Stress and Health最新文献

This two-phased, mixed methods study develops our understanding of how knowledge, education and awareness about workplace health phenomena is utilized by experts and applied to their own working lives, through a study that explores how stress is transferred and applied in the management of one's own experience of stress. Phase one gained quantitative data from a sample of 118 stress experts across 18 countries, and phase two used qualitative data from life histories interviews and focus groups with 14 stress experts who had also participated in Phase 1. Phase one found that stress experts experience less occupational stress than a norm group. The number of years experts have been researching stress does not influence the stress-wellbeing relationship. Instead, the greater the belief in their expertise influence, the better their wellbeing, and this effect is independent of the stressors they experience. Phase two built sequentially on this to explore experts' reflections regarding the management of their own stress and the influence of their expert knowledge. Narrative thematic analysis was undertaken to provide discursive insights that captured appraisal of learning and framing of stress experiences. We provide conceptual and practical contributions to further our understanding about how expert status in health impacts outcomes and how this wider learning has theoretical and practical impacts. We show how stress beliefs impact upon behaviors, emotions and cognition. We conclude that awareness and knowledge in itself is not always powerful enough to shape outcomes, and our data evidences how spirals of learning interact with environment and context over time through rich narratives that chart reflection on the development and maintenance of expert status.

Para-suicidal behaviours and self-harm are commonly observed in mental health institutions, with women inpatients being particularly at risk. Little research has looked at characteristics of women engaging in self-harmful conduct beyond diagnostic and socio-demographic information. The current study investigated occurrences of self-harm over time in a large sample of women housed in forensic mental health units in the province of Ontario, Canada. Background and clinical information was obtained from staff ratings on the Resident Assessment Instrument-Mental Health at admission and every 3 months afterwards for an approximately 2-year time period. Latent class mixed models identified two distinct profiles, the first one (77.4% of sample) characterised by a low or intermittent use of self-harm, the second (22.6% of sample) showing a stable elevated risk profile. Women in the at-risk group tended to be younger, showed increased signs of subjective distress and greater occurrence of adverse life events in their history. Psychiatric diagnosis in itself was not a valid predictor of the stability of self-harm for this sample. These findings highlight the importance of addressing both clinical and stress-related distal vulnerability factors in the background of institutionalised women who engage in self-harm on a stable basis.

Hair cortisol concentration (HCC) has been theorized to reflect chronic stress, and maternal and infant HCC may be correlated due to shared genetic, physiological, behavioural, and environmental factors, such as stressful life circumstances. The current study examines HCC as a retrospective indicator of hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis activity in mothers and infants in the context of a major ecological stressor, the COVID-19 pandemic. First, we will compare HCC across two cohorts of mothers and their infants at 6 months postpartum. One cohort was recruited before the COVID-19 pandemic (N = 154; 77 mothers, 77 infants) and another cohort was recruited during the first wave of COVID-19 lockdowns in the United States (N = 120; 60 mothers, 60 infants). Next, we will apply machine learning to identify indicators of psychological stress that best predict maternal and infant HCC across these two cohorts. Our set of predictors will include pre- and postpartum measures of maternal perceived stress, parenting stress, and depressive symptoms. Finally, we will test for within-dyad covariation in mother-infant HCC and investigate whether covariation changes with respect to mothers' psychological stress or their experience of the pandemic. Our findings will inform research on hair cortisol as a measure of psychological stress across the peripartum window, particularly in the context of large-scale stressors.

Results concerning memory performance in older adults with persistent-depression versus other depressive states (i.e., no-depression, past-depression and current-depression) are disparate. This study examined if persistent-depression is linked with impaired memory (measured by recall), and whether this link is moderated by one's feeling older or younger (subjective age). The study used data from waves 5 and 6 of SHARE-Israel (Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe), collected in 2013 and 2015. This representative sample focuses on adults aged 50 and above (N = 1254, mean age = 68.4 ± 9.02). Each wave assessed depression, immediate and delayed recall, fluency and numeracy; subjective age was assessed only at 2015. The main moderation effect was analysed with a hierarchical regression analysis. Memory impairments in the persistent-depression group were evident only for those feeling older. There were no effects of subjective age on fluency and numeracy tasks. Limitations include usage of self-report measures to assess depression, as well as applying a minimal inter-wave duration (2 years) to assess persistent depression. Results are aligned with a resource-stress account of subjective which claims that one's subjective age refelcts a ratio of resoucres-to-stress. Implications suggest that challenges of ageing in the shadow of depression can be compounded by feeling older, that memory (vs. other cognitive tasks) may be uniquely linked with subjective age, and that feeling older is a potential risk factor for impaired memory in persistent-depression. The importance of possible interventions aimed at lowering subjective age are mentioned.

Acute social stress has been associated with increased immune system activation. However, less is known about whether non-social acute stressors also impact the immune response. In addition, most studies examine stressors that contain multiple characteristics (e.g., social, unpredictable) that could contribute to an increased immune response, but few studies have attempted to disentangle these factors. Finally, few studies have examined whether simultaneous changes in affect are associated with changes in the immune response. The present study used a between-subjects design to examine immune system activation, via changes in salivary cytokines interleukin-6 (IL-6), IL-8, IL-1β, and tumour necrosis factor-α, in response to predictable and unpredictable electric shock. A multimodal assessment of changes in defencive motivation (startle reflex), attention (event-related potential probe N100, P300), and self-reported affect were evaluated to confirm the effectiveness of the threat manipulation. As expected, results indicated that the threat manipulation enhanced defencive motivation, attention, and self-reported affect. Across all participants, both predictable and unpredictable threat increased IL-8 but decreased IL-6. Greater changes in self-reported negative affect were associated with greater increases in the overall immune response. The present study suggests that acute non-social stress enhances immune system activation, particularly in those who experience greater changes in negative affect.

