Adolescent Development of Hormonal Stress Reactivity
Adolescent development is marked by substantial changes in many hormonal systems. One such system, the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, controls the hormones released during times of stress. Our long-term goal is to identify how adolescent development and stressful experiences interact to modulate the HPA axis and the impact of these interactions on physiological and neurobiological function. We approach our research questions from complimentary levels of analyses, ranging from the molecular and anatomical to the hormonal and behavioral.