Stress and diurnal cortisol among Latino/a college students: A multi-risk model approach

Lifetime Stressor Severity and Diurnal Cortisol in Older African American Adults: A Comparison of Three Theoretical Models

Multiple theoretical models have been proposed to explain how stressor exposure across the life course relates to the functioning of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, as indexed by daily cortisol secretion. However, this association remains understudied in African Americans. The present study tested three competing models of stressor severity across the lifespan and diurnal cortisol secretion in a sample of 203 older African American adults. The cumulative model emphasizes total stressor severity across the lifespan, the biological embedding model emphasizes early-life stressor severity, and the sensitization model instead emphasizes the interaction between early-life and recent stressor severity. Lifetime stressor severity was assessed using the Stress and Adversity Inventory for Adults (Adult STRAIN). Analyses did not support any of the three models tested but, rather, a stressor characteristics perspective, wherein the severity of exposure to specific stressor characteristics was associated with blunted diurnal cortisol slopes. Sensitivity analyses revealed that early life stressor count, rather than severity, was associated with blunted diurnal cortisol slopes. Rather than supporting one of the three competing models of stressor severity, our findings provide preliminary evidence for a stressor characteristics approach and the biological embedding model when examining how lifetime stressor exposure affects HPA-axis activity.

Within-person reciprocal links between stress, sleep, and depressive symptoms across Latino/a adolescents' transition to and through college

Evidence suggests bidirectional relations between stress, sleep, and depressive symptoms in adolescence and young adulthood. Less research has disaggregated within- and between-person variance in these associations over time or within Latino/a college students. This study examined longitudinal, within-person reciprocal relations between stress, sleep, and depressive symptoms among 181 Latino/a adolescents (M age = 18.10; SD = 0.41, 35% male) transitioning to college. Participants were assessed in their senior year of high school and annually until their fourth year of college. A random intercept cross-lagged panel model (RI-CLPM) was used to parse out within- and between-person sources of variance. Results indicated overall (between-person) relations among depressive symptoms and school/college stress and sleep problems. There were reciprocal within-person links between stress and sleep problems across the first two years of college. Within-person increases in depressive symptoms during the second year of college predicted more stress than usual in the third year, which predicted increased depressive symptoms in the fourth year. More sleep problems than usual in the third year of college predicted higher stress in the fourth year. Findings provide evidence for within-person cross-lagged relations among various domains of adjustment during college and may inform future prevention efforts for incoming Latino/a college students targeting mental health and sleep problems.