Childhood trauma exposure, age and self-compassion as predictors of later-life symptoms of depression and anxiety in American Indian adults.

BACKGROUND: 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. OBJECTIVE: 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. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: Seven hundred and twenty-nine self-identifying American Indian adults (age 18-95) residing in the United States completed an online survey. METHOD: 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. RESULTS: Lower self-compassion predicted higher levels of both anxiety symptoms (ß = -2.69, R2change = 0.24, t(718) = -15.92, p < .001) and depression symptoms (ß = -2.23, R2change = 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 (ß = -0.68, t(712) = -3.57, p < .001, R2change = 0.01) and depression (ß = -0.54, t(712) = -3.32, p = .001, R2change = 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: 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.

Resilience and health in American Indians and Alaska Natives: A scoping review of the literature.

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.

Childhood trauma and college student health: a review of the literature.

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.

Infant Negativity Moderates Trajectories of Maternal Emotion Across Pregnancy and the Peripartum Period.

Background: Although the effects of maternal behavior on the development of child emotion characteristics is relatively well-established, effects of infant characteristics on maternal emotion development is less well known. This gap in knowledge persists despite repeated calls for including child-to-mother effects in studies of emotion. We tested the theory-based postulate that infant temperamental negativity moderates longitudinal trajectories of mothers' perinatal symptoms of anxiety and depression. Method: Participants were 92 pregnant community women who enrolled in a longitudinal study of maternal mental health; symptoms of anxiety and depression were assessed during the second and third trimesters of pregnancy and again at infant age 4 months. A multimethod assessment of infants' temperament-based negative reactivity was conducted at infant age 4 months. Results: Maternal symptoms of anxiety showed smaller postnatal declines when levels of infant negativity were high. Negative reactivity, assessed via maternal report of infant behavior, was related to smaller postnatal declines in maternal anxiety, while infant negative reactivity, at the level of neuroendocrine function, was largely unrelated to longitudinal changes in maternal anxiety symptoms. Infant negativity was related to early levels, but largely unrelated to trajectories of maternal symptoms of depression. Limitations: Limitations of this work include a relatively small and low-risk sample size, the inability to isolate environmental effects, and a nonexperimental design that precludes causal inference. Conclusions: Findings suggest that levels of infant negativity are associated with differences in the degree of change in maternal anxiety symptoms across the perinatal period.

Historical loss: Implications for physical activity levels in American Indian adults.

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.

Childhood environments and their relationship with sleep and ambulatory blood pressure in college students.

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.

Emotion Regulation Strategies Relate to Ambulatory Cardiovascular Activity in an American Indian Community.

OBJECTIVE: Poor emotion regulation is associated with risk for cardiovascular disease. However, much of this research is conducted in primarily White samples, thus limiting our understanding of this relationship in other racial/ethnic groups. American Indians (AIs) are uniquely and disproportionately at risk for cardiovascular disease. As such, the present study aimed to examine the relationships between emotion regulation strategies and ambulatory cardiovascular activity in an entirely AI sample. METHODS: The sample consisted of 100 AI adults living on a tribal reservation. Emotion regulation strategies (expressive suppression, cognitive reappraisal) were assessed via the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire. Using ecological momentary assessment, daily measurements of psychological stress and ambulatory cardiovascular activity were taken during a 7-day monitoring period. Statistical analyses included bivariate correlations, hierarchical linear regression models, and mediation models. RESULTS: Expressive suppression was associated with higher systolic and diastolic blood pressure, as well as higher pulse rate. In contrast, cognitive reappraisal was associated with lower systolic and diastolic blood pressure, lower pulse rate, and lower average daily psychological stress. These results remained statistically significant after adjusting for age, sex, body mass index, anxiety, depression, and early life trauma. In addition, psychological stress mediated the associations between blood pressure and cognitive reappraisal, but not expressive suppression. CONCLUSIONS: These results provide preliminary evidence for divergent associations of two emotion regulation strategies with cardiovascular activity and psychological stress in an AI community. Modifying health interventions to include training in effective emotion regulation may be beneficial.

Sleep restriction reduces positive social emotions and desire to connect with others.

