Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Individual differences in biological stress responses moderate the contribution of early peer victimization to subsequent depressive symptoms

  • Original Investigation
  • Published:
Psychopharmacology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Rationale

Some children who are exposed to early peer victimization become depressed, whereas others are resilient. Understanding individual differences in responses to early adversity, such as victimization, is critical for developing both comprehensive theoretical models and effective interventions.

Objectives

This study examined whether individual differences in biological stress responses (i.e., activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and autonomic nervous system) moderated the contribution of peer victimization to depressive symptoms across a 1-year period.

Methods

Children (N = 132; M age = 9.46 years, SD = 0.33) completed measures of peer victimization and depressive symptoms, and rated their ruminative responses (i.e., persistent thoughts about negative task-related emotion and experiences) to a laboratory-based social challenge task involving two conflict-of-interests situations with an unfamiliar peer. Children’s saliva was collected prior to, and following, participation in the task, and was later assayed for cortisol and alpha amylase [sAA].

Results

Victimization interacted with levels of cortisol measured in anticipation of the task to predict task-related rumination and depressive symptoms 1 year later, adjusting for initial symptoms. Specifically, victimization served as a risk factor for rumination and depressive symptoms in children with heightened but not dampened anticipatory cortisol; yet, heightened anticipatory cortisol was protective against rumination and depressive symptoms in low-victimized children. Victimization also predicted subsequent depressive symptoms in girls with high sAA reactivity across the task.

Conclusions

This study advances contemporary theory and research by implicating individual variation in biological stress responses as one determinant of sensitivity to the mental health effects of early adversity.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. On average, the time difference between when children were informed about the study and the pre-task sample was about 55 min (SD = 42), with a minimum of 20 min.

  2. Some of these means and bivariate correlations are also reported in a prior manuscript (Rudolph et al. 2010b).

References

  • Adam EK, Granger DA (2010) Diurnal alpha-amylase patterns in adolescents: associations with health behaviors and momentary mood states. Manuscript submitted for publication

  • Afifi TD, Granger DA, Aldeis D, Joseph A, Denes A (2009) The influence of divorce and parents’ communication skills on adolescents’ and young adults’ stress reactivity and recovery. Manuscript submitted for publication

  • Aiken LS, West SG (1991) Multiple regression: testing and interpreting interactions. Sage, Newbury Park

    Google Scholar 

  • Angold A, Costello EJ, Messer SC, Pickles A, Winder F, Silver D (1995) Development of a short questionnaire for use in epidemiological studies of depression in children and adolescents. Int J Meth Psychiatr Res 5:237–249

    Google Scholar 

  • Bauer DJ, Curran PJ (2005) Probing interactions in fixed and multilevel regression: inferential and graphical techniques. Multivar Behav Res 40:373–400

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beauchaine TP, Gatzke-Kopp L, Mead HK (2007) Polyvagal theory and developmental psychopathology: emotion dysregulation and conduct problems from preschool to adolescence. Biol Psychol 74:174–184

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Blair C, Granger D, Razza RP (2005) Cortisol reactivity is positively related to executive function in preschool children attending head start. Child Dev 76:554–567

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Boivin M, Hymel S, Bukowski WM (1995) The roles of social withdrawal, peer rejection, and victimization by peers in predicting loneliness and depressed mood in childhood. Dev Psychopathol 7:765–785

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bollmer JM, Harris MJ, Milich R (2006) Reactions to bullying and peer victimization: narratives, physiological arousal, and personality. J Res Pers 40:803–828

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boyce WT, Ellis BJ (2005) Biological sensitivity to context: I. An evolutionary-developmental theory of the origins and functions of stress reactivity. Dev Psychopathol 17:271–301

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Boyce WT, Frank E, Jensen PS, Kessler RC, Nelson CA, Steinberg L, MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Psychopathology and Development (1998) Social context in developmental psychopathology: recommendations for future research from the MacArthur network on psychopathology and development. Development and Psychopathology 10:143–164

