Heritability of daytime cortisol levels in children

Individual differences in the level of the stress hormone cortisol play a prominent role as an explanatory variable in studies on psychopathology. Relatively few studies have paid attention to individual differences in cortisol levels and the etiology of these differences, in particular their possible genetic basis. All these studies have been in adults. The aim of this study was to estimate genetic and environmental influences on basal cortisol levels in 12-year-old children. To this end, four samples of salivary cortisol were collected on two consecutive days in a sample of 180 twin pairs. L... Mehr ...