Nastassia Hajal | University of California, Los Angeles (original) (raw)

Papers by Nastassia Hajal

Research paper thumbnail of FOCUS for Early Childhood: A Virtual Home Visiting Program for Military Families with Young Children

Contemporary Family Therapy, 2015

Research paper thumbnail of Hypothalamic Pituitary Adrenal Axis Functioning in Reactive and Proactive Aggression in Children

Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 2009

Methods-Forty-six subjects with DD without lifetime PTSD, 35 subjects with PTSD, and 58 HC subjec... more Methods-Forty-six subjects with DD without lifetime PTSD, 35 subjects with PTSD, and 58 HC subjects, free of current major depression, were studied as inpatients. After a 24-hour urine collection and hourly blood sampling for ambient cortisol determination, a low-dose dexamethasone suppression test was administered, followed by the Trier Social Stress Test.

Research paper thumbnail of Individual differences in cortisol responses to fear and frustration during middle childhood

The purpose of this study was to examine individual differences in the activation and regulation ... more The purpose of this study was to examine individual differences in the activation and regulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis in prepubertal children after exposure to two different stress modalities and to evaluate the utility of an individual differences approach to the examination of HPA axis functioning. After a 30-min controlled baseline period, 73 7-year-olds (40 boys and 33 girls) were randomly assigned to a validity check condition or one of two experimental tasks designed to elicit fear or frustration. This was followed by a 60-min controlled regulation phase. A total of 17 saliva samples were collected, including 12 poststress samples at 5-min intervals. There was a significant stress modality effect, with children exposed to the fear condition reaching peak cortisol levels at 25 min poststress and those exposed to the frustration condition reaching peak levels at 45 min poststress. There was no difference in peak cortisol levels between the stress modalities. Individual variability across conditions was significant, with participants reaching peak levels as early as 10 min poststress and as late as 60 min poststress. Our data suggest that analysis of individual curves prior to making group-level comparisons may improve the explanatory power of HPA axis behavior models.

Research paper thumbnail of Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis functioning in Huntington's disease mutation carriers compared with mutation-negative first-degree controls

Methods-Forty-six subjects with DD without lifetime PTSD, 35 subjects with PTSD, and 58 HC subjec... more Methods-Forty-six subjects with DD without lifetime PTSD, 35 subjects with PTSD, and 58 HC subjects, free of current major depression, were studied as inpatients. After a 24-hour urine collection and hourly blood sampling for ambient cortisol determination, a low-dose dexamethasone suppression test was administered, followed by the Trier Social Stress Test.

Research paper thumbnail of Angry Responses to Infant Challenges: Parent, Marital, and Child Genetic Factors Associated With Harsh Parenting

Child Development, 2015

This study examined genetic and environmental influences on harsh parenting of adopted 9-month-ol... more This study examined genetic and environmental influences on harsh parenting of adopted 9-month-olds (N = 503), with an emphasis on positive child-, parent-, and family-level characteristics. Evocative gene-environment correlation (rGE) was examined by testing the effect of both positive and negative indices of birth parent temperament on adoptive parents' harsh parenting. Adoptive fathers' harsh parenting was inversely related to birth mother positive temperament, indicating evocative rGE, as well as to marital quality. Adoptive parents' negative temperamental characteristics were related to hostile parenting for both fathers and mothers. Findings support the importance of enhancing positive family characteristics in addition to mitigating negative characteristics, as well as engaging multiple levels of the family system to prevent harsh parenting.

Research paper thumbnail of FOCUS for Early Childhood: A Virtual Home Visiting Program for Military Families with Young Children

Contemporary Family Therapy, 2015

Research paper thumbnail of Hypothalamic Pituitary Adrenal Axis Functioning in Reactive and Proactive Aggression in Children

Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 2009

Methods-Forty-six subjects with DD without lifetime PTSD, 35 subjects with PTSD, and 58 HC subjec... more Methods-Forty-six subjects with DD without lifetime PTSD, 35 subjects with PTSD, and 58 HC subjects, free of current major depression, were studied as inpatients. After a 24-hour urine collection and hourly blood sampling for ambient cortisol determination, a low-dose dexamethasone suppression test was administered, followed by the Trier Social Stress Test.

Research paper thumbnail of Individual differences in cortisol responses to fear and frustration during middle childhood

The purpose of this study was to examine individual differences in the activation and regulation ... more The purpose of this study was to examine individual differences in the activation and regulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis in prepubertal children after exposure to two different stress modalities and to evaluate the utility of an individual differences approach to the examination of HPA axis functioning. After a 30-min controlled baseline period, 73 7-year-olds (40 boys and 33 girls) were randomly assigned to a validity check condition or one of two experimental tasks designed to elicit fear or frustration. This was followed by a 60-min controlled regulation phase. A total of 17 saliva samples were collected, including 12 poststress samples at 5-min intervals. There was a significant stress modality effect, with children exposed to the fear condition reaching peak cortisol levels at 25 min poststress and those exposed to the frustration condition reaching peak levels at 45 min poststress. There was no difference in peak cortisol levels between the stress modalities. Individual variability across conditions was significant, with participants reaching peak levels as early as 10 min poststress and as late as 60 min poststress. Our data suggest that analysis of individual curves prior to making group-level comparisons may improve the explanatory power of HPA axis behavior models.

Research paper thumbnail of Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis functioning in Huntington's disease mutation carriers compared with mutation-negative first-degree controls

Methods-Forty-six subjects with DD without lifetime PTSD, 35 subjects with PTSD, and 58 HC subjec... more Methods-Forty-six subjects with DD without lifetime PTSD, 35 subjects with PTSD, and 58 HC subjects, free of current major depression, were studied as inpatients. After a 24-hour urine collection and hourly blood sampling for ambient cortisol determination, a low-dose dexamethasone suppression test was administered, followed by the Trier Social Stress Test.

Research paper thumbnail of Angry Responses to Infant Challenges: Parent, Marital, and Child Genetic Factors Associated With Harsh Parenting

Child Development, 2015

This study examined genetic and environmental influences on harsh parenting of adopted 9-month-ol... more This study examined genetic and environmental influences on harsh parenting of adopted 9-month-olds (N = 503), with an emphasis on positive child-, parent-, and family-level characteristics. Evocative gene-environment correlation (rGE) was examined by testing the effect of both positive and negative indices of birth parent temperament on adoptive parents' harsh parenting. Adoptive fathers' harsh parenting was inversely related to birth mother positive temperament, indicating evocative rGE, as well as to marital quality. Adoptive parents' negative temperamental characteristics were related to hostile parenting for both fathers and mothers. Findings support the importance of enhancing positive family characteristics in addition to mitigating negative characteristics, as well as engaging multiple levels of the family system to prevent harsh parenting.