims of maltreatment face which may negatively influence their long-term health.