Stress and binge drinking: A daily process examination of stressor pile-up and socioeconomic status in affect regulation.

The goal of this study was to enhance understanding of the interconnections between stress, negative mood, and alcohol use. Daily diary data collected over eight consecutive nights from a nationally representative adult cohort were used to identify if (1) daily stress and cumulative stress pile-up were associated with increased risk of binge drinking, (2) negative affect mediated associations between stressors and binge drinking, and (3) associations among stress, negative affect and binge drinking were moderated by educational attainment as an indicator of socioeconomic status. Results indicated that the odds of binge drinking were higher on days that individuals experienced more severe stressors in contrast to no-stress days. Further, the odds of binge drinking also increased as stressors piled-up over consecutive days. There was no evidence that negative affect mediated associations between stressors and binge drinking. Associations of daily stressors and stressor pile-up with binge drinking were moderated by educational attainment. Study results suggest that affect regulation researchers need to handle "stress" in a multidimensional way and better situate stressors and individuals stress responses within their social context. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Implicit measures of early-life family conditions: Relationships to psychosocial characteristics and cardiovascular disease risk in adulthood.

Objectives: An implicit measure of early-life family conditions was created to help address potential biases in responses to self-reported questionnaires of early-life family environments. We investigated whether a computerized affect attribution paradigm designed to capture implicit, affective responses (anger, fear, warmth) regarding early-life family environments was (a) stable over time, (b) associated with self-reports of childhood family environments, (c) able to predict adult psychosocial profiles (perceived social support, heightened vigilance), and (d) able to predict adult cardiovascular risk (blood pressure) either alone or in conjunction with a measure of early-life socioeconomic status. Method: Two studies were conducted to examine reliability and validity of the affect attribution paradigm (Study 1, N = 94) and associated adult psychosocial outcomes and cardiovascular risk (Study 2, N = 122). Results: Responses on the affect attribution paradigm showed significant correlations over a 6-month period, and were moderately associated with self-reports of childhood family environments. Greater attributed negative affect about early-life family conditions predicted lower levels of current perceived social support and heightened vigilance in adulthood. Attributed negative affect also interacted with early-life socioeconomic status (SES) to marginally predict resting systolic blood pressure (SBP), such that those individuals high in early-life SES but who had implicit negative affect attributed to early-life family conditions had SBP levels that were as high as individuals low in early-life SES. Conclusion: Implicit measures of early-life family conditions are a useful approach for assessing the psychosocial nature of early-life environments and linking them to adult psychosocial and physiological health profiles. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Differentiating the impact of episodic and chronic stressors on hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical axis regulation in young women.

Objective: The goal of this study was to examine the impact of episodic stress and chronic interpersonal stress on indices of HPA regulation. To explore the potential downstream consequences of altered HPA dynamics, the authors also assessed indicators of metabolic control and systemic inflammation. Design: One hundred four medically healthy women between the ages of 15 and 19 participated. Following an in-depth interview of life stress, a sample of blood was drawn through antecubital venipuncture. Over the course of the next 2 days, participants gathered salivary cortisol samples. Main Outcome Measures: Cortisol morning response, cortisol daily output, glucocorticoid receptor (GR) mRNA, C-reactive protein (CRP), insulin, and glucose. Results: The simple presence of episodic stress or chronic interpersonal stress was not reliably associated with cortisol output, GR mRNA, insulin, or glucose. When women were exposed to an episodic stressor in the midst of chronic stress they showed increased cortisol output and reduced expression of GR mRNA. By contrast, when women had low levels of chronic stress, episodic events were associated with decreased cortisol output and increased GR mRNA. Episodic and chronic stress also interacted to predict CRP, but not insulin or glucose. Conclusions: The impact of episodic stress is accentuated in the midst of chronic interpersonal stress and diminished in its absence. Simultaneous exposure to episodic and chronic stress may create wear and tear on the body, whereas exposure to episodic stress in the context of a supportive environment may toughen the body, protecting it against subsequent stressors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of core self-evaluations in the coping process.

