Relationships of Posttraumatic Growth and Stress Responses in Bereaved Young Adults

The present study used a mixed methods design to examine factors contributing to posttraumatic growth (PTG) in 232 young adults who experienced parental divorce. Participants completed an online survey including measures of social support, religious coping, posttraumatic stress, and posttraumatic growth. Participants also responded to five open-ended questions related to their parents’ divorce. Multiple regression analysis demonstrated that perceived social support, intrinsic religiousness, and positive and negative religious coping contributed statistically significant variance to PTG. Qualitative data revealed themes of both pain and positive growth following parental divorce. Implications to assist children in the promotion of positive growth after parental divorce are discussed.

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Supplemental Material for Associations of Subjective and Objective Stress Responses With Interpersonal Trauma, PTSD, Stress-Induced Drinking, and Drinking to Cope in Young Adults

Psychology of Addictive Behaviors ◽

10.1037/adb0000700.supp ◽

2021 ◽

Keyword(s):

Young Adults ◽

Stress Responses ◽

Interpersonal Trauma ◽

Drinking To Cope ◽

Objective Stress

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Support and conflict in relationships and psychological health in adolescents and young adults with cancer

Journal of Health Psychology ◽

10.1177/1359105316676629 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 24 (4) ◽

pp. 502-517 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Joseph S Kay ◽

Vanessa Juth ◽

Roxane Cohen Silver ◽

Leonard S Sender

Keyword(s):

Young Adults ◽

Posttraumatic Growth ◽

Psychological Health ◽

Primary Caregivers ◽

Adolescents And Young Adults ◽

Perceived Support ◽

Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms ◽

Strongly Correlated ◽

Familial Relationships ◽

Stress Symptoms

Perceived support and conflict between adolescents and young adults with cancer and their primary caregivers, other family, close friends, and medical staff were examined in relation to adolescents and young adults’ psychological health. Adolescents and young adults ( n = 115, 51% male, ages 12–24 years, M (standard deviation) = 16.07 (2.29)) in outpatient cancer treatment perceived more support and conflict within familial relationships than other relationships. Among familial relationships, perceived support and conflict were associated with psychological health; within other relationships, only support was associated with psychological health. Interactions among family were most strongly correlated with psychological distress; interactions with friends were stronger correlates of posttraumatic stress symptoms, positive affect, and posttraumatic growth.

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Bereavement Outcomes as Causal Systems: A Network Analysis of the Co-Occurrence of Complicated Grief and Posttraumatic Growth

Clinical Psychological Science ◽

10.1177/2167702618777454 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 6 (6) ◽

pp. 797-809 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Benjamin W. Bellet ◽

Payton J. Jones ◽

Robert A. Neimeyer ◽

Richard J. McNally

Keyword(s):

Young Adults ◽

Network Analysis ◽

Posttraumatic Growth ◽

Complicated Grief ◽

Negative Outcomes ◽

Causal System ◽

Identity Disturbance ◽

Central Elements ◽

Life Path ◽

Constituent Elements

Bereavement can lead to negative outcomes such as complicated grief (CG), but some mourners with symptoms of CG often experience positive sequelae of loss such as posttraumatic growth (PTG) as well. We propose that grief and growth co-occur and change one another because they alternately reinforce and weaken each other at the level of their respective constituent elements. We investigated the structure of a network of CG and PTG elements to elucidate how grief and growth can co-occur within a potentially causal system in bereaved young adults. Challenges to control and identity disturbance ranked as the most highly central symptoms in the CG network; the discovery of a new life path and greater personal strength were similarly central elements of PTG. Finally, the degree of disruption and change in mourners’ worldviews emerged as the element that most strongly bridged the two domains, suggesting a pivotal connection between grief and growth.

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The Relationship Between Perceived Control and Hypothalamic–Pituitary–Adrenal Axis Reactivity to the Trier Social Stress Test in Healthy Young Adults

Frontiers in Psychology ◽

10.3389/fpsyg.2021.683914 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 ◽

Author(s):

Qian Liu ◽

Jianhui Wu ◽

Liang Zhang ◽

Xiaofang Sun ◽

Qing Guan ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Young Adults ◽

Stress Response ◽

Hpa Axis ◽

Stress Responses ◽

Perceived Control ◽

Social Stress ◽

Stress Test ◽

Control Level ◽

Trier Social Stress Test ◽

Hypothalamic Pituitary Adrenal

Psychological factors can modulate the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis activity toward stressors. Animal studies demonstrated that uncontrollability was one critical factor associated with HPA axis stress response, but the results in human studies were inconsistent. The current study adopted a standardized laboratory stress induction procedure, the Trier Social Stress Test (the TSST), as the stressor to regulate the objective controllability level, and young adult participants were asked to rate their subjectively perceived control level toward the stressor and measured their cortisol stress responses (N=54; 19 females and 35 males) to address this concern. Results showed that participants’ perceived control on the TSST was related to the cortisol stress response. In other words, under the stress of a certain objective controllability level, the lower the subjectively perceived control level, the greater the HPA axis response. This finding suggested that, in addition to objective controllability, subjectively perceived control is a psychological factor that regulates activation of the HPA axis in young adults.