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are associated with long-lasting and multifaceted consequences for mental health. Despite established dose-response effects of ACEs on mental health, the specificity of ACE pattern effects remains understudied, especially on executive function. This study aims to explore how specific patterns of ACEs, beyond just cumulative scores, differentially impact emotional symptoms, personality and cognitive function. This study recruited 2515 college students from several universities in northern China. Demographic characteristics, depression, anxiety, borderline personality traits, and executive function (Wisconsin Card Sort Test) were assessed. Latent class analysis was used to identify patterns of ACEs. Data were analysed using χ²-test, ANCOVA, and multivariate linear regression methods. Pattern-oriented and cumulative-oriented approaches were compared to predict the effects of ACEs. Three distinct patterns of ACEs were identified: low adversity (LA), multiple adversity (MA), and family environment adversity (FA). FA with the highest number of ACEs was uniquely linked to executive function impairments, while both MA and cumulative ACEs significantly predicted higher anxiety, depression, and borderline personality traits. The pattern-oriented method was more sensitive to capturing the diverse outcomes of executive function impairment than cumulative scores. Our findings highlight the importance of moving beyond cumulative scores and considering specific ACEs patterns to understand their differential impact on mental health. Identifying FA as a distinct pattern with specific consequences for executive function offers valuable insights into developing targeted prevention strategies tailored to specific risk profiles.

In recent years, post-secondary students' mental health has become an important public health concern. However, studies examining protective factors of mental health among students and during challenging times are limited. Guided by the strength-based Resilience Portfolio Model and following a group of undergraduates (N = 1004) throughout the 2020/2021 academic year, this study examined multiple domains of resilience internal assets and external resources and simultaneously tested multiple protective mechanisms for student mental health using structural equation modelling. Results provided support for insulating effects: both internal assets such as emotion regulation and external recourses such as social network supportiveness and cultural fit in university (i.e., perceived congruity between students' personal and cultural selves and their university environment) were associated with reducing academic stress which in turn promoted student mental health at the end of the academic year. There was also support for additive effects: greater cultural fit in university was also directly related to better end-of-year student mental health. As cultural fit in university was associated both directly and indirectly with student mental health, creating an inclusive university community may help reduce student academic stress, lower student psychological distress and improve student subjective well-being.

PTSD is more prevalent in women than men and associated with autonomic dysfunction. Higher oestradiol levels have been associated with decreased PTSD severity, however, the impact of oestradiol on autonomic function is not well characterised. We examined associations among peritraumatic oestradiol levels and autonomic function in the multi-site AURORA study. Participants (n = 283, 69.6% female) were recruited from the emergency department (ED) following trauma exposure. Skin conductance (SC) was measured during trauma recall at the ED. Oestradiol was assayed from blood collected at ED, 2-week and 6-month. Fear conditioning, including fear potentiated startle (FPS), was completed at 2-week and 6-month. In women, ED oestradiol was significantly positively associated with ED SC and FPS at 6-month. In men, significant negative correlations between ED oestradiol and SC were found. Among women in the study, peritraumatic oestradiol was positively associated with fear responding 6-month. Findings suggest that the protective effects of oestradiol on PTSD may depend on other factors, such as time since trauma. Additional research is needed to elucidate how peritraumatic oestradiol and autonomic function may interact to confer risk for PTSD.

Despite substantial evidence indicating an association between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and psychological distress, the psychological mechanisms underlying this association remain unclear. This naturally occurring, cross-sectional study examines the mediating role of difficulties in emotion regulation and the moderating effects of exposure to acute stress due to regional armed conflict and mentalising skills on this mediation. A total of 195 young adults participated in two subgroups. One subgroup was recruited before the onset of the armed conflict, while the other subgroup was recruited shortly after the conflict began. The participants completed self-report questionnaires and a written task to assess mentalising skills. This preregistered study employed a moderated-mediation model. The findings indicated that difficulties in emotion regulation partially mediated the relationship between ACEs and psychological distress. However, this mediation was contingent upon exposure to acute stress and mentalising skills. The indirect effect was significant only for individuals who had experienced acute stress and demonstrated higher mentalising skills. Furthermore, acute stress and mentalisation skills moderated the association between ACEs and difficulties in emotion regulation. These findings underscore the importance of incorporating contextual factors and individual differences in mentalising when intervening with distressed youngsters who have experienced ACEs and acute stress.

This study assessed posttraumatic stress (PTSD) symptom changes among active-duty and military veterans before and after participating in a non-exposure-based trauma-informed aquatic therapy treatment. Participants engaged in up to eight treatment sessions over 8-10 weeks. Each individual treatment session was practitioner-led, lasted approximately 50-min, and performed at a private treatment facility. This single-arm retrospective trial enroled 111 participants during calendar year 2023 for treatment. All participants had a prior medical diagnosis of PTSD as verified by medical/military records or a physician letter. The primary study outcome was changes in PTSD symptoms at baseline (pre-treatment) and after up to 8 treatment sessions using the PTSD Checklist Military Version (PCL-M). A total of 86/111 enroled participants (77.5%) completed at least four sessions of treatment for post-testing. PCL-M scores averaged 56.2 (16.2) among all enrollees at baseline and 39.3 (12.9) for those completing 4+ sessions of treatment. The mean PCL-M change for the 86 participants with 4+ sessions was 14.4 (14.2) points, p < 0.001. Sixty-four percent of the latter showed a PCL-M score change ≥ 10 points and 36% showed a change ≥ 20 points. The results of this retrospective trial provide preliminary support for trauma-informed aquatic therapy as a potential non-exposure-based treatment for reducing PTSD symptoms among military populations.