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Objective: To investigate whether use of cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression interact with childhood trauma burden to predict alcohol problems in a sample of American Indian adults., Methods: Four hundred and twenty-nine American Indian adults (Mean age = 37.62, 59.5 % male) completed an online survey to measure childhood trauma exposure, perceived impact of childhood trauma, trait use of expressive suppression, and alcohol problems in adulthood., Results: Trait use of cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression interacted with childhood trauma burden to predict alcohol problems in adulthood. American Indian adults who reported high levels of childhood trauma burden who also reported frequent use of both cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression had significantly more alcohol problems compared to individuals who reported similarly high levels of childhood trauma burden who reported low use of these emotion regulation strategies., Conclusions: These findings provide initial evidence that emotion regulation interventions which focus on different emotion regulation strategies could be an effective way to offset the risk for alcohol problems associated with childhood trauma., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Life events, such as the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, elicit increases in psychological stress and symptoms of anxiety and depression. In turn, these outcomes have negative implications for mental health. Emotion regulation strategies and prior adversity may moderate the degree to which life events affect outcomes that are linked to mental health. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate whether childhood adversity and emotion regulation strategy use interactively informed changes in outcomes linked to mental health following the onset of the pandemic in American Indian (AI) adults. AI adults ( N = 210) reported levels of childhood adversity, emotion regulation strategy use, symptoms of anxiety and depression, and psychological stress 1 month prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. One month following the declaration of the pandemic, they reported on their stress, symptoms of anxiety and depression once again. The interaction between expressive suppression and childhood adversity predicted changes in psychological stress and symptoms of depression ( B = .26, t (198) = 4.43 p < .001, R ² change = .06) and ( B = .23 t (199) = 4.14, p < .001, R ² change = .05) respectively. The findings indicate that expressive suppression may be a maladaptive emotion regulation strategy for AI adults who experienced high levels of childhood adversity. This work represents a first step in understanding the role of emotion regulation strategy use in predicting mental health-relevant outcomes in the context of a life event, in a community that is disproportionately affected by chronic mental health conditions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Objectives: To investigate whether childhood adversity exacerbates the relationship between sleep restriction and inflammation., Methods: Participants (N = 46) were randomly assigned to an experimental sleep restriction group (n = 25) or a night of typical sleep (n = 21). Participants provided a dried blood spot sample the morning before and after the experimental night., Results: A significant interaction emerged between childhood adversity and group assignment on C-reactive protein (CRP) after the experimental night (Beta = -0.02, SE = 0.01, P = .03, 95% CI: -0.05, -0.002). Sleep restriction resulted in an increase in CRP at high levels of childhood adversity (+1 SD; Effect = -0.57, SE = 0.15, P< .001; 95% CI: -0.87, -0.26) but not low levels of childhood adversity (Effect = -0.08, SE = 0.10, P = .40; 95% CI: -0.29, 0.12)., Conclusion: Childhood adversity may amplify the effect of sleep loss on markers of inflammation., (Copyright © 2022 National Sleep Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are robustly associated with later cardiovascular disease. Alterations in cardiovascular responses to stress may be an underlying mechanism. The present study examined whether ACEs predicted habituation of cardiovascular responses across two acute laboratory stress tasks, and whether this differed between men and women. During a single laboratory visit, 453 healthy young adults completed two identical stress-inducing protocols, each involving a 10-minute baseline and 4-minute acute psychological stress task. Heart rate (HR) and systolic/diastolic blood pressure (S/DBP) were recorded throughout. Participants also completed the Adverse Childhood Experiences scale. Cardiovascular responses habituated from the first to second stress task on average across the entire sample. However, women-but not men-with higher self-reported ACEs displayed less habituation of HR and DBP, but not SBP, across the stress tasks. Results suggest that ACEs may alter the body's ability to adaptively respond to stress exposures in adulthood, specifically in women., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Objective: To investigate associations between risk in family environments and health-relevant outcomes in college and the role of loneliness. Participants: College students at a state university ( N  = 360). Methods: We utilized linear regression to examine relationships between risk in family environments and loneliness, perceived stress, affect, and self-rated health. We tested for indirect effects of risk in family environments on outcomes through loneliness Results: Analyses showed that risk in family environments associated with loneliness ( β  = 0.12 t [358] = 2.22, p = .03, R 2 change = .02), perceived social stress ( β  = 0.20, t [357] = 3.88, p  < 0.001, R 2 change = .04), negative and positive affect ( β  = 2.44, t [357] = 3.95, p < .001, R 2 change = .04), and ( β = -0.18 t [357]= -3.44, p = .001, R 2 change = .03 respectively), and self-rated health ( β  = 0.19, t [359] = 4.57, p < .001, R 2 change = .10). Significant indirect effects were observed for risk in early family on all outcomes through loneliness. Conclusion: These findings provide initial evidence that risk in childhood family environments may negatively affect health by increasing loneliness in college students.