Feeling connected with others and experiencing positive interpersonal interactions is associated with physical health and psychological functioning. Despite the importance of social experiences, experimental studies investigating how sleep impacts social connections and positive social experiences are limited. The current study sought to examine how sleep loss impacted social motivation and emotions. Healthy emerging adults (N = 53; 83% female, ages 18-28 years) were randomly assigned to one night of sleep restriction (4h time in bed) or typical sleep (8 h time in bed). Following the experimental night, participants reported on their desire to pursue social connections, and completed a reflection task where they wrote about something generous someone did for them. After the reflection, participants reported on their positive and negative social emotions (gratitude, connectedness, guilt, indebtedness). Coding of the reflections was conducted to extract emotional tone and social words used. Sleep restricted participants reported reduced motivation to pursue social connections, and less gratitude and feelings of connectedness after the reflection compared to the control condition. Sleep restricted participants also used fewer socially-oriented words (i.e. words focused on other people) when reflecting on this interpersonal event. No differences emerged in guilt or indebtedness or emotional tone of the reflection. Findings suggest that sleep loss may decrease desire to engage in social interactions and reduces positive social emotions. These findings expand the limited body of research on sleep and social functioning by examining the impact of partial sleep restriction on social motivation, and on the experience of social emotions within a positive interpersonal context.

Childhood adversity and emotion regulation strategies as predictors of psychological stress and mental health in American Indian adults during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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, R² change = .06) and (B = .23 t(199) = 4.14, p < .001, R² 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).

Profiles of historical loss and childhood trauma as predictors of mental and cardiometabolic health in American Indian adults.

Cardiometabolic disease and mental health conditions are two major contributors to persistent inequities in health and life expectancy for American Indian adults. The atrocities associated with European colonization are linked to intergenerational psychological and emotional wounding (i.e., historical trauma) and high incidence of childhood trauma. Prior work has examined the independent relationships of childhood trauma and thoughts about historical loss with cardiometabolic and mental health in American Indians. In the current work, we used a data-driven approach to identify profiles of childhood trauma and frequency of thoughts about historical loss, and then examined how these profiles related to cardiometabolic and mental health in a sample of American Indian adults from across the United States (N = 727). We found that a profile characterized by high levels of childhood trauma and high frequency of thoughts about historical losses was associated with the greatest risk for mental health conditions. The profile characterized by the highest levels of childhood trauma and by moderate frequency of thoughts about historical losses was associated with the largest risk of cardiometabolic conditions. The findings represent an important first step towards understanding how childhood trauma and thoughts about historical loss may simultaneously inform enduring inequities in American Indian health.

COVID-19 and food insecurity in the Blackfeet Tribal Community.

To examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on food insecurity in the Blackfeet American Indian Tribal Community. American Indian adults residing on the Blackfeet reservation in Northwest Montana (n = 167) participated in a longitudinal survey across 4 months during the COVID-19 pandemic (August 24, 2020- November 30, 2020). Participants reported on demographics and food insecurity. We examined trajectories of food insecurity alongside COVID-19 incidence. While food insecurity was high in the Blackfeet community preceding the pandemic, 79% of our sample reported significantly greater food insecurity at the end of the study. Blackfeet women were more likely to report higher levels of food insecurity and having more people in the household predicted higher food insecurity. Longitudinal data indicate that the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated already high levels of food insecurity in the Blackfeet community. Existing programs and policies are inadequate to address this public health concern in AI tribal communities.

Childhood adversity is associated with heightened inflammation after sleep loss.

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.

Childhood Trauma and Cortisol Reactivity: An Investigation of the Role of Task Appraisals.

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.

Bioenergy for Stress Relief in University Students: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

This study addressed the efficacy of a 20-minute Chakra Connection to treat self-assessed stress in a group of university students. A randomized, control design was used to identify group mean differences for intervention and control groups. A convenience sample of university students was randomly assigned to an intervention (Healing Touch Chakra Connection) or control (Healing Touch Video) group. Self-assessed stress, blood pressure, cortisol, and IL6 were collected before and after the healing touch intervention or control video. The bio-field intervention led to significant decreases in self-reported levels of stress, and stress related biological markers (blood pressure, cortisol, and IL6). Decreases in blood pressure were (statistically) greater for the treatment than for the control but not for the other markers (cortisol and IL6). The higher the level of stress before the intervention, as measured by one of the stress measures, the greater the decrease in stress regardless of treatment group. This study lends support to Principle 5 of the Complex Systems Science and supports bio-field interventions for the treatment of anxiety in university students.

