FRIDAY, April 28, 2006 (HealthDay News) -- Could children's saliva hold clues to their anxieties about relationships with parents or teachers?
It might, according to new research that finds a stress-linked enzyme, alpha amylase, is a marker for the sympathetic nervous system's (SNS) "fight or flight" response. The U.S. researchers say social factors strongly influence individual differences in alpha amylase levels.
Examples of social stressors used in the research included babies being gently restrained by a stranger and older children being asked to complete a frustrating task or being evaluated. The researchers also found that social relationships with mothers and teachers influenced children's alpha amylase levels.
Among 8- and 9-year-old children, there was an association between alpha amylase levels and social problems, aggressive behavior, and cognitive/academic problems. The researchers also found that 4-year-old children with higher alpha amylase levels were more susceptible to illness and had less close relationships with their preschool teachers.
The findings appear in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships.
"Being able to monitor alpha amylase via a salivary test may open new opportunities to characterize individual differences in response to stress that we weren't able to see before. We think that these differences could prove to be meaningful in understanding behavior," Dr. Douglas A. Granger, associate professor of biobehavioral health and human development and family studies at Penn State University, said in a prepared statement.
The new salivary alpha amylase test was developed by Granger and a team of researchers at his company, Salimetrics LLC. The alpha amylase samples used in the study were tested by Salimetrics.
More information
The Nemours Foundation has more about childhood stress.