In 2 studies, the authors investigated whether core self-evaluations (CSE) serve as an integrative framework for understanding individual differences in coping processes. A meta-analytic review demonstrated that CSEs were associated with fewer perceived stressors, lower strain, less avoidance coping, more problem-solving coping, and were not strongly related to emotion-focused coping. Consistent with the meta-analytic results, a daily diary study demonstrated that individuals with high CSE perceived fewer stressors, experienced less strain after controlling for stressors, and engaged in less avoidance coping. However, both studies demonstrated that emotional stability was uniquely related to the stress and coping process and that emotional stability moderated the relationship between stressors and strain. The discussion focuses on the distinction between depressive self-concept represented by CSE and the anxiety and worry represented by emotional stability. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Trajectories of family management practices and early adolescent behavioral outcomes.

Stage–environment fit theory was used to examine the reciprocal lagged relations between family management practices and early adolescent problem behavior during the middle school years. In addition, the potential moderating roles of family structure and of gender were explored. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to describe patterns of growth in family management practices and adolescents' behavioral outcomes and to detect predictors of interindividual differences in initial status and rate of change. The sample comprised approximately 1,000 adolescents between ages 11 years and 15 years. The results indicated that adolescents' antisocial behaviors and substance use increased and their positive behavioral engagement decreased over time. As adolescent age increased, parental knowledge of their adolescent's activities decreased, as did parental rule making and support. The level and rate of change in family management and adolescent behavioral outcomes varied by family structure and by gender. Reciprocal longitudinal associations between parenting practices and adolescent problem behavior were found. Specifically, parenting practices predicted subsequent adolescent behavior, and adolescent behavior predicted subsequent parenting practices. In addition, parental warmth moderated the effects of parental knowledge and rule making on adolescent antisocial behavior and substance use over time. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reactivity to daily stressors in adulthood: The importance of stressor type in characterizing risk factors.

This study examined daily stressors in adults ages 18 to 89 years (M = 49.6 years) over 30 days. We examined the role of individual factors (i.e., age, self-concept differentiation [SCD], perceived control) in physical and psychological reactivity to interpersonal, network, home, and health stressors. Findings were consistent with the perspective that adults were less reactive to stress on days during which they felt in control and that younger adults and adults with high SCD were more vulnerable to stress. Age, SCD, and daily perceived control, however, interacted with one another, and findings varied by stressor type. For example, age differences in reactivity were moderated by SCD whereby older adults with low SCD were particularly resilient to home stressors. In addition, whether perceived control buffered adults’ reactivity to daily stress varied by age and SCD. For example, only adults with high SCD were psychologically reactive to network stressors and this was the case only on days during which they reported experiencing low control. The findings emphasize the importance of considering the varying ways in which individual characteristics interact to influence stress reactivity to different types of stressors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stressful life events, psychological distress, coping, and parenting of divorced mothers: A longitudinal study.

This was a prospective longitudinal study of the relationships among life stress, psychological distress, coping, and parenting behaviors in a sample of divorced custodial mothers. First, the differential effects of major events and daily stressors on psychological distress and parenting were explored. Second, the mediational links among stress, distress, and 3 dimensions of parenting behaviors were studied. Third, 3 coping strategies were studied as moderators of the relationship between distress and parenting. The results showed that both major and small events had significant effects on parental distress, with the effects of daily negative events being greater than those of major events. Parental distress mediated the relationships between stressful life events and parental acceptance of their children's behaviors. Parental coping strategies moderated the relationship between mothers' psychological distress and mothers' discipline practice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Genetic and environmental effects on daily life stressors: More evidence for greater variation in later life.

