ABSTRACT
Trauma-exposed sexual minority women (SMW) are at elevated risk of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and hazardous drinking compared to trauma-exposed heterosexual women. To understand whether these problems might be exacerbated during times of elevated societal stress, we collected data from a New York-based sample of trauma-exposed SMW between April 2020 and August 2020, a period of notable, compounding societal stressors, including: (a) living in or near one of the first epicenters of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic in the United States and (b) living through multiple high-profile occurrences of racism-related police violence and subsequent racial unrest. SMW (n = 68) completed online self-report questionnaires related to trauma, PTSD symptoms, and alcohol use, and a subset (n = 29) completed semi-structured qualitative interviews. PsycINFO was searched with terms related to SMW, PTSD, and alcohol use to identify studies with samples of SMW from articles published within the last 10 years to which we could compare our sample; this produced nine studies. Welch's t-tests and Chi-square analyses revealed that SMW within our sample reported significantly higher PTSD symptom severity, probable PTSD, and hazardous drinking indicators (i.e., alcohol use disorder and heavy episodic drinking) between April 2020 and August 2020 compared to similar samples (i.e., trauma-exposed SMW and general samples of SMW) assessed previously. Qualitative reports also indicated that the societal stressors of 2020 contributed to mental and behavioral health concerns. These results underscore the need for integrated PTSD and alcohol use prevention and intervention efforts for trauma-exposed SMW during times of heightened societal stress.Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/08964289.2021.2006132 .
ABSTRACT
Research using stress induction protocols such as the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) and the TSST for groups (TSST-G) during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has been challenging. While institutional review boards have provided guidance on returning to face-to-face research using COVID-19 adaptations (e.g., masking, social distancing), whether these adaptations influence the effectiveness of social-evaluative stress induction remains unknown. We conducted a secondary data analysis from a randomized controlled trial to establish whether using COVID-19 adaptations (i.e., masking, social distancing, and using a single large conference room for the duration of the experiment) to the TSST-G protocol was able to reliably induce stress across cardiovascular, self-report, and behavioral indices of stress. Young adults (N = 53) underwent the TSST-G with COVID-19 adaptations. We measured systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), heart rate (HR), self-reported, and behavioral responses to the TSST-G, and all variables indicated successful stress induction. Increases in SBP (18 mmHg) and DBP (14 mmHg) were similar in magnitude as those in standard in-person TSST protocols. Increases in HR (9 beats per minute) were smaller in magnitude than standard in-person TSST protocols, but slightly larger than increases documented in remote TSST protocols. The cardiovascular, self-report, and behavioral indices of stress reactivity provide confidence in the effectiveness of TSST-G with COVID-19 adaptations to reliably induce stress. In-person TSST protocols with COVID-19 adaptations represent an alternate option to remote TSST protocols for stress induction researchers to use during times when masking or social distancing are necessary.
ABSTRACT
Research using stress induction protocols such as the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) and the TSST for groups (TSST-G) during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has been challenging. While institutional review boards have provided guidance on returning to face-to-face research using COVID-19 adaptations (e.g., masking, social distancing), whether these adaptations influence the effectiveness of social-evaluative stress induction remains unknown. We conducted a secondary data analysis from a randomized controlled trial to establish whether using COVID-19 adaptations (i.e., masking, social distancing, and using a single large conference room for the duration of the experiment) to the TSST-G protocol was able to reliably induce stress across cardiovascular, self-report, and behavioral indices of stress. Young adults (N = 53) underwent the TSST-G with COVID-19 adaptations. We measured systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), heart rate (HR), self-reported, and behavioral responses to the TSST-G, and all variables indicated successful stress induction. Increases in SBP (18 mmHg) and DBP (14 mmHg) were similar in magnitude as those in standard in-person TSST protocols. Increases in HR (9 beats per minute) were smaller in magnitude than standard in-person TSST protocols, but slightly larger than increases documented in remote TSST protocols. The cardiovascular, self-report, and behavioral indices of stress reactivity provide confidence in the effectiveness of TSST-G with COVID-19 adaptations to reliably induce stress. In-person TSST protocols with COVID-19 adaptations represent an alternate option to remote TSST protocols for stress induction researchers to use during times when masking or social distancing are necessary.