Showing papers on "Social stress published in 2003"

Reproduction and resistance to stress: When and how

Abstract: Environmental and social stresses have deleterious effects on reproductive function in vertebrates. Global climate change, human disturbance and endocrine disruption from pollutants are increasingly likely to pose additional stresses that could have a major impact on human society. Nonetheless, some populations of vertebrates (from fish to mammals) are able to temporarily resist environmental and social stresses, and breed successfully. A classical trade-off of reproductive success for potential survival is involved. We define five examples. (i) Aged individuals with minimal future reproductive success that should attempt to breed despite potential acute stressors. (ii) Seasonal breeders when time for actual breeding is so short that acute stress should be resisted in favour of reproductive success. (iii) If both members of a breeding pair provide parental care, then loss of a mate should be compensated for by the remaining individual. (iv) Semelparous species in which there is only one breeding period followed by programmed death. (v) Species where, because of the transience of dominance status in a social group, individuals may only have a short window of opportunity for mating. We suggest four mechanisms underlying resistance of the gonadal axis to stress. (i) Blockade at the central nervous system level, i.e. an individual no longer perceives the perturbation as stressful. (ii) Blockade at the level of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (i.e. failure to increase secretion of glucocorticosteroids). (iii) Blockade at the level of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonad axis (i.e. resistance of the reproductive system to the actions of glucocorticosteroids). (iv) Compensatory stimulation of the gonadal axis to counteract inhibitory glucocorticosteroid actions. Although these mechanisms are likely genetically determined, their expression may depend upon a complex interaction with environmental factors. Future research will provide valuable information on the biology of stress and how organisms cope. Such mechanisms would be particularly insightful as the spectre of global change continues to unfold.

Stressful neighborhoods and depression: a prospective study of the impact of neighborhood disorder.

Abstract: Quantitative and qualitative research suggests that urban disadvantaged environments may be highly stressful to their inhabitants. Social disorganization may be deleterious to both physical and mental health. The relationships among perceptions of one's neighborhood, measures of social support and social integration, and level of subsequent depressive symptoms was examined with a community sample of 818 individuals screened for an HIV prevention intervention, most of whom were current or former drug users. After adjusting for baseline levels of depressive symptoms, perceptions of neighborhood characteristics (vandalism, litter or trash, vacant housing, teenagers hanging out, burglary, drug selling, and robbery) predicted depressive symptoms at a 9-month follow-up interview. Measures of social support and social integration, entered as interactions with neighborhood perceptions, did not buffer the effect of neighborhood perceptions. However, CES-D scores at follow-up for frequent church attendees were lower. The data support theories of social disorganization and social stress and suggest the need for structural intervention.

The social risk hypothesis of depressed mood: evolutionary, psychosocial, and neurobiological perspectives.

Abstract: The authors hypothesize that depressed states evolved to minimize risk in social interactions in which individuals perceive that the ratio of their social value to others, and their social burden on others, is at a critically low level. When this ratio reaches a point where social value and social burden are approaching equivalence, the individual is in danger of exclusion from social contexts that, over the course of evolution, have been critical to fitness. Many features of depressed states can be understood in relation to mechanisms that reduce social risk in such circumstances, including (a) hyper-sensitivity to signals of social threat from others, (b) sending signals to others that reduce social risks, and (c) inhibiting risk-seeking (e.g., confident, acquisitive) behaviors. These features are discussed in terms of psychosocial and neurobiological research on depressive phenomena.

Individual variation in aggression of feral rodent strains: a standard for the genetics of aggression and violence?

Abstract: This article summarizes the broad individual differences in aggressiveness and its relationship with several other behavioral, physiological, and neurobiological characteristics that exist in an outbred laboratory strain of male feral rats. Based on the observations that the individual level of offensive aggressive behavior (i.e., the tendency to defend the home territory) is strongly related to the way they react to various other environmental challenges, it is argued that the individual's level of offensiveness is an important indicator and component of a more traitlike behavioral physiological response pattern (coping strategy) to environmental demands. The coping style of aggressive animals is principally aimed at a (pro)active prevention or manipulation of a stressor, whereas the nonaggressive individuals tend to passively accept or react to it. The (pro)active and reactive/passive behavioral coping styles are clearly associated with distinct patterns of autonomic/endocrine (re)activity and underlying neurobiological correlates and determinants. Consequently, these individual differences in aggression/coping style may not only determine the individual vulnerability to stress-related disease, and hence be an important factor in the population dynamics of the species, but may also determine responsivity to pharmacotherapeutic treatments. From an animal modeling point of view, it is argued that the aggressive extremes of this variation may, under the proper testing conditions, have an enhanced propensity to develop pathological forms of aggression and/or coping, for example, antisocial traits, violence, or impulsivity disorders. Finally, it is proposed that the use of these feral animals as base “material” for genetic association (i.e., QTL search, mRNA differential expression, nucleic acid microarray analysis) and manipulation (i.e., gene silencing or amplification by antisense ODN, siRNA, and/or viral gene-transfer methodologies) studies would most likely be the best option for dissecting successfully the genetic basis of both normal and pathological forms of aggression and/or coping.

