Does adverse family environment or sex matter in the salivary cortisol responses to anticipatory stress?

We previously reported that in anticipation of a modest stressor, preadolescent sons of drug-dependent fathers (HR) demonstrated a diminished salivary cortisol response relative to comparison boys. No data were available concerning anticipatory salivary cortisol responses in preadolescent daughters of HR fathers. Additionally, we hypothesized that diminished stress responses in HR youth might be an adaptation to a stressful family environment. Consequently, in this report we have examined the role of family environment in the anticipatory salivary cortisol responses in both HR boys and girls as well as their association with a measure of distress in the family environment. Independent of sex, HR children had diminished anticipatory cortisol responses. Girls had significantly higher salivary cortisol concentrations, pre- and post-stressor. However, contrary to our expectation, we could not demonstrate an association between salivary cortisol responses and the measures of the family environment. These results suggest that there may be a sex difference in salivary cortisol dynamics in preadolescent children; however, the functional status of the current family environment does not appear to be related to cortisol reactivity.