Adrenocortical Reactivity in Infancy and Early Childhood: Allostatic Function as Flexibility, Attunement, and Coordination

We review the literature on cortisol reactivity in early life. We argue that the ambiguity of findings may pimple with the direct measure of contextual factors. Specifically, we recommend a paradigm that simultaneously incorporates parent–child physiological attunement, central to the altricial nature of the human species and to biological embedding; infant flexibility of cortisol reactivity, central to dynamic adaptation; and coordination …