Social distribution of social support: the mediating role of life events.

Abstract: Although the relation of socioeconomic status (SES) to social support has been discussed for some time, researchers have rarely systematically examined the social patterning of this resource In addition, potential explanatory mechanisms have not been investigated This study examined both the social distribution of social support and the role of life events in the association between SES and social support in a nationally representative probability sample of adults from the National Cormorbidity Survey Higher education and income were related to more emotional support and fewer negative interactions Individuals with higher incomes were also less likely to report acute and chronic life events Finally, acute (but not chronic) life events mediated the relation between SES and social support (both emotional support and negative interactions) These results suggest the inability of lower SES individuals to mobilize social support in times of need may be explained by their more frequent experience of acute life events

Unique Aspects of Stress in Human Service Work

Abstract: Two unique stressors associated with human service work are emotional dissonance, particularly the need to hide negative emotions (emotion work), and client/customer-related social stressors. The latter may involve disproportionate or ambiguous client/customer expectations and/or verbally aggressive customers. These stressors affect all human service workers, even though they may vary in the extent to which their work involves lasting relationships with clients/customers, and in the amount of training they have received to deal with client/customer-related social stressors. For example, health professionals typically develop long-lasting relationships with their clients whereas call centre workers may have only a single brief interaction. In accordance with contemporary theories of work stress (conservation of resources, effort-reward imbalance, demand-control-support), we argue that social support and training designed to develop “role separation” are crucial resources needed to help human service worker...

Effects of acute social stress on alcohol consumption in healthy subjects.

Abstract: Background: There has been renewed interest in interactions between stress and use of drugs and alcohol. Although there is evidence that stress increases drug use in human drug users and in laboratory animals, the processes by which stress affects drug-motivated behavior are not understood. Here we examined the effects of an acute social stressor (performing a mental arithmetic task in front of an audience) on consumption of ethanol or placebo beverages in healthy social drinkers. Methods: Thirty-seven men and women, ages 21–35, were randomly assigned to a placebo (n= 15) or ethanol group (n= 22). Subjects participated in two sessions, one with stress (Trier Social Stress Test) the other without stress. In each session, immediately after the stress or no-stress period, subjects consumed the first dose (placebo or 0.3 g/kg of ethanol for men or 0.2 g/kg for women). Then, subjects were allowed to choose up to six more beverages (0.1 g/kg each for the ethanol group or placebo beverages for the placebo group). Measures included percentage of beverage consumed, salivary cortisol level, heart rate, blood pressure, and subjective ratings of mood and drug effect. Results: Subjects in both the placebo and ethanol groups consumed significantly more of their beverages after stress, compared to no stress. Stress increased anxiety, uneasiness, and produced some stimulant-like effects and, in the ethanol group, it dampened some of the acute subjective effects of ethanol. The direct physiologic and mood effects of the stress were fairly short-lived. Conclusions: It is concluded that acute stress may produce a modest increase in alcohol consumption in healthy, nonproblem social drinkers but that this increase is not directly related to the pharmacological effects of the drug. Nonpharmacological factors may include expectancies, thirst, or nonspecific facilitation of ongoing behaviors.

Association of Social Stress, Illicit Drug Use, and Health Beliefs with Nonadherence to Antiretroviral Therapy

Abstract: OBJECTIVE: To assess the roles of socioeconomic status, social stability, social stress, health beliefs, and illicit drug use with nonadherence to antiretroviral therapy.

Social stress and women's risk for recurrent depression.

Abstract: The lives of depressed women appear to be stressful. Based on data from a community sample of women with histories of depression, support for an interpersonal stress perspective on women's depression is presented. Women often find themselves embedded in environments with high levels of chronic stress and negative life events. Compared to never-depressed women, those who are currently depressed, and even those with prior but not current depression, are relatively more likely to experience divorce and marital difficulties, spouses with psychiatric disorders, problematic relationships with their children, children with high rates of disorder, and recent elevated rates of personal stressful life events. Such life challenges may increase the likelihood of further depressive experiences. While both psychosocial and genetic factors may contribute to the interpersonal vulnerabilities, once caught up in depression-maintaining environments, treatments for women may require intervention in the family and interpersonal domains.

The pursuit of socially modifiable contingencies in mental health.

Abstract: The effort to understand the meanings of the well-demonstrated linkages between mental health and one's locations in the social structure has commanded a great deal of research attention over the past half century. Following a brief consideration of my early efforts to make a contribution in this regard, some recent and ongoing work is summarized. In concert with important work by others, these findings support the conclusion that differences in exposure to social stress represent a much more critical contingency in mental health and substance use outcomes than has generally been assumed. In addition, reported results indicate that the lifetime experience of multiple adversities is quite common among young people in South Florida and, presumably, elsewhere and the likelihood that the compelling linkage observed between cumulative adversity and risk for psychiatric and substance disorders is causal in nature. It is suggested that the development of interventions in the service of stress prevention or reduction should command a greater proportion of the attention of researchers and interventionists.

