3-227 - Innovations in Chronic Stress Assessments: Developmental, Conceptual and Methodological Considerations

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Chronic stress rather than acute stress is pivotal in influencing a wide range of both mental and physical health outcomes. However, the majority of research investigating biological mechanisms associated with stress exposure have focused almost exclusively on stress reactivity - how one responds to stress in the moment, rather than chronic stress exposure, arguably a more powerful predictor of outcomes. Recent innovations in both theory and methodology around chronic stress, have paved the way for new lines of research focusing specifically on chronic stress, and their implications for development. However, these methods have different implications across development, have different conceptualizations across the lifespan, and are methodologically more sensible in some contexts than others. In the current symposium, we put together an exciting group of researchers examining these cutting-edge issues.

The first presentation considers long-term exposure to stress hormones (cortisol and dehydroepienadrosterone) in hair and nail samples across levels of environmental risks (e.g., poverty) and examines relationships in the mother-child dyad during the postpartum, and indicators of sleep, self-regulation and stress. The second presentation conceptualizes chronic stress as early life adversity, and explores their relationship with urinary catecholamines, while considering the importance of ethnicity. The last presentation will focus on allostatic load, a multisystem concept that assesses chronic stress across systems including neurobiological implications. The subsequent discussion will evaluate such conceptualizations of chronic stress and its implications for child development in the context of poverty. Together, these presentations represent novel measurements, new directions, and current challenges in chronic stress across development.

Sub Unit

• Social, Emotional, Personality

Chair

• Stacey N Doan, Claremont McKenna College

Discussant

• Gary W. Evans, Cornell University

Individual Presentations

• Adrenal steroids from hair and nail as potential biomarkers for chronic stress - Presenting Author: Cindy Liu, Harvard University; Günther Fink, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health; Alexandra Brentani, University of São Paulo; Jerrold S. Meyer, University of Massachusetts Amherst; Stacey N Doan, Claremont McKenna College

• Childhood Adversity and Urinary Catecholamine Concentrations - Presenting Author: Thomas Fuller-Rowell, Auburn University; David Stuart Curtis, Auburn University

• Using developmental science to shed new light on allostatic load - Presenting Author: Paul David Hastings, University of California, Davis; Natalie R. Troxel, University of California, Davis; David G Weissman, University of California, Davis; Roberta A. Schriber, UC Davis; Joseph Gonzales, University of California, Davis; Amanda E Guyer, University of California, Davis