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Infants’ Salivary Cortisol Levels

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Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences

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Definitions

Cortisol reactivity, the difference between the cortisol peak and the baseline/pretest level

Infant, a human baby from birth to the end of the first year of life

Preterm infant, a human baby born alive before 37 weeks of pregnancy

Stress, a state of physical, mental, or emotional strain or tension

Stressor, a real or potential stimuli that disrupt homeostasis

Stress reaction, behavioral responses occurring to respond to a stressor, for example, fight, flight, or freeze

Stress response, physiological responses occurring to remain or restore homeostasis

Introduction

Stress occurs for infants when extra-, inter-, or intrapersonal demands on the infant are higher than the infant’s ability to handle them. The demands may be interpreted differently in different contexts. For instance, infants who are hungry during a painful immunization have a higher cortisol reactivity compared to infants who have recently been fed (Mörelius et al. 2009). How a child interprets a stressor may...

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References

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Social and Welfare Studies, Division of Nursing Science, Linköping University, Norrköping, Sweden

    Evalotte Mörelius

Authors
  1. Evalotte Mörelius
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Correspondence to Evalotte Mörelius .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Oakland University, Rochester, USA

    Virgil Zeigler-Hill

  2. Oakland University, Rochester, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. The University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada

    Julie Schermer

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© 2016 Springer International Publishing AG

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Mörelius, E. (2016). Infants’ Salivary Cortisol Levels. In: Zeigler-Hill, V., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_740-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_740-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-28099-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-28099-8

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