Mental Health Service, San Francisco Veterans Affairs Healthcare System, San Francisco, CA 94121, USA; Department of Psychiatry and Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA.
Department of Epidemiology, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2022 Jun;140:105736. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2022.105736. Epub 2022 Mar 21.
Adversity exposure and the negative psychological responses that often result have been linked with poor physical health outcomes and deteriorative physiological processes, like dysregulated circulating cortisol. Individuals exposed to early adversity who also demonstrate positive psychological functioning may be characterized as psychologically resilient, but few studies have evaluated whether psychological resilience may disrupt the health-damaging effects of adversity. We tested the hypothesis that among young adults exposed to early adversity, those who are psychologically resilient may manifest more normative diurnal cortisol patterns relative to those who experience more psychological distress.
Data are from Growing Up Today Study I participants who provided information on psychological resilience and diurnal salivary cortisol (n = 916). Psychological resilience was derived from self-report questionnaires administered between 2007 and 2010, and salivary cortisol was obtained from saliva samples collected between 2011 and 2014. The predictor of interest, psychological resilience, was defined using two domains: (1) adversity exposure measured via a count of 7 potential psychosocial adversities experienced before age 18, and (2) psychological health in young adulthood measured via a composite score reflecting low psychological distress and high positive affect. The outcome was mean log-transformed diurnal salivary cortisol across 4 samples from one day. Linear regressions evaluated associations of adversity, psychological health, and their potential multiplicative interaction with mean diurnal log-transformed cortisol, adjusting for baseline socio-demographic variables and biological and behavioral factors from the day of saliva sampling.
Relatively few individuals with high adversity demonstrated positive psychological health. Both adversity exposure and psychological health were independently associated with mean log cortisol levels. Models stratified by lower versus higher adversity suggested complex relationships with cortisol, however the interaction between adversity and psychological health was not statistically significant. High adversity was associated with blunted cortisol levels, regardless of psychological health. Conversely, among those with lower adversity, overall levels of cortisol were higher and psychological health associated with more normative, lower cortisol levels.
Psychological resilience domains were independently associated with diurnal salivary cortisol in young adulthood. High burden of early adversity may disrupt the physiological stress system, while psychological health may be associated with more normative cortisol levels when adversity is low.
逆境暴露和由此产生的负面心理反应与身体健康状况不佳和生理过程恶化有关，例如皮质醇失调。那些经历过早期逆境但表现出积极心理功能的人可能被描述为心理弹性，但很少有研究评估心理弹性是否会破坏逆境的健康损害效应。我们检验了这样一个假设，即在经历过早期逆境的年轻人中，那些具有心理弹性的人可能表现出更正常的日间皮质醇模式，而那些经历更多心理困扰的人则表现出更正常的日间皮质醇模式。
数据来自今日成长研究 I 参与者，他们提供了心理弹性和日间唾液皮质醇的信息（n=916）。心理弹性是通过 2007 年至 2010 年期间进行的自我报告问卷得出的，唾液皮质醇是通过 2011 年至 2014 年期间收集的唾液样本得出的。感兴趣的预测因素是心理弹性，它由两个方面定义：（1）通过在 18 岁之前经历的 7 种潜在心理社会逆境的计数来衡量的逆境暴露，（2）通过反映低心理困扰和高积极影响的综合评分来衡量的年轻人的心理健康。结果是一天内 4 个样本的平均对数转换的日间唾液皮质醇。线性回归评估了逆境、心理健康及其潜在的乘法交互作用与平均对数转换的日间唾液皮质醇的关系，调整了基线社会人口统计学变量和唾液取样当天的生物和行为因素。
相对较少的高逆境个体表现出积极的心理健康。逆境暴露和心理健康都与平均对数皮质醇水平独立相关。根据较低和较高逆境分层的模型表明与皮质醇有复杂的关系，但逆境与心理健康之间的交互作用没有统计学意义。高逆境与皮质醇水平降低有关，无论心理健康状况如何。相反，在那些逆境较低的人中，皮质醇的总体水平较高，心理健康与更正常、较低的皮质醇水平有关。
心理弹性的两个维度与年轻人的日间唾液皮质醇独立相关。早期逆境的高负担可能会破坏生理应激系统，而当逆境较低时，心理健康可能与更正常的皮质醇水平有关。