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bryk AS, Raudenbush SW (1992) Hierarchical linear models: applications and data analysis methods. Sage, Thousand Oaks

    Google Scholar 

  • Buss KA, Davidson RJ, Kalin NH, Goldsmith HH (2004) Context specific freezing and associated physiological reactivity as a dysregulated fear response. Dev Psychol 40:583–594

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Byrd-Craven J, Granger DA, Auer BH (2010) Stress reactivity to co-rumination in young women’s friendships: cortisol, alpha-amylase, and negative affect focus. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, in press

  • Chrousos GP, Gold PW (1992) The concepts of stress and stress system disorders. J Am Med Assoc 267:1244–1252

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Chrousos GP, Loriaux LD, Gold PW (1988) The concept of stress and its historical development. In: Chrousos GP, Loriaux LD, Gold PW (eds) Mechanisms of physical and emotional stress: advances in experimental medicine and biology. Plenum, New York, pp 3–7

    Google Scholar 

  • Crick NR, Grotpeter JK (1996) Children’s treatment by peers: victims of relational and overt aggression. Dev Psychopathol 8:367–380

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dickerson SS, Kemeny ME (2004) Acute stressors and cortisol responses: a theoretical integration and synthesis of laboratory research. Psychol Bull 130:355–391

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • El-Sheikh M, Buckhalt JA, Erath SA, Granger DA, Mize J (2008) Cortisol and children’s adjustment: the moderating role of sympathetic nervous system activity. J Abnorm Child Psychol 36:601–611

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fortunato CK, Dribin AE, Granger DA, Buss KA (2008) Salivary alpha-amylase and cortisol in toddlers: differential relations with affective behavior. Dev Psychobiol 50:807–818

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Fox NA, Rutter M (2010) Introduction to the special section on the effects of early experience on development. Child Dev 81:23–27

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gibson EL, Checkley S, Papadopoulos A, Poon L, Daley S, Wardle J (1999) Increased salivary cortisol reliably induced by a protein-rich midday meal. Psychosom Med 61:214–24

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Goodyer IM (2009) Early onset depression: meanings, mechanisms, and processes. In: Nolen-Hoeksema S, Hilt LM (eds) Handbook of depression in adolescents. Routledge, New York, pp 239–258

    Google Scholar 

  • Goodyer IM, Herbert J, Tamplin A, Altham PME (2000) Recent life events, cortisol, dehydroepiandrosterone and the onset of major depression in high-risk adolescents. Br J Psychiatry 177:499–504

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gordis EB, Granger DA, Susman EJ, Trickett PK (2006) Asymmetry between salivary cortisol and alpha amylase reactivity to stress: relation to aggressive behavior in adolescents. Psychoneuroendocrinology 31:976–987

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Graham S, Juvonen J (1998) Self-blame and peer victimization in middle school: an attributional analysis. Dev Psychol 34:538–587

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Granger DA, Kivlighan KT, El-Sheikh M, Gordis E, Stroud LR (2007a) Salivary alpha-amylase in biobehavioral research: recent developments and applications. Ann NY Acad Sci 1098:122–144

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Granger DA, Kivlighan KT, Fortunato C, Harmon AG, Hibel LC, Schwartz EB, Whembolua GL (2007b) Integration of salivary biomarkers into developmental and behaviorally-oriented research: problems and solutions for collecting specimens. Physiol Behav 92:583–590

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Granger DA, Hibel LC, Fortunato CK, Kapelewski CH (2009) Medication effects on salivary cortisol: tactics and strategy to minimize impact in behavioral and developmental science. Psychoneuroendocrinology 34:1437–1448

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gunnar MR, Vazquez DM (2006) Stress neurobiology and developmental psychopathology. In: Cicchetti D, Cohen D (eds) Developmental psychopathology, vol. 2. Developmental neuroscience, 2nd edn. Wiley, New York, pp 533–577

    Google Scholar 

  • Gunnar MR, Talge NM, Herrera A (2009a) Stressor paradigms in developmental studies: what does and does not work to produce mean increases in salivary cortisol. Psychoneuroendocrinology 34:953–967

