Evolution of stress responses refine mechanisms of social rank

Space Lab 3 (SL-3) was flown on Shuttle Challenger providing an opportunity to measure the effect of spaceflight on rat testes. Cannon developed the idea that organisms react to unfavorable conditions with highly integrated metabolic activities. Selye summarized the manifestations of physiological response to nonspecific stress and he pointed out that atrophy of the gonads always occurred. Many papers have been published showing the effects of social interaction, crowding, peck order and confinement. Flickinger showed delayed testicular development in subordinate roosters influenced by group numbers, social rank and social status. Christian reported increasing population size in mice resulted in adrenal hypertrophy, inhibition of reproductive maturation and loss of reproductive function in adults. Sex organ weights also declined. Two male dogs were flown on Cosmos 110 for 22 days. Fedorova reported an increase of 30 to 70% atypical spermatozoa consisting of tail curling and/or the absence of a tail.

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Emotions and health: The impact of emotions, emotions regulation, music, and acculturation on health

Zeitschrift für Gesundheitspsychologie ◽

10.1026/0943-8149.16.3.112 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 16 (3) ◽

pp. 112-115 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Stephan Bongard ◽

Volker Hodapp ◽

Sonja Rohrmann

Keyword(s):

Stress Responses ◽

Physiological Stress ◽

Anger Expression ◽

Domain Specific ◽

Cardiovascular Stress ◽

Expression Behavior ◽

Cardio Vascular ◽

And Coping ◽

Relationship Of ◽

The Impact

Abstract. Our unit investigates the relationship of emotional processes (experience, expression, and coping), their physiological correlates and possible health outcomes. We study domain specific anger expression behavior and associated cardio-vascular loads and found e.g. that particularly an open anger expression at work is associated with greater blood pressure. Furthermore, we demonstrated that women may be predisposed for the development of certain mental disorders because of their higher disgust sensitivity. We also pointed out that the suppression of negative emotions leads to increased physiological stress responses which results in a higher risk for cardiovascular diseases. We could show that relaxation as well as music activity like singing in a choir causes increases in the local immune parameter immunoglobuline A. Finally, we are investigating connections between migrants’ strategy of acculturation and health and found e.g. elevated cardiovascular stress responses in migrants when they where highly adapted to the German culture.

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Childbirth and Posttraumatic Stress Responses

European Journal of Psychological Assessment ◽

10.1027/1015-5759.22.4.259 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 22 (4) ◽

pp. 259-267 ◽

Cited By ~ 40

Author(s):

Eelco Olde ◽

Rolf J. Kleber ◽

Onno van der Hart ◽

Victor J.M. Pop

Keyword(s):

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder ◽

Posttraumatic Stress ◽

Stress Responses ◽

Rating Scales ◽

Rating Scale ◽

Stress Disorder ◽

Traumatic Experience ◽

Event Scale ◽

Self Rating ◽

The Impact

Childbirth has been identified as a possible traumatic experience, leading to traumatic stress responses and even to the development of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The current study investigated the psychometric properties of the Dutch version of the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) in a group of women who recently gave birth (N = 435). In addition, a comparison was made between the original IES and the IES-R. The scale showed high internal consistency (α = 0.88). Using confirmatory factor analysis no support was found for a three-factor structure of an intrusion, an avoidance, and a hyperarousal factor. Goodness of fit was only reasonable, even after fitting one intrusion item on the hyperarousal scale. The IES-R correlated significantly with scores on depression and anxiety self-rating scales, as well as with scores on a self-rating scale of posttraumatic stress disorder. Although the IES-R can be used for studying posttraumatic stress reactions in women who recently gave birth, the original IES proved to be a better instrument compared to the IES-R. It is concluded that adding the hyperarousal scale to the IES-R did not make the scale stronger.

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