A paper by Ella Pyle (now Hennessey), a former RA on the Family Project at UCSF until summer 2019, who is interested in affective neuroscience, has just been accepted. Congrats to Ella and the team, Olga, Steph, Megan, Isabel, Chloe, and Roeland. It was really driven by Ella and other then RAs, so we are particularly proud.

Hair Cortisol and Dehydroepiandrosterone Concentrations: Associations with Executive Function in Early Childhood

Ella-Marie Pyle Hennessey, Olga Kepinska, Stephanie L. Haft, Megan Chan, Isabel Sunshine, Chloe Jones, Roeland Hancock, and Fumiko Hoeft

Chronic stress during childhood negatively impacts cognition and physical and mental health. Exposure to stressors over time can cause hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis dysregulation, leading to abnormal stress hormone levels, which can be reflected in hair cortisol concentration (HCC) and hair dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) concentration. Although the use of HCC and DHEA to measure chronic stress in children is increasing, their effects on cognition (as indexed by executive function) remain unexplored. Accordingly, we aimed to investigate the associations of HCC, DHEA, and their ratio with measures of executive function (cognitive flexibility and working memory) in a sample of kindergarten children (N=100). We found that the expected negative association between HCC and WM approached significance, and DHEA was significantly and positively related to cognitive flexibility. We discuss possible interpretations of our findings. Our results suggest promising areas for future investigation and encourage further exploration into HCC and DHEA as measures of chronic stress.

Link to paper: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S030105112030106X