Date:11/13/2008

attending 12 child care centers in a small southeastern U.S. community to determine if the quality of teacher-child relationships could predict increases in cortisol in the children. Teachers described their relationships with the children in their care on a questionnaire and children talked about their relationships with their teachers in interviews. Researchers also collected saliva samples from the children in classrooms to determine changes in their cortisol levels from morning to afternoon. They also collected saliva outside of class before and after a series of mildly difficult tasks designed to look like challenges the children might experience in the classroom and before and after a non-challenging interaction with the teacher.

"This study sheds additional light on an as yet incompletely understood phenomenon among many young children attending full-day child care," according to Jared A. Lisonbee, assistant professor of human development at Washington State University and lead author of the study. "Additionally, the study begins to situate child care-cortisol research in the context of a broader literature on the role of relationships in shaping how children function and how they react to stress."

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Contact: Andrea Browning abrowning@srcd.org 202-289-7905 Society for Research in Child Development Source:Eurekalert

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