FAMILY STRESS, HAIR CORTISOL, AND ERROR-RELATED NEGATIVITY IN CHILDREN: POSITIVE PARENTING AS A PROTECTIVE FACTOR

Abstract

Socioeconomic disadvantage has been significantly associated with executive function difficulties in children. However, the neural underpinnings of this relationship are not yet fully understood. Socioeconomic context may influence the error-related negativity (ERN), an event-related potential reflecting neural processes underlying error monitoring. Family stress may be a key proximal mechanism through which socioeconomic disadvantage influences error-related neural activity. The primary goal of this study was to test preregistered hypotheses about associations among family stressor exposure (material hardship, stressful life events, parental stress), hair cortisol concentration (HCC; a measure of cortisol output across months), and ERN amplitude in children. A secondary goal was to examine whether positive parenting moderated associations between family stressor exposure and either HCC or ERN in children, as sensitive parenting is often protective against the impacts of socioeconomic disadvantage. Participants were typically developing 5- to 13-year-olds (57% male, N = 108). Results indicated that lower family income-to-needs ratio and parental education were associated with increased exposure to family stressors. Higher HCC was significantly associated with smaller ERN amplitude in children. Family stressor exposure was not significantly associated with either ERN amplitude or HCC in children. Positive parenting did not significantly moderate associations between family stressor exposure and HCC or ERN. This study is the first to show that HCC may be associated with error-related neural activity in children. Altered regulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis may lead to blunted neural processing of errors in childhood.