People vary in the occurrence and perceived severity of stressors experienced in their daily lives. In the current study, the authors examined the extent to which individual differences in these relatively minor occurrences are determined by genetic endowment as well as environmental influences and how these effects vary by age. Identical (npairs = 111) and fraternal (npairs = 99) twin adults ranging from 25 to 73 years old reported the occurrence and severity of their daily stressors on 8 consecutive evenings. Both genetic and unique environmental effects accounted for the variance in stressor occurrence, whereas shared family and unique environmental effects accounted for the variance in the perceived severity of these stressors. In addition, the influence of unique environment on perceived stress exerted a stronger influence among the older adults than the younger adults. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relations among perceived parental control, warmth, indulgence, and family harmony of Chinese in mainland China.

In clarifying the relation between parent–child relationship and parental control, previous research has shown that parental warmth was associated positively with order-keeping parental organization and negatively with dominating parental control. The present study, with separate analyses for fathers and mothers, further examined the relations among adult perceptions of parental dominating control, warmth, indulgence, and family harmony. The subjects were 925 educated Chinese in mainland China, who were asked to recall the child-rearing pattern of their parents. As in previous research, it was found that greater perceived parental dominating control was related to less perceived parental warmth. Results also showed that greater parental warmth and less parental control were related to greater perceived family harmony. These relations were found in analyses for both fathers and mothers. Similarities in the relations among perceived parental behaviors between sons and daughters, and differences in the perceived paternal and maternal treatment of children, are also discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Risk and resilience factors in coping with daily stress in adulthood: The role of age, self-concept incoherence, and personal control.

This study observed young, middle-aged, and older adults (N = 239; Mage = 49.6 years; range = 18–89 years) for 30 consecutive days to examine the association between daily stress and negative affect, taking into account potential risk (i.e., self-concept incoherence) and resilience (i.e., age, perceived personal control) factors. Results indicated that younger individuals and individuals with a more incoherent self-concept showed higher average negative affect across the study. As well, individuals reported higher negative affect on days that they experienced more stress than usual and on days that they reported less control than usual. These main effects were qualified by significant interactions. In particular, the association between daily stress and negative affect was stronger on days on which adults reported low control compared with days on which they reported high control (i.e., perceptions of control buffered stress). Reactivity to daily stress did not differ for individuals of different ages or for individuals with different levels of self-concept incoherence. Although all individuals reported higher negative affect on days on which they reported less control than usual, this association was more pronounced among younger adults. The current study helps to elucidate the role of risk and resilience factors when adults are faced with daily stress. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Blood lead (Pb) levels: Further evidence for an environmental mechanism explaining the association between socioeconomic status and psychophysiological dysregulation in children.

Objective: The authors recently reported that blood lead (Pb) was a significant mediator for the positive association between socioeconomic status (SES) and peripheral vascular responses to acute stress in children (B. B. Gump et al., 2007). The present study considers the possibility that Pb may also mediate an association between SES and cortisol responses to acute stress. Design: Early childhood Pb exposure was tested as a mediator for cross-sectional associations between SES and cortisol responses. Main Outcome Measures: The primary outcome was cortisol responses to acute stress in 9.5-year-old children (N = 108). Results: Lower family income was associated with significantly greater cortisol levels following an acute stress task. A mediational analysis confirmed that Pb was a significant mediator for this association. Conclusion: These results reaffirm the importance of considering the chemical environment as well as social and psychological environment when evaluating psychophysiological effects of low SES. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Family functioning processes and diabetic ketoacidosis in youths with type I diabetes.

Purpose/Objective: To examine relations between episodes of diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) and parental warmth, parental negativity, and lack of responsibility for diabetes-related tasks in a sample of youths with Type 1 diabetes (T1D). Research Method/Design: 100 youths with T1D and their caregivers, recruited from an inpatient diabetes unit and an outpatient diabetes clinic, participated. Participants completed disease-specific measures of family functioning (e.g., parental warmth, parent and child perceptions of negativity, family responsibility for diabetes regimen), and medical information (e.g., glycosylated hemoglobin and incidences of DKA) was obtained from medical records. Results: Results showed that higher child perceptions of parental warmth and caring related to the regimen were associated with decreased odds of experiencing a DKA episode. Child reports of higher parental negativity about the regimen were associated with increased odds of experiencing a DKA episode. Reports of who in the family was responsible for the diabetes regimen were not related to episodes of DKA. Conclusions/Implications: Findings suggested that family factors play a significant role in the occurrence or absence of DKA in children's long-term management of diabetes. Future intervention efforts should focus on warmth, caring, and negativity when children and their parents are problem solving and communicating about the diabetes regimen. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceptions of childhood relationships with mother and father: Daily emotional and stressor experiences in adulthood.

