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Objective: Investigate whether psychosocial risk in the childhood family environment moderates the relationship between childhood socioeconomic status (SES) and sleep, and the relationship between childhood SES and ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) in college students, two factors that are linked to future risk for cardiovascular disease. Participants: 124 American college students. Methods: Childhood SES and psychosocial risk in childhood family environments were measured by self-report instruments. Sleep was measured with self-report and actigraphy (over 5 days) and ABP over a 2-day period. Results: Linear regressions adjusting for age, sex, current SES, and current depressive symptoms indicated that SES and psychosocial risk in family environments during childhood interact to inform sleep quality, actigraphy derived wake after sleep onset (WASO), actigraphy derived Sleep Efficiency (SE) and ABP. Conclusions: Psychosocial risk in the childhood family environment may offset previously documented relationships between childhood SES and health-relevant outcomes in college students.

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 ([beta] = 0.12 t[358] = 2.22, p = 0.03, R[superscript 2] change = 0.02), perceived social stress ([beta] = 0.20, t[357] = 3.88, p < 0.001, R[superscript 2] change = 0.04), negative and positive affect ([beta] = 2.44, t[357] = 3.95, p < 0.001, R[superscript 2] change = 0.04), and ([beta] = -0.18 t[357]= -3.44, p = 0.001, R[superscript 2] change = 0.03 respectively), and self-rated health ([beta] = 0.19, t[359] = 4.57, p < 0.001, R[superscript 2] change = 0.10). 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.

We examined participation in an ethnically based residential program or “theme house” during the first year of college as a predictor of downstream immune system inflammation among undergraduates. Using a 4-year prospective design, we compared markers of inflammation among Latino/Latina students in a residential theme program with a matched sample of nonresidents. Students provided oral mucosal transudate samples for the assessment of circulating Interleukin 6 (IL-6), an inflammatory cytokine linked to health vulnerabilities. Findings suggest a protective benefit of theme house residency especially among students with anxious expectations of discrimination. Such expectations predicted higher levels of IL-6 after the first year of college among nonresidents only. In years 2–3, following exit from the theme house, the relationship between expected discrimination and IL-6 levels remained positive among nonresidents and was attenuated among residents, controlling for past IL-6 levels. Culturally based spaces may therefore offset the physiological burden of expected discrimination among undergraduates.

Low socioeconomic status (SES) during childhood confers risk for adverse health in adulthood. Accumulating evidence suggests that this may be due, in part, to the association between lower childhood SES and higher levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines. Drawing from literature showing that low childhood SES predicts exaggerated physiological reactivity to stressors and that lower SES is associated with a more communal, socially attuned orientation, we hypothesized that inflammatory reactivity would be more greatly affected by cues of social support among individuals whose childhood SES was low than among those whose childhood SES was high. In two studies, we found that individuals with lower subjective childhood SES exhibited greater reductions in pro-inflammatory cytokine reactivity to a stressor in the presence of a supportive figure (relative to conditions with an unsupportive or neutral figure). These effects were independent of current SES. This work helps illuminate SES-based differences in inflammatory reactivity to stressors, particularly among individuals whose childhood SES was low.

In response to social-evaluative threat induced in the laboratory, lower (compared to higher) subjective social class of a participant predicts greater increases in the inflammatory cytokine interleukin-6 (IL-6). In spite of the interpersonal nature of social-evaluation, little work has explored whether characteristics of the evaluator shape physiological responses in this context. In the current study, in a sample of 190 college students (male=66), we explored whether one's subjective social class interacts with the perceived social class of an evaluator to predict changes in Oral Mucosal Transudate (OMT) IL-6 in response to the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST). Participants were randomly assigned to be the speaker or the evaluator. Extending past work, we found that while speakers low in subjective social class consistently respond with strong increases in IL-6 regardless of their perception of their evaluator's social class, speakers high in subjective social class responded with greater increases in IL-6 when their evaluator was perceived as high social class compared to when they were perceived as low social class. This finding highlights the importance of perceptions of the evaluator in informing inflammatory responses to a social-evaluative task.

This research independently manipulated two potential attenuators of stereotype threat - reappraisal of anxiety and test framing - to explore their independent and combined effects. Female participants took a difficult math exam that was described as gender-biased or gender-fair and were told that anxious arousal could positively impact performance or were given no information regarding arousal. Levels of the cytokine Interleukin-6 (IL-6), an immune marker of inflammation, were measured in oral mucosal transudate (OMT) both before and after the exam. Our findings indicate that directing reappraisal of physiological arousal attenuated increases in IL-6 across test framing conditions, and was especially effective under stereotype threat (i.e., gender-biased test condition). Reappraisal also mapped onto better test performance in the threat condition. Together, these findings provide insight into the unique and interactive effects of two situational interventions meant to reduce stereotype threat, indexed here by both physiological and performance-based correlates of threat.