Background: Previous research documents an association between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and immune system inflammation. High chronic inflammation is believed to be one biological pathway through which childhood adversity may affect health into adulthood. The Blackfeet tribal community has high rates of childhood trauma and community members are disproportionately affected by inflammatory diseases., Purpose: To investigate whether belonging to the tribal community may moderate the relationship between childhood trauma and immune system inflammation in the Blackfeet tribal community., Methods: In a sample of 90 adults residing on the Blackfeet reservation, we measured ACEs belonging to the tribal community and two markers of immune system inflammation, interleukin-6 (IL-6) and C-reactive protein (CRP)., Results: We found that independent of age, gender, annual income, body mass index, and depressive symptoms, belonging to the tribal community and ACEs interacted to predict levels of both IL-6 and CRP (B= -.37, t[81] = -3.82, p < .001, R2 change = .07 and B = -.29, t[81] = -2.75, p = .01, R2 change = .08, respectively). The association between ACEs and markers of immune system inflammation was statistically significant for community members who reported low levels of belonging to the community., Conclusions: The findings of this study have important implications for intervention research seeking to reduce risk for inflammatory diseases for at-risk populations. Fostering stronger connections to the larger tribal community may positively affect risk for inflammatory diseases. Future work should examine the behavioral and psychosocial pathways through which stronger connections to community may confer health benefits., (© Society of Behavioral Medicine 2019. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

The strategies used to down regulate negative emotions or upregulate positive emotions are implicated in mood disorders, such as depression, and internalizing disorders, such as anxiety. Emotion regulation (ER) and mental health is largely understudied in American Indian (AI) populations. The limited extant data suggests that the rates of anxiety and depression symptoms are higher in AIs compared to the national average. Further, prior research shows that infrequent use of emotion reappraisal and frequent use of suppression is linked to symptoms of stress and depression in American Indian adults reporting childhood trauma. It is possible that ER strategies may cluster into unique profiles and inform differences in mental health amongst AIs. The following work expands prior literature by utilizing an extensive ER strategy questionnaire and explores how different levels of usage of ER strategies uniquely associate with reports of anxiety and depression in a sample of American Indian adults in 2022. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Childhood adversity is linked to adverse health in adulthood. One posited mechanistic pathway is through physiological responses to acute stress. Childhood adversity has been previously related to both exaggerated and blunted physiological responses to acute stress, however, less is known about the psychological mechanisms which may contribute to patterns of physiological reactivity linked to childhood adversity. Objective: In the current work, we investigated the role of challenge and threat stress appraisals in explaining relationships between childhood adversity and cortisol reactivity in response to an acute stressor. Methods: Undergraduate students (n = 81; 61% female) completed an online survey that included general demographic information and the Risky Families Questionnaire 24 h before a scheduled lab visit. In the lab, a research assistant collected a baseline salivary cortisol sample. Following the baseline period, participants were read instructions for the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST), a validated psychological lab stressor. Next, they completed a challenge vs. threat task appraisal questionnaire and completed the speech and math portion of the TSST. Twenty minutes following the start of the TSST, a second salivary sample was collected to measure changes in salivary cortisol following the TSST. Results: Linear regression analyses adjusted for age, sex, childhood socioeconomic status (SES), and baseline cortisol levels, showed childhood adversity associated with changes in cortisol levels [ B = –0.29 t (73) = –2.35, p = 0.02, R 2=0.07]. Linear regression analyses controlling for age, sex, and childhood SES showed childhood adversity associated with both challenge [ B = –0.52 t (74) = –5.04, p < 0.001, R 2=0.24] and threat [ B = 0.55 t (74) = 5.40, p < 0.001, R 2=0.27] appraisals. Significant indirect effects of childhood trauma on cortisol reactivity were observed through challenge appraisals [ B = –0.01 (95% confidence interval = –0.02, –0.003)], and threat appraisals [ B = –0.01 (95% confidence interval = –0.01, –0.003)]. Conclusion: Childhood adversity may contribute to blunted cortisol reactivity, a pattern of response which is linked to obesity, addiction, and other behavior-related diseases. Our findings suggest that this relationship is in part a product of stress appraisals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although previous research has established a relationship between childhood trauma and later-life anxiety and depression symptoms in American Indian samples, less is known about protective factors that may reduce the strength of this relationship. The purpose of the present study was to investigate in a sample of American Indian adults, whether age moderates the relationship between self-compassion and poor mental health associated with childhood trauma. Seven hundred and twenty-nine self-identifying American Indian adults (age 18–95) residing in the United States completed an online survey. All participants were self-identifying American Indian adults recruited via Qualtrics, which utilized targeted recruiting through managed research panels. Participants self-reported age, gender, income, and completed measures of self-compassion, childhood trauma, and symptoms of anxiety and depression. Lower self-compassion predicted higher levels of both anxiety symptoms (β = −2.69, R 2 change = 0.24, t (718) = −15.92, p <.001) and depression symptoms (β = −2.23, R 2 change = 0.26, t (718) = −16.30, p <.001). In line with our hypothesis, there was a significant three-way interaction between age, childhood trauma exposure and self-compassion in predicting later-life symptoms of anxiety (β = −0.68, t (712) = −3.57, p <.001, R 2 change = 0.01) and depression (β = −0.54, t (712) = −3.32, p =.001, R 2 change = 0.01). The findings indicate that for older American Indian adults, self-compassion may be a particularly promising protective factor for symptoms of depression for those who have experienced high levels of childhood trauma, and for symptoms of anxiety regardless of childhood trauma exposure. • Historical trauma contributes to high incidence of childhood trauma in American Indians. • American Indians have high incidence of mental health conditions. • Self-Compassion could be an important protective factor which may be moderated by age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]