Alterations of hair cortisol and dehydroepiandrosterone in mother-infant-dyads with maternal childhood maltreatment

Table 1 Descriptive data for the 94 mothers and 30 newborns

Variable	M ± SD N (%)
Maternal data (N = 94)
Hair steroids
Cortisol in pg/mg	18.89 ± 74.51
DHEA in pg/mg	4.33 ± 11.00
Medical and demographic data:
Age in years	32.45 ± 5.44
Married	72 (76.60%)
German origin	83 (88.3%)
Higher school education (> 11 years of school)	55 (58.51%)
Hair treatment	34 (36.17%)
- Colored hair	18 (19.15%)
- Permanent wave	3 (3.19%)
- Dyeing	13 (13.83%)
BMI^a	24.54 ± 4.79
Currently smoking	9 (9.57%)
Time between parturition and hair collection (days)	2.20 ± 1.16
Psychological data
Child maltreatment (CTQ sum score)	36.29 ± 12.96
Perceived Stress (PSS4)	4.59 ± 3.05
Lifetime psychopathology	27 (28.72%)
- Major Depression	17
- Anxiety	7
- Other	12
Newborn data (N = 30)
Hair steroids
Cortisol in pg/mg	208.00 ± 122.02
DHEA in pg/mg	3.31 ± 1.70
Medical data
Gestational age at birth^b	39.77 ± 1.51
Birth weight in gram^b	3328 ± 482.35

M = mean; SD = standard deviation; N% = relative frequency in valid percent; BMI = body mass index; CTQ = Childhood Trauma Questionnaire; PSS4 = Perceived Stress Scale, four-item version
^aMissing data for BMI in 35 cases
^bMissing data in 8 newborns

ISSN: 1471-244X