TY - JOUR
T1 - Ethnic-Racial discrimination experiences predict Latinx adolescents’ physiological stress processes across college transition
AU - Sladek, Michael R.
AU - Castro, Saul A.
AU - Doane, Leah D.
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors declare they have no conflicts of interest to report. This research was made possible by a Developmental Catalyst Research Grant from the Arizona State University Department of Psychology, a Dissertation Research Award from the American Psychological Association , the National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program ( DGE-1311230 ), and William T. Grant Foundation Scholar Award to LDD. Further support to MRS was provided by the NSF SBE Postdoctoral Research Fellowship under Grant no. 1911398 and the Dean's Impact Fund at the Harvard Graduate School of Education . Any opinion, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the funding agencies. The funding agencies did not have a role in the study design; collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; the writing of the report; or the decision to submit for publication. We are grateful to the participants of the Transiciones project and Rachel Alvarez, Reagan Breitenstein, Kayla Campbell, Mary Cauley, Janice Dilgert, Jamie Josephs, Jennifer Kennedy, Kevin Kunitsky, Jenna Lee, Jonathan Manning, Kunal Mansukhani, Radu Moga, HyeJung Park, Stephanie Rincon, Jessica Sills, and Trevor Smith. Thanks to M. Foster Olive for use of equipment, and Andrea Gierens and her team at the University of Trier for technical assistance with salivary assays. Special thanks to Linda Luecken, Nancy Gonzales, and Kevin Grimm in support of this study.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2021/6
Y1 - 2021/6
N2 - Consistent with conceptual frameworks of ethnic-race-based stress responses, and empirical evidence for the detrimental effects of ethnic-racial discrimination, the current study hypothesized that experiencing more frequent ethnic-racial discrimination during adolescence would predict differences in physiological responses to psychosocial stress across the college transition. U.S. Latinx adolescents (N = 84; Mage = 18.56; SD = 0.35; 63.1% female; 85.7% Mexican descent) completed survey measures of ethnic-racial discrimination during their final year of high school and first college semester (~5 months later), as well as a standard psychosocial stressor task during their first college semester. Repeated blood pressure and salivary cortisol measures were recorded to assess cardiovascular and neuroendocrine activity at baseline and stress reactivity and recovery. Data were analyzed using multilevel growth models. Experiencing more frequent ethnic-racial discrimination in high school, specifically from adults, predicted higher baseline physiological stress levels and lower reactivity to psychosocial stress during the first college semester, evidenced by both blood pressure and cortisol measures. Experiencing ethnic-racial discrimination from peers in high school also predicted higher baseline blood pressure in college, but not stress reactivity indices. Results were consistent when controlling for concurrent reports of ethnic-racial discrimination, gender, parents’ education level, body mass index, oral contraceptive use, time between longitudinal assessments, depressive symptoms, and general perceived stress. Experiencing frequent ethnic-racial discrimination during adolescence may lead to overburdening stress response systems, indexed by lower cardiovascular and neuroendocrine stress reactivity. Multiple physiological stress systems are sensitive to the consequences of ethnic-racial discrimination among Latinx adolescents transitioning to college.
AB - Consistent with conceptual frameworks of ethnic-race-based stress responses, and empirical evidence for the detrimental effects of ethnic-racial discrimination, the current study hypothesized that experiencing more frequent ethnic-racial discrimination during adolescence would predict differences in physiological responses to psychosocial stress across the college transition. U.S. Latinx adolescents (N = 84; Mage = 18.56; SD = 0.35; 63.1% female; 85.7% Mexican descent) completed survey measures of ethnic-racial discrimination during their final year of high school and first college semester (~5 months later), as well as a standard psychosocial stressor task during their first college semester. Repeated blood pressure and salivary cortisol measures were recorded to assess cardiovascular and neuroendocrine activity at baseline and stress reactivity and recovery. Data were analyzed using multilevel growth models. Experiencing more frequent ethnic-racial discrimination in high school, specifically from adults, predicted higher baseline physiological stress levels and lower reactivity to psychosocial stress during the first college semester, evidenced by both blood pressure and cortisol measures. Experiencing ethnic-racial discrimination from peers in high school also predicted higher baseline blood pressure in college, but not stress reactivity indices. Results were consistent when controlling for concurrent reports of ethnic-racial discrimination, gender, parents’ education level, body mass index, oral contraceptive use, time between longitudinal assessments, depressive symptoms, and general perceived stress. Experiencing frequent ethnic-racial discrimination during adolescence may lead to overburdening stress response systems, indexed by lower cardiovascular and neuroendocrine stress reactivity. Multiple physiological stress systems are sensitive to the consequences of ethnic-racial discrimination among Latinx adolescents transitioning to college.
KW - Adolescents
KW - Cardiovascular
KW - Cortisol
KW - Ethnic-Racial discrimination
KW - Latinx
KW - Stress reactivity
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U2 - 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2021.105212
DO - 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2021.105212
M3 - Article
C2 - 33933893
AN - SCOPUS:85106552299
SN - 0306-4530
VL - 128
JO - Psychoneuroendocrinology
JF - Psychoneuroendocrinology
M1 - 105212
ER -