Adults who report having had high-quality relationships with their parents during childhood have better overall mental health and are at decreased risk for mental disorders compared with those who report low parental relationship quality. Researchers have predominantly focused on the relationship with the mother, oftentimes excluding the unique role that fathers may play in the long-term development of their offspring. The current study examined the unique associations of recalled childhood experiences of mother–child and father–child relationship quality with daily emotional experiences and stress processes in adulthood. Men and women (N = 912, ages 25–74) retrospectively reported the quality of their childhood relationships with their mother and father. Later, they reported their daily psychological distress and stressor exposure every night over 8 consecutive evenings. Results indicate that mother–child relationship quality was related to lower levels of daily psychological distress. The quality of both mother–child and father–child relationships was related to stressor exposure, but only father–son relationship quality was related to lower levels of emotional reactivity to stressors during adulthood. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Association of daily stressors and salivary cortisol in spinal cord injury.

Objective: Examine the diurnal variation of salivary cortisol in adults with spinal cord injury (SCI) and the effect of stressors on cortisol and mood. Method: Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) to capture cortisol, stress, and mood from 25 persons with SCI and 26 without SCI. Data were analyzed using linear mixed models. Results: There were no systematic differences between groups on missing data. Diurnal variation of cortisol of participants with SCI reflected an expected pattern. No significant group differences for cortisol diurnal pattern, stress, or mood; when group interactions were significant, results indicated lower cortisol reactivity to stress in participants with SCI. Stress had a significant impact on positive, negative and agitated moods. Conclusions: Stress in daily life and its association with cortisol and mood were largely similar between persons with and without SCI. A key methodological contribution is the demonstration of using EMA to collect biological and behavioral data in the field from participants with SCI. The use of EMA in rehabilitation psychology research has great potential to advance our understanding of the dynamics of daily life with disability. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Survivors of childhood cancer and comparison peers: The influence of early family factors on distress in emerging adulthood.

This prospective study examines family predictors of distress among survivors of childhood cancer and comparison peers during the transition to emerging adulthood. Children with cancer (n = 55), comparison peers (n = 60), and parents completed measures of distress, family environment, social support, and demographic characteristics during initial treatment, as well as follow-up measures of young adult distress and demographic characteristics soon after participants turned 18 years old. Severity of initial treatment and late effects were rated by healthcare providers for participants with cancer. For all participants, mother and father report of initial parent distress was associated with their report of young adult distress at follow-up. Young adult gender moderated this association. For survivors of childhood cancer, severity of initial treatment and late effects also moderated the association between parent and young adult distress. Improving parent distress may help reduce child distress in general. For survivors specifically, ameliorating the impact of initial treatment and long-term physical problems may be beneficial. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reduction of Work-Family Conflict Through the Use of Selection, Optimization, and Compensation Behaviors.

Prior research has examined both the antecedents to and outcomes of work-family conflict. However, little is known about the existence and efficacy of behavioral strategies that may be used by individuals to reduce the amount of stressors experienced both on the job and at home, which result in work-family conflict. The purpose of this study was to examine the role of selection, optimization, and compensation (SOC) behaviors in relation to both job and family stressors and work-in-family (WIF) conflict and family-in-work (FIW) conflict. Results suggest that the use of general SOC behaviors in both the work and family domains are related to lower amounts of job and family stressors and subsequently lower amounts of WIF conflict and FIW conflict. In general, these results held true even when additional variables (e.g., hours worked, gender, job involvement, family involvement, social support, and supervisor support) were controlled. Implications of these results are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sleep timing and quantity in ecological and family context: A nationally representative time-diary study.