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Associations of subjective and objective stress responses with interpersonal trauma, PTSD, stress-induced drinking, and drinking to cope in young adults.

Psychology of Addictive Behaviors ◽

10.1037/adb0000700 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 35 (1) ◽

pp. 29-41

Author(s):

Carla Kmett Danielson ◽

Austin M. Hahn ◽

Kaitlin E. Bountress ◽

Zachary W. Adams ◽

Casey Calhoun ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Young Adults ◽

Stress Responses ◽

Interpersonal Trauma ◽

Drinking To Cope ◽

Objective Stress

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The effects of acute psychosocial stress on executive functioning in young and older adults

10.32920/ryerson.14647257.v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Leen Nasser

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Young Adults ◽

Executive Functioning ◽

Stress Responses ◽

Social Stress ◽

Acute Stress ◽

Stress Test ◽

Trier Social Stress Test ◽

Age Related ◽

Effects Of Stress

It has been evidenced that, with aging, older adults exhibit increased behavioral and physiological responses to stress. Older adults also often experience declines in executive functioning performance. The acute psychological stress induced through the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) has been evidenced to negatively impact executive functioning in young adults. This relationship, however, has yet to be examined in older adults. In the current thesis, two experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of stress on executive functioning (Experiment 1), as well as age related differences in stress responsivity and in the effect of stress on executive functioning (Experiment 2). In Experiment 1, acute stress exhibited a negative effect on executive functioning. In Experiment 2, there were no age differences in stress responses, and a positive effect of acute stress on executive functioning in young adults only. The contradictory findings encourage further research on the effects of stress on executive functioning, and how they may differ between young and older adults.

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Life course programming of stress responses in adolescents and young adults in India: Protocol of the Stress Responses in Adolescence and Vulnerability to Adult Non-communicable disease (SRAVANA) Study

Wellcome Open Research ◽

10.12688/wellcomeopenres.14583.1 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 3 ◽

pp. 56 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

GV Krishnaveni ◽

Kalyanaraman Kumaran ◽

Murali Krishna ◽

Sirazul Sahariah ◽

Giriraj Chandak ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Young Adults ◽

Psychological Stress ◽

Stress Responses ◽

Repeated Measures ◽

Mixed Model ◽

Mental Arithmetic ◽

Communicable Disease ◽

Stress Test ◽

Trier Social Stress Test ◽

Insulin Metabolism

Background: Early life nutrition may affect individuals’ susceptibility to adult non-communicable diseases (NCD). Psychological stress is a well-recognised NCD risk factor. Recent evidence suggests that impaired foetal nutrition alters neuro-endocrine pathways, and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis feedback systems, resulting in abnormal stress responses, and NCD risk. This study aims to examine adolescent cortisol and cardiovascular stress responses in relation to maternal nutrition and contemporaneous NCD risk markers. Methods: The study sample will be drawn from three well-established birth cohorts in India; the Parthenon cohort, Mysore (N=550, age~20y), the SARAS KIDS prenatal intervention cohort, Mumbai (N=300, age~10-12y) and the Pune Rural Intervention in Young Adults/ PRIYA cohort, Pune (N=100, age~22y). We will perform the ‘Trier Social Stress Test (TSST)’, a well-accepted stress-test module which involves participants performing 5-minutes each of public speaking and mental arithmetic tasks in front of unfamiliar ‘judges’ (stressor). Repeated measures of salivary cortisol and autonomic cardiovascular outcomes relative to the stressor will be assessed. Measures of psychological stress, cognitive function, blood pressure, glucose-insulin metabolism and depression will be carried out. Mechanistic studies including DNA methylation in gluco-corticoid receptor (NR3C1) and 11β-HSD2 gene loci and neuroimaging will be carried out in a subsample. Qualitative interviews and focus group discussions in a subsample of the Parthenon cohort will explore the perception of stress and stressors among the youth. We will convert repeated measures into time-weighted averages before analysis. We will carry out multivariable regression analysis to test the associations. We will further refine the analyses using the mixed-model regression and conditional analyses for the association with repeated measures. Ethics and dissemination: This study has been approved by the research ethics committee of CSI Holdsworth Memorial Hospital, Mysore. The findings will be disseminated locally and at international meetings, and reports will be submitted to open access peer reviewed journals.

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