Mediation of Cortisol Responses to Stress between Adverse Childhood Experiences and Adolescent Executive Function

Yin Xiayun; Fu Die; He Ling; Peng Jinlan; Xu Minyu; Li Zhihua

doi:10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20250507

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Journal of Psychological Science ›› 2025, Vol. 48 ›› Issue (5) : 1102-1112. DOI: 10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20250507

Developmental & Educational Psychology

Mediation of Cortisol Responses to Stress between Adverse Childhood Experiences and Adolescent Executive Function

Yin Xiayun¹, Fu Die^1,2, He Ling^1,3, Peng Jinlan^1,4, Xu Minyu¹, Li Zhihua¹

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Abstract

Adverse childhood experience (ACE) is a major threat to adolescent development. On the one hand, ACE is a global public health problem with a high incidence and multiple adversities; on the other hand, ACE seriously threatens the development of adolescents' executive functioning (EF), which is an important cognitive foundation for individuals' well-adjusted and healthy development, and is closely related to individuals' immediate and long-term development. However, previous studies have mostly focused on the direct effects of ACE on adolescents' "cold" executive functions, but less on the effects on "cold" and "hot" executive functions, and the mechanisms behind these effects have not been sufficiently investigated. The mechanisms behind these effects have been understudied. According to the Biological Embedding Hypothesis, ACE can be biologically embedded in an individual's body system, which may disorder the adolescent's stress response system and ultimately impair EF. However, there is a lack of empirical studies that directly validate the mediating role of the cortisol response to stress in the relationship between ACE and adolescents' EF, and previous studies have disputed how ACE affects the cortisol response to stress. Specifically, ACE makes it possible for the stress response system to manifest either a high cortisol response or a low cortisol response to stress.
To enrich research in this area, the present study aimed to investigate the relationship between ACE and EF in adolescents as well as the mediating role of the cortisol response under stress. The study hypothesized that ACE has a negative effect on adolescent EF and that stress response dissonance is one of the key physiological pathways involved. To test these hypotheses, the study investigated executive functioning in 136 adolescents (M_age = 13.10, 66 boys) using a 2 (adversity: high/low) * 2 (stress: experimental/control) between-subjects design. Subjects' optimal levels of "cold" and "hot" executive functioning were measured using the Stroop task, the Numerical Breadth task, the Iowa Game task, and the Delay Discount task. Salivary cortisol levels under stress were also measured repeatedly to investigate the mediating role of cortisol responses under stress.
The results show that ACE has the same influence on the "cold" and "hot" executive function. Adolescents in the high stress group show worse "cold" and "hot" executive function than adolescents in the low stress group, which indicates that ACE is a risk factor for teenagers' executive function. In addition, the analysis of mediation effect shows that cortisol's response to stress significantly mediates the relationship between ACE and "cold" executive function (working memory and inhibition control) and part of "hot" executive function (impulse control), but not between early adversity and emotional decision-making. This shows that ACE may cause irreversible damage to physiological response, and ultimately affect the development of adolescents' cognitive function, especially the "cold" executive function.
The present study revealed the effects of ACE on the "cold" and "hot" executive functions, and the cortisol response to stress was an important factor in the "cold" and "hot" executive functions of adolescents affected by ACE, cortisol response under stress is the mechanism by which ACE affects the "cold" and "hot" executive functions in adolescents. The study suggests that, on the one hand, the impact of ACE should not be taken lightly, and risk avoidance of ACE is essential, and intervention for ACE should be conducted as early as possible; on the other hand, in the future intervention practice, we can consider using the cortisol to stress as an indicator for helping to identify adolescents who are more prone to developmental problems after suffering from ACE, and then provide them with targeted interventions.

Key words

adolescent / adverse childhood experience / executive function / cortisol responses to stress

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Yin Xiayun, Fu Die, He Ling, Peng Jinlan, Xu Minyu, Li Zhihua. Mediation of Cortisol Responses to Stress between Adverse Childhood Experiences and Adolescent Executive Function[J]. Journal of Psychological Science. 2025, 48(5): 1102-1112 https://doi.org/10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20250507

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