Associations between demographic characteristics, school schedules, activity choices, family functioning, and sleep behaviors were estimated using nationally representative time-diary data from 2,454 children (ages 5.5 to 11.9 years) and adolescents (ages 12.0 to 19.1 years). For weekdays, African American adolescents, Asian children, and those with earlier school start times and longer travel times to school reported fewer sleep hours. More time spent watching television (for children), doing homework (for adolescents), and engaging in religious activities predicted fewer hours, whereas a longer time spent on meals predicted greater hours of weekday sleep. For younger children, greater parental warmth predicted more hours of weekday sleep, whereas for adolescents, stricter household rules were protective. On weekends, African American adolescents and Hispanic children slept less, and there were strong effects of activity choices including time spent on television, computer and videogames, sports, religious activities, socializing, and employment. In accounting for age-related decreases in sleep hours from childhood to adolescence, earlier school start times, greater hours of homework, greater paid employment, less time spent on meals, and fewer household rules were all significant mediators. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Diet and humoral responsiveness of lines of chickens divergently selected for antibody response to sheep red blood cells

OBJECTIVE: To assess everyday life stress and emotional adjustment in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and their children. METHODS: We conducted a 6 month study of 14 patients with RA with children aged 4-16 years (25 children) and 24 control families (53 children). Life event stress and functional capacity were assessed at the beginning and end of the study, and minor stressors (hassles), positive events (uplifts), and salivary cortisol were recorded weekly. Emotional adjustment was measured monthly in adults by self-report, and bimonthly in children using the Child Behavior Checklist (completed by parents). Social support and psychological coping responses were also measured. RESULTS: Patients with RA experienced fewer positive events than did controls, and they tended to have smaller support networks. Daily hassle levels correlated with severity of disability, and differences in psychological coping were also observed. Children from RA families reported nearly 50% more hassles per week than did controls, and their social networks were significantly smaller. They were rated as having greater problems of social adjustment than controls. Cortisol concentration was greater among children who experienced more life event stress over the study period, but did not differ between groups. CONCLUSION: The patients with RA in this study showed good adaptation, but experienced less pleasure in their daily lives. The children of patients with RA may have heightened vulnerability to stress related problems, with fewer social resources and difficulties in behavioral adjustment.     

Children's objective and subjective sleep disruptions: Links with afternoon cortisol levels.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine possible relations between the quality and amount of children's sleep and cortisol in healthy children. Design: Children's sleep was monitored with actigraphs for 7 nights. Children came to the laboratory to provide saliva samples, which were used to assess cortisol. Children reported on their sleepiness and sleep/wake problems. Sixty-four healthy children participated (M = 8.75 years; SD = .55). Main Outcome Measures: Self-reported sleepiness and sleep/wake problems, actigraphy-measured total sleep minutes, sleep efficiency, minutes awake after sleep onset, and sleep activity, and afternoon cortisol levels. Results: After controlling for demographic variables and child characteristics, higher levels of cortisol were related to increased subjective sleep problems and objective measures of shorter sleep duration and poorer sleep quality. Conclusion: These findings are of importance for understanding critical facets of children's health and well-being, and are noteworthy given the high prevalence of sleep disruptions in otherwise normally developing children in the United States. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Exercise and the experience and appraisal of daily stressors: a naturalistic study

Thirty-eight men and 35 women completed diaries of exercise, mood, and the experience and appraisal of daily stressors over 12 consecutive days. It was hypothesized that exercise would be associated with positive moods and with the experience of fewer daily stressors. Positive moods were rated higher and depression lower on exercise days than no-exercise days. Participants low in trait anxiety reported fewer stressful events on the days on which they exercised. Those with strong personal (health, physical appearance, and mood) motives for exercise reported more stressful daily events overall; in addition, they experienced more potentially stressful events as nonstressful on the days during which they engaged in physical exercise. The results are discussed in relation to the acute after-effects of exercise on mood and stress responsivity and the long term of psychological benefits of regular exercise.