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gunnar MR, Wewerka S, Frenn K, Long JD, Griggs C (2009b) Developmental changes in HPA activity over the transition to adolescence: normative changes and associations with puberty. Dev Psychopathol 21:69–85

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hawker DSJ, Boulton MJ (2000) Twenty years’ research on peer victimization and psychosocial maladjustment: a meta-analytic review of cross-sectional studies. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 41:441–455

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Henry JP (1992) Biological basis of the stress response. Integr Physiol Behav Sci 27:66–83

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hughes JW, Watkins L, Blumenthal JA, Kuhn C, Sherwood A (2004) Depression and anxiety symptoms are related to increased 24-hour urinary norepinephrine excretion among healthy middle-aged women. J Psychosom Res 57:353–358

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Juvonen J, Graham S, Schuster M (2003) Bullying among young adolescent: the strong, the weak, and the troubled. Pediatrics 112:1231–1237

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kagan J, Reznick JS, Snidman N (1987) The physiology and psychology of behavioural inhibition in young children. Child Dev 58:1359–1473

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kalin NH, Shelton SE, Rickman M, Davidson RJ (1998) Individual differences in freezing and cortisol in infant and mother rhesus monkeys. Behav Neurosci 112:251–254

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kaufman J, Martin A, King RA, Charney D (2001) Are child-, adolescent-, and adult-onset depression one and the same disorder? Biol Psychiatry 49:980–1001

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kenny DA, Kashy DA, Cook WL (2006) Dyadic data analysis. Guilford, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Klimes-Dougan B, Hastings PD, Granger DA, Usher BA, Zahn-Waxler C (2001) Adrenocortical activity in at-risk and normally developing adolescents: individual differences in salivary cortisol basal levels, diurnal variation, and responses to social challenges. Dev Psychopathol 13:695–719

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ladd GW, Kochenderfer-Ladd B (2002) Identifying victims of peer aggression from early to middle childhood: analysis of cross-informant data for concordance, estimation of relational adjustment, prevalence of victimization, and characteristics of identified victims. Psychol Assess 14:74–96

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lundberg U, Frankenhaeuser M (1980) Pituitary-adrenal and sympathetic-adrenal correlates of distress and effort. J Psychosom Res 24:125–130

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Nadeem E, Graham S (2005) Early puberty, peer victimization, and internalizing symptoms in ethnic minority adolescents. J Early Adolescence 25:197–222

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nater UM, Rohleder N (2009) Salivary alpha-amylase as a non-invasive biomarker for the sympathetic nervous system: current state of research. Psychoneuroendocrinology

  • Nater UM, La Marca R, Florin L, Moses A, Langhans W, Koller MM, Ehlert U (2006) Stress-induced changes in human salivary alpha-amylase activity—associations with adrenergic activity. Psychoneuroendocrinology 31:49–58

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Nedefors T, Dahlof C (1992) Effects of the beta-adrenoceptor antagonists atenolol and propranolol on human whole saliva flow rate and composition. Arch Oral Biol 37:579–584

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nolen-Hoeksema S (2000) The role of rumination in depressive disorders and mixed anxiety/depressive symptoms. J Abnorm Psychol 109:504–511

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Obradovic J, Bush NR, Stamperdahl J, Adler NE, Boyce WT (2010) Biological sensitivity to context: the interactive effects of stress reactivity and family adversity on socioemotional behavior and school readiness. Child Dev 81:270–289

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • O’Connor TG (2003) Early experiences and psychological development: conceptual questions, empirical illustrations, and implications for intervention. Dev Psychopathol 15:671–690

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Powers SI, Laurent HK, Granger DA (2009) Individual coordination and dyadic attunement of HPA and SNS reactions to relationship conflict in dating couples. Manuscript submitted for publication

  • Prinstein MJ, Boergers J, Vernberg EM (2001) Overt and relational aggression in adolescents: social–psychological adjustment of aggressors and victims. J Clin Child Psychol 30:479–491

