Child's stress hormone levels correlate with mother's socioeconomic statusand depressive state

Background: Individuals with lower socioeconomic status report greater expo sure ro stressful life events and a greater impact of these events on their lives than individuals with higher socioeconomic status, and this relation ship between socioeconomic status and health begins at the earliest stages of life. To extend on these results, we performed a psychoneuroendocrine st udy of 217 children and 139 mothers. Methods: Salivary cortisol levels and cognitive function were assessed in c hildren, and a semistructured phone interview measuring symptoms of stress and depression was conducted with their mothers. Results: Children with low socioeconomic status present significantly,highe r salivary cortisol levels than children with high socioeconomic status, an d this socioeconomic status effect emerges as early as age 6, We also repor t that a child's cortisol level is significantly correlated with his or her mother's extent of depressive symptomatology. Conclusions: These results offer a neurobiological determinant to the well- known association between socioeconomic status and health that begins early in life. (C) 2000 Society of Biological Psychiatry.