Trust development in middle childhood as a cognitive learning process: Psychoendocrinological and epigenetic mechanisms.

Although children’s trust in parental support during stress is fundamental for adapative development, less is known about the process explaining trust development. This is because the theory that studies children’s trust development (attachment theory) describes this process only metaphorically as the internalization of experiences with responsive and sensitive parenting. Therefore, unraveling this process will have a significant scientific impact. The current proposal conjectures that trust development is a cognitive learning process driven by hormonal responses to parental support. Parental support activates children’s oxytocin release which induces a state of trust. Consequently, when parental support and oxytocin/state trust are repeatedly associated, this should gradually change children’s perception and processing of information regarding their parents to the point that they will eventually trust in parental support. This is reflected in a cognitive script about the parent as a secure base one can reliably turn to for support (a Secure Base Script, SBS). Finally, exciting new research shows that exposure to stress can make genes unreadable. This epigenetic effect can also affect the oxytocin response to support. Therefore, we assume that this effect might be linked to how children develop trust/SBS after parental support. These assumptions will be tested with experimental and longitudinal studies in a sample of general population and multi-problem family children.