Examination of Associations between Preschoolers’ Hair Cortisol and Children’s Daily Stress, Daily Parenting Stress, and Parenting Behavior

Hair cortisol concentration (HCC) is a novel biomarker for persistent stress exposure. In a sample of preschoolers, children’s HCC was associated with coparents’ reported physical coercion and approached significance with parents’ permissive parenting. Children’s HCC also approached significance with daily parenting stress, but was not associated with daily child stress.