Effects of Parent-Child Play: Lowers Salivary Cortisol and Parent Stress, and Increases Childhood Resiliency

Parents received therapeutic coaching sessions on infusing play with their children into daily routines. We evaluated changes in salivary cortisol against self-reported changes in parent stress and childhood protective factors. We found improvements in parent perceptions of children through reported decreased stress, and improvements in children’s cortisol levels and attachment.