We experimentally tested whether negative stereotypes linked to lower socioeconomic status (SES), in addition to impairing academic performance (Croizet & Claire, 1998), instigate inflammation processes that are implicated in numerous disease processes. In Study 1, verbal test performance and activation of inflammation processes (measured by levels of an inflammatory protein, Interleukin-6 [IL-6]) varied as a function of SES and test framing (i.e., diagnostic vs. nondiagnostic of intellectual ability), with low SES students underperforming and exhibiting greater IL-6 production in the "diagnostic" condition. In Study 2, students expected their verbal exam performance to be compared to peers of higher or lower SES. Low SES students in the upward comparison condition displayed the greatest inflammatory response and worst test performance. Across both studies, different facets of SES predicted vulnerability to negative outcomes, such that low early life SES predicted heightened inflammation responses, while low current SES predicted impaired academic performance. © The Author(s) 2013.

BackgroundSubjective social status (captured by the MacArthur Scale of Subjective Social Status) is in many cases a stronger predictor of health outcomes than objective socioeconomic status (SES).PurposeThe study aims to test whether implicit beliefs about social class moderate the relationship between subjective social status and inflammation.MethodsWe measured implicit social class bias, subjective social status, SES, and baseline levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6), a marker of inflammation, in 209 healthy adults.ResultsImplicit social class bias significantly moderated the relationship between subjective social status and levels of IL-6, with a stronger implicit association between the concepts "lower class" and "bad" predicting greater levels of IL-6.ConclusionsImplicit social class bias moderates the relationship between subjective social status and health outcomes via regulation of levels of the inflammatory cytokine IL-6. High implicit social class bias, particularly when one perceives oneself as having low social standing, may increase vulnerability to inflammatory processes.

American Indians and Alaska Natives suffer from disproportionately high rates of chronic mental and physical health conditions. These health inequities are linked to colonization and its downstream consequences. Most of the American Indian and Alaska Native health inequities research uses a deficit framework, failing to acknowledge the resilience of American Indian and Alaska Native people despite challenging historical and current contexts. This scoping review is based on a conceptual model which acknowledges the context of colonization and its consequences (psychological and health risk factors). However, rather than focusing on health risk, we focus on protective factors across three identified domains (social, psychological, and cultural/spiritual), and summarize documented relationships between these resilience factors and health outcomes. Based on the scoping review of the literature, we note gaps in extant knowledge and recommend future directions. The findings summarized here can be used to inform and shape future interventions which aim to optimize health and well-being in American Indian and Alaska Native peoples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To investigate the relationship between daily thoughts about historical loss and daily levels of moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) in American Indian (AI) adults residing on the Blackfeet reservation in Browning, Montana. Methods: The study was designed and conducted using a community‐based participatory research framework and ecological momentary assessment. Over a period of 1 week, 100 AI adults (mean age = 42.18, SD = 14.92) reported how often they thought about historical loss at the end of each day. During this week‐long period, all participants wore a wrist‐accelerometer to passively and objectively measure levels of physical activity. Findings: We found that Blackfeet AI adults who reported thinking about historical loss more frequently over the course of the week had lower average levels of MVPA over the course of the week compared to Blackfeet AI adults who reported thinking about historical loss less frequently (B = –10.22, 95% CI = –13.83, –6.60). We also found that on days when Blackfeet AI adults thought more about historical loss compared to their weekly average, they had fewer minutes of MVPA compared to their weekly average of minutes of MVPA (B = –0.87, 95% CI = –1.48, –0.27). Conclusions: Our data indicate that thoughts about historical loss are linked to lower levels of MVPA. Given high incidence of chronic health conditions linked to physical inactivity in AIs, more work is needed to identify the mechanisms through which thoughts about historical loss may inhibit physical activity in this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Investigate whether psychosocial risk in the childhood family environment moderates the relationship between childhood socioeconomic status (SES) and sleep, and the relationship between childhood SES and ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) in college students, two factors that are linked to future risk for cardiovascular disease. Participants: 124 American college students. Methods: Childhood SES and psychosocial risk in childhood family environments were measured by self-report instruments. Sleep was measured with self-report and actigraphy (over 5 days) and ABP over a 2-day period. Results: Linear regressions adjusting for age, sex, current SES, and current depressive symptoms indicated that SES and psychosocial risk in family environments during childhood interact to inform sleep quality, actigraphy derived wake after sleep onset (WASO), actigraphy derived Sleep Efficiency (SE) and ABP. Conclusions: Psychosocial risk in the childhood family environment may offset previously documented relationships between childhood SES and health-relevant outcomes in college students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The experience of childhood trauma is known to predict health-relevant outcomes across the lifespan. Previous reviews summarize existing knowledge of the implications of childhood trauma for health in young adults and adults more generally. The current theoretical review aims to integrate the existing literature on the relationship between childhood trauma and health-relevant outcomes specifically in college students, consolidating findings across specific health domains. Further, the following theoretical review highlights the need for more research in this area and discusses how college campuses may use the knowledge in this area of work to develop targeted interventions aimed at improving the health of college students who experienced trauma in childhood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]