Associations Between Lifetime Stress, Positive Childhood Experiences, and Cardiovascular Risk Among Adolescents

• In Event: Stress and Adversity in Adolescents: The Roles of Stress Physiology

Abstract

Greater psychosocial stress has been associated with greater cardiovascular risk in adulthood (Suglia et al., 2018), whereas positive childhood experiences such as positive social relationships have been associated with lower cardiovascular risk (Slopen et al., 2017). However, few studies have examined the association between stress, positive childhood experiences, and cardiovascular risk during adolescence. Adolescence is an important developmental period for establishing life-long health behaviors, and adolescent cardiovascular health predicts cardiovascular health later in adulthood (Yang et al., 2020). Therefore, it is imperative to investigate factors that predict cardiovascular health in adolescence to identify potential modifiable targets for intervention before adulthood. The objective of the present study was to examine associations between stress and positive childhood experience with cardiovascular risk in adolescents. We hypothesized that higher lifetime stress severity was associated with greater cardiovascular risk, while greater positive childhood experiences would be associated with lower cardiovascular risk. In an ongoing study, adolescents aged 13-15 years and a parent (n=62) were recruited for a lab visit. History of lifetime stress exposure was self-reported by adolescents using the Stress and Adversity Inventory for Adolescents (Adolescent STRAIN; Slavich et al., 2019). The measure assessed 75 different stressors that included acute life events and chronic events. The Positive Childhood Experiences questionnaire (Bethell et al., 2019) was self-reported by adolescents. Example items include: “I feel able to talk to my family about feelings” and “I enjoy participating in community traditions.” In the lab session, trained research assistants measured waist circumference, body fat percentage (Tanita DC-430U), and resting blood pressure (averaged z-score of systolic and diastolic blood pressure; DinaMap Carescape V100). These variables were z-scored (adjusted for sex) and averaged to create a cardiovascular risk composite (r = .35-.61 between indicators). Pulse wave velocity (PWV), a measure of arterial stiffness associated with later cardiovascular disease, was assessed using the Sphygmocor XCEL. PWV was not associated with the other cardiovascular indicators. Two linear regressions were conducted to examine the association of lifetime stress severity and positive childhood experiences with (1) the cardiovascular risk composite, and (2) PWV. Covariates included adolescent age and parent education. These preliminary results focus on effect sizes greater than or equal to β = 0.20 as the sample is small; however, these analyses will be repeated with at least 100 participants by the time of the SRCD conference. In the regression predicting cardiovascular risk, greater positive childhood experiences predicted lower cardiovascular risk (β = -0.23), though lifetime stress did not (β = -.07). In the regression predicting PWV, neither lifetime stress severity (β = -0.15) or positive childhood experiences predicted PWV (β = -0.01). The interaction between lifetime stress and positive childhood experiences did not predict cardiovascular risk or PWV. In these preliminary findings, lifetime stress did not predict cardiovascular risk in adolescence, but greater positive childhood experiences did predict lower cardiovascular risk. This finding highlights the importance of positive childhood experience as a potential protective factor cardiovascular health in adolescence.

Authors

• Kenia Rivera, University of Denver
  Presenting Author

• Andrea Infante, University of Denver

• Chandler Spahr

• George M Slavich, University of California, Los Angeles

• Jenalee Doom, University of Denver