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rose A, Rudolph KD (2006) A review of sex differences in peer relationship processes: potential trade-offs for the emotional and behavioral development of girls and boys. Psychol Bull 132:98–131

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rudolph KD, Abaied J, Flynn M, Sugimura N, Agoston M (2009a) Making friends, being cool, and not looking like a loser: social goal orientation predicts children’s responses to peer aggression. Child Dev, in press

  • Rudolph KD, Troop-Gordon W, Flynn M (2009b) Relational victimization predicts children’s social-cognitive and self-regulatory responses in a challenging peer context. Dev Psychol 45:1444–1454

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rudolph KD, Troop-Gordon W, Hessel E, Schmidt J (2010a) A latent growth curve analysis of early and increasing victimization as predictors of mental health across elementary school. Manuscript submitted for publication

  • Rudolph KD, Troop-Gordon W, Granger DA (2010b) Peer victimization and aggression: moderation by individual differences in salivary alpha-amylase and cortisol. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, in press

  • Schachter S, Singer J (1962) Cognitive, social, and physiological determinants of emotional state. Psychol Rev 1962(69):379–399

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Speirs RL, Herring J, Cooper D, Hardy CC, Hind CRK (1974) The influence of sympathetic activity and isoprenaline on the secretion of amylase from the human parotid gland. Arch Oral Biol 19:747–752

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Stroud LR, Foster E, Papandonatos G, Handwerger K, Granger DA, Kivlighan KT, Niaura R (2009) Stress response and the adolescent transition: performance versus social rejection stress. Dev Psychopathol 21:47–68

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Susman E, Dorn LD, Inoff-Germain G, Nottelmann ED, Chrousos GP (1997) Cortisol reactivity, distress behavior, and behavioral and psychological problems in young adolescents: a longitudinal perspective. J Res Adolescence 7:81–105

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thapar A, McGuffin P (1998) Validity of the shortened mood and feelings questionnaire in a community sample of children and adolescents: a preliminary research note. Psychiatry Res 81:259–268

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Vigil JM, Geary, D. C., Granger, D. A., and Flinn, M. V. (2010). Sex differences in salivary cortisol, alpha-amylase, and psychological functioning following Hurricane Katrina. Child Development, 81:1227–1239

    Google Scholar 

  • Yim I, Granger DA, Quas JA (2010) Children’s and adults’ salivary alpha-amylase responses to a laboratory stressor and to verbal recall of the stressor. Manuscript submitted for publication

  • Zaccola PM, Dickerson SS, Zaldivar FP (2008) Rumination and cortisol responses to laboratory stressors. Psychosom Med 70:661–667

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the families and schools who participated in this study. We are grateful to Jamie Abaied, Monica Agoston, Hannah Banagale, Molly Bartlett, Sarah Kang, Megan Flynn, Nicole Llewelyn, and Niwako Sugimura for their assistance in data collection and management. This research was supported by a University of Illinois Arnold O. Beckman Award and National Institute of Mental Health Grant MH68444 awarded to Karen D. Rudolph.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 603 E. Daniel St., Champaign, IL, 61820, USA

    Karen D. Rudolph

  2. Department of Psychology, North Dakota State University, 102C Minard Hall, Fargo, ND, 58103, USA

    Wendy Troop-Gordon

  3. Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Pennsylvania State University, 315 East Henderson Building, University Park, PA, 16803, USA

    Douglas A. Granger

  4. Department of Biobehavioral Health, Pennsylvania State University, 315 East Henderson Building, University Park, PA, 16803, USA

    Douglas A. Granger

Authors
  1. Karen D. Rudolph
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Wendy Troop-Gordon
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Douglas A. Granger
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Karen D. Rudolph.

Additional information

In the interest of full disclosure, Douglas A. Granger is the founder and president of Salimetrics LLC (State College, PA).

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Rudolph, K.D., Troop-Gordon, W. & Granger, D.A. Individual differences in biological stress responses moderate the contribution of early peer victimization to subsequent depressive symptoms. Psychopharmacology 214, 209–219 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-010-1879-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-010-1879-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation