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- Creators: Barrett, The Honors College
Description
Childhood trauma has been linked to an increased risk of chronic pain in adulthood. One potential mechanism is via childhood trauma's impact on the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) response to stress, reflected in changes in salivary cortisol levels (Nicolson et al., 2010). This study sought to determine the relations between childhood trauma, increases in cortisol levels following induced pain, and pain perceptions in adults with fibromyalgia, a chronic pain condition. It drew on data collected from participants enrolled in an investigation comparing the effectiveness of behavioral treatments for chronic pain. Before receiving treatment, participants attended a laboratory session during which they first rested, and then were exposed to heat stimuli to assess pain threshold and tolerance. Saliva samples were collected from each participant immediately following the rest, and twice during pain induction. Fibromyalgia participants with a history of childhood trauma were expected: 1) to report lower pain threshold and tolerance levels (i.e., have higher pain sensitivity), 2) to exhibit a higher resting cortisol level, and 3) to have greater increases in cortisol in response to acute pain induction than fibromyalgia participants without a history of childhood trauma. Findings showed that childhood trauma scores were: 1) related to lower pain tolerance (but not pain threshold), 2) unrelated to resting cortisol levels, and 3) unrelated to changes in cortisol in response to pain induction and pain tolerance, contrary to prediction. However, a subtype of childhood trauma, i.e., emotional maltreatment: 1) predicted lower pain tolerance, and 2) moderated the cortisol changes over time in response to pain induction during the laboratory session in the expected direction. That is, individuals who reported higher levels of childhood emotional maltreatment showed greater cortisol responses to the pain induction than individuals who reported lower levels of exposure to emotional maltreatment. Cortisol responses did not relate to pain perception. Thus, childhood emotional trauma predicted greater pain sensitivity and cortisol reactivity, but cortisol did not relate to pain perception. The findings suggest that early childhood trauma predicts cortisol reactivity and pain sensitivity, but that cortisol reactivity is not a mediator in the trauma-pain relation.
ContributorsCiaramitaro, Marissa Catherine (Author) / Davis, Mary (Thesis director) / Glenberg, Arthur (Committee member) / Doane, Leah (Committee member) / Yeung, Wan (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor)
Created2013-12
Description
Although discrimination is implicated in ethnic health disparities, social support may buffer against its negative effects on health. This study investigated whether prenatal maternal discrimination and social support would predict postpartum cortisol in low-income Hispanic women and infants. Among infants whose mothers reported high discrimination, low maternal social support was associated with high infant cortisol (ß= -0.293, p= 0.03). This provides evidence for the social buffering hypothesis.
ContributorsJewell, Shannon Linda (Author) / Luecken, Linda (Thesis director) / Presson, Clark (Committee member) / Gonzales, Nancy (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / T. Denny Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor)
Created2013-05
Description
Family influences are known predictors of adolescent health and well-being trajectories, yet little research has investigated how adolescents’ orientation to family may be associated with their physiological stress responses. Influenced by the strength-based approach to culture, this study evaluated 418 Hispanic adolescents' familism values and perceived life stress in family, school, and peer domains to investigate prospective associations with hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis stress responses to the Group Public Speaking Task for Adolescents (GPST-A). Prior growth-mixture modeling on this sample revealed a five-class solution of cortisol responding to the GPST-A that was used here as the dependent variable: one class showed a more pronounced pattern of reactivity, potentially indicative of hyper-responsivity to the stress task; two classes showed evidence of a low to moderate cortisol response, potentially indicative of an adaptive physiological response to the challenge; and two classes showed patterns of non-responsivity, potentially indicative of hypo-responsivity. Results demonstrate that the role of familism is nuanced in the context of stressors, potentially offering both promotive and risk-amplifying effects for the physiological stress response system. This study offered several novel findings in the relation between cultural factors, salient stressors of adolescence, and HPA activity.
ContributorsSmola, Xochitl Arlene (Author) / Gonzales, Nancy (Thesis director) / Presson, Clark (Committee member) / Doane, Leah (Committee member) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
This study examined whether cortisol changes caused by examination stress are more associated with acute psychological state or physical symptoms of stress. Participants’ salivary cortisol was assayed before and after taking a final examination, and a survey was administered to assess their psychological state for depression, tension, and fatigue, as well as the degree to which they experienced a variety of physical symptoms. Physical symptoms, tension, and depression were found to positively correlate with changes in cortisol across the examination period with depression showing the strongest correlation. No correlation was observed between fatigue and changes in cortisol during the examination period. Additionally, physical symptoms were found to positively correlate with average cortisol across the examination period while depression and fatigue were found to negatively correlate with average cortisol across the examination period. No correlation was observed between tension and average cortisol during the examination period. None of these findings were statistically significant, which suggests that no relationship exists between cortisol and acute psychological state or physical symptoms of stress; however, the study was limited by its small sample size and several potentially confounding variables, making it difficult to draw any firm conclusions.
ContributorsSchlichting, Matthew James (Author) / Nesse, Randolph (Thesis director) / Doane, Leah (Committee member) / Trumble, Benjamin (Committee member) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
Chronic or recurrent pain in childhood is a common and costly health problem, and increases the likelihood of experiencing chronic pain in adulthood. Existing evidence suggests that internalizing symptoms are a risk factor for the development of chronic pain in children and adults. Findings from a small body of research also points to a flattened diurnal cortisol profile, alone and in combination with internalizing symptoms, as a risk factor for future chronic pain among adults. The present study aimed to evaluate whether internalizing, a flattened diurnal cortisol profile, and their combination prospectively predict chronic pain in middle childhood. It was hypothesized that: 1) both internalizing and a flattened diurnal cortisol profile at age 8 would independently predict acquisition of chronic pain at age 9, controlling for age 8 pain; and 2) the combination of high internalizing and a flattened diurnal cortisol rhythm would predict greater risk of increased pain over time. Multilevel models of longitudinal data collected from a sample of 748 twin children revealed that internalizing symptoms and a flattened cortisol slope independently acted as prospective risk factors for increased chronic pain in childhood one year later. However, the interaction between internalizing and diurnal cortisol did not predict future increases in pain. Exploratory analyses evaluating symptoms of overanxiousness demonstrated that the interaction between overanxiousness and a flattened cortisol profile emerged as a marginally significant predictor of future pain. The current findings point to the role of psychological and physiological risk factors for the development of chronic pediatric pain, and may help to identify early targets for prevention efforts.
ContributorsEltze, Lara Malin (Author) / Davis, Mary (Thesis director) / Doane, Leah (Committee member) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-12