Predicting the consequences of social stressors on pig food intake and performance.

Abstract: The influence of social stressors on pig performance, although undeniable, is frequently underestimated, and in pig growth modeling is generally ignored. The aims here were to quantify the effects of the main social stressors (i.e., group size, space allowance, feeder space allowance, and mixing) on the performance of growing pigs and to incorporate these relationships into a general growth simulation model. Effects of the individual stressors were described by conceptual equations derived on biological grounds. Parameter values were estimated from experimental data, while taking steps to avoid the problems of using a strictly empirical approach. It was assumed that social stress decreases the capacity of the animal to attain its potential. This is equivalent to lowering the maximum rate of daily gain (ADGp, kg/d). Because it is generally assumed that animals eat to attain their potential, a decrease in ADG p necessarily leads to a decrease in intake. Genetic variation among genotypes in their ability to cope with social stressors was accounted for by introducing an extra genetic parameter (EX) into the model. The value of EX adjusts both the intensity of stressor at which the animal becomes effectively stressed and the extent to which stress decreases performance and increases energy expenditure at a given stressor intensity. Rather than using an empirical adjustment to predict values for the model output variables, such as intake and gain, the chosen functional forms were integrated into a general growth model as mechanistic equations. This allowed the effects of interactions that exist between social stressors and the other variables, such as the genotype, feed composition, and environment on pig intake and growth, to be explored and, at least in principle, predicted. The adapted model is able to predict the performance of pigs differing in both the potential and ability to cope with environmental stressors when raised under given dietary, physical, and social environmental conditions. The social stressor equations developed here can be incorporated into other pig growth simulation models.

Online exclusive: behavioral adjustment of children and adolescents with cancer: teacher, parent, and self-report.

Abstract: Purpose/objectives To describe behavioral adjustment in children and adolescents with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and to determine whether behavioral adjustment is correlated with cognitive and academic abilities. Design Descriptive, cross-sectional design. Setting Two pediatric oncology treatment centers. Sample 47 children and adolescents who had been receiving ALL therapy for at least one year or who were off therapy for no more than three years and their parents and teachers. Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R) and Wide Range Achievement Test-Revised (WRAT-R) data were available on a subset of 17 subjects. Methods Parent, teacher, and self-report Behavioral Assessment System for Children (BASC) ratings were used to measure behavioral adjustment. WISC-R measured cognitive abilities, and WRAT-R measured academic abilities. Demographic, family, and treatment-related data also were collected. Main research variables Behavioral adjustment and cognitive and academic abilities. Findings At least 20% of teacher ratings for somatization, learning problems, leadership, and study skills; parent ratings for somatization, adaptability, attention problems, withdrawal, anxiety, social skills, and depression; and self-report ratings for anxiety and attitude to school were in the at-risk range (i.e., presence of significant problems that require treatment). The majority of teacher BASC ratings were correlated significantly with WISC-R and WRAT-R scores. Self-report depression and social stress ratings were correlated significantly with some WISC-R and WRAT-R scores. Treatment-related experiences such as body image alterations and mental and emotional problems were associated with problematic behaviors, including depression, somatization, withdrawal, and social stress. Conclusions Youth with ALL are at risk for some behavioral adjustment problems, particularly anxiety, somatization, adaptability, attention, and withdrawal. Cognitive and academic abilities are associated with some dimensions of behavioral adjustment. Implications for nursing Findings suggest the need for ongoing assessment of behavioral adjustment and cognitive and academic abilities of children with ALL. Behavioral interventions that target at-risk mannerisms, such as somatization, depression, anxiety, and social stress, are needed. Central nervous system treatment may contribute to behavioral adjustment problems, as well as to cognitive and academic problems. Strategies to improve academic abilities also may have a positive effect on behavioral adjustment.

Social experience alters the response to social stress in mice.

Abstract: Individual differences in the response to stressful stimuli have been documented in humans and in a variety of animal species. Recently, we demonstrated that social stress induced a state of glucocorticoid (GC) resistance in mouse splenocytes, however this response was highly variable among cage mates. Since these studies were conducted using inbred mice (C57BL/6), it was suggested that environmental factors were the source of this variability. The following study examined possible factors that may have contributed to the development of individual differences in the susceptibility of mice to social stress. First, the effect of rearing conditions was studied by comparing the development of GC resistance in mice reared in isolation or in groups. In addition, the effect of previous social experiences was studied in mice that were re-housed to facilitate the formation of new social hierarchies in the cages. The results indicated that isolation altered the behavior of the mice during the social stress, but did not affect the development of GC resistance in response to the stress. Re-housing and the resulting loss of social status increased the susceptibility of mice to the development of GC resistance following social stress. Together, these findings indicate that environmental factors, such as previous social experiences, may alter the susceptibility to the effects of future social stress in inbred mice.