Filtering by
- All Subjects: Stress
- Creators: Department of Psychology
- Creators: School of Social and Behavioral Sciences
- Member of: Barrett, The Honors College Thesis/Creative Project Collection
- Status: Published
This hypothesis is supported by previous studies demonstrating that stress-induced elevation of glucocorticoids increases the transcription of C4. I propose that activated glucocorticoid receptors directly increase C4 protein expression as a transcription factor activator. Additionally, I propose that activated glucocorticoid receptors inhibit the expression of the transcription factor nuclear factor-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (NF-κB), thereby leading to decreased expression of the C4 inhibitor CUB and Sushi multiple domains 1 (CSMD1).
Glucocorticoid receptors and C4 are richly expressed in the hippocampus, a region critical in memory consolidation, spatial, and declarative memory. I propose that stress-induced upregulation of C4 activity in the hippocampus promotes excessive synaptic pruning, contributing to specific deficits and hippocampal shrinkage seen in schizophrenia. Stress exposure during fetal development and adolescence likely acts through the proposed mechanisms to increase hippocampal C4 activity and subsequent schizophrenia risk. These mechanisms may reveal novel interactions between environmental and genetic risk factors in the etiology of schizophrenia through complement activation.
We have seen the joy pets bring into people’s lives, and the sadness that follows the loss of them. Many pet owners view their pets as more than just animals: they are family. They offer a level of love and support similar to friends and family, despite not being human. Some pets are also trained as service animals to assist humans who struggle with diagnosed physical, mental, and other disabilities. However, emotional support animals appear to lie somewhere between pets and service animals, as there are rules and policies still developing around them. With more and more college students requesting to bring ESAs on campus, the question of their effectiveness has been raised. The aim of this honors thesis study is to examine the effectiveness of ESAs in alleviating mental health symptoms in college students. More specifically, I wanted to evaluate students who currently live on campus (or have lived on campus in the past). The first aim will be to determine whether non-pet owners versus ESA owners (and pet owners in general) show a difference in their stress levels. The second aim is to examine if owning a pet or ESA predicts stress levels differently between genders. The final aim of the study is to determine if degree of attachment to pets predicts differences in stress in the owners.