Changes in vitality in response to acute stress: an investigation of the role of anxiety and physiological reactivity.

Background: Feeling alive and invigorated, or vitality, is examined within the framework of a stress paradigm. The current study investigated whether endocrine and cardiovascular responses to acute psychological stress predict declines in vitality.Methods: A sample of 90 undergraduate students completed an in-lab stressor. We measured anxiety, state vitality, cortisol levels, heart rate, and blood pressure before the task, and measured changes in state vitality, cortisol, heart rate, and blood pressure in response to the stressor. We investigated whether pre-task anxiety predicted changes in state vitality, and whether such changes were explained by physiological responses.Results: Results indicate that cognitive and somatic anxiety preceding a stressor predict changes in vitality, which is mediated by the magnitude of diastolic (95% CI [0.017, 0.517]; [0.006, 0.454]) and systolic (95% CI [0.038, 0.705]) blood pressure responses to the task. Cortisol reactivity was associated with somatic anxiety (F(6, 83) = 3.34, p < .01, ß = 0.401) but was not related to changes in vitality.Conclusions: Together, these results contribute to the understanding of how physiological reactivity to a stressor can deplete vitality.

Historical Loss: Implications for Health of American Indians in the Blackfeet Community.

BACKGROUND: Historical loss in American Indians (AIs) is believed to contribute to high incidence of mental health disorders, yet less is known about the associations between historical loss and physical health. PURPOSE: To investigate whether frequency of thought about historical loss predicts risk factors for chronic physical health conditions in an AI community. METHODS: Using Community Based Participatory research (CBPR) and Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA), we measured frequency of thoughts about historical loss in 100 AI adults residing on the Blackfeet reservation. Participants completed a 1-week monitoring period, during which ambulatory blood pressure and daily levels of psychological stress were measured. At the end of the week, we collected a dried blood spot sample for measurement of C-reactive protein (CRP). RESULTS: In hierarchical linear regression models controlling for demographics and relevant covariates, greater frequency of thoughts about historical loss predicted higher average daily psychological stress (B = .55, t = 6.47, p < .001, ΔR2 = .30) and higher levels of CRP (B = .33, t = 3.93, p < .001, ΔR2 = .10). Using linear mixed modeling with relevant covariates, we found that greater thoughts about historical loss were associated with higher systolic ambulatory blood pressure (B = .32, 95% CI = .22-.42, t = 6.48, p < .001, ΔR2 = .25; Fig. 1c) and greater diastolic ambulatory blood pressure (B = .19, 95% CI = .11-.27, t = 4.73, p < .001, ΔR2 = .19). CONCLUSIONS: The data suggest that frequency of thought about historical loss may contribute to increased subclinical risk for cardiovascular disease in the Blackfeet community.

Adverse childhood experiences, sex, and cardiovascular habituation to repeated stress.

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.

Covid-19 and changes in sleep health in the Blackfeet Community.

We examined changes in psychological outcomes related to the COVID-19 pandemic (ie psychological stress, perceived control, and perceived ability to cope) and changes in sleep health in the American Indian Blackfeet community over 4 months (August 24, 2020-November 30, 2020). American Indian adults residing on the Blackfeet reservation (n = 167) completed measures of perceived control over contracting COVID-19, perceived ability to cope with pandemic stressors, psychological stress linked to the pandemic, and a measure of sleep health each month. Linear-effects mixed models were used to examine changes in our outcomes. Community members who reported more control over contracting the virus had better sleep health relative to those who reported less control (B = 0.72, SE = 0.29, p = 0.015). Further, during months when individuals felt they had more control over contracting the virus compared to their average perceived control levels, they had better sleep health relative to their own average (B = 1.06, SE = 0.13, p < 0.001). Average sleep health was the lowest in October, 2020, the month during which COVID-19 incidence was at its highest on the reservation. Declines in sleep health linked to low levels of control over contracting COVID-19 may exacerbate high incidence of chronic mental and physical health conditions in tribal communities. Interventions which highlight strategies known to reduce risk of contracting the virus, may increase perceived control and sleep health, and thus may improve downstream health outcomes for this at-risk population.