Department of Psychology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA.
Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA.
Dev Psychobiol. 2022 Sep;64(6):e22294. doi: 10.1002/dev.22294.
Individuals who grow up in families with lower socioeconomic status (SES) tend to experience disproportionate rates of chronic stress. The "freeze" response, characterized by blunted cardiovascular reactivity and reduced engagement with the environment, is associated with chronic stress and may be utilized when an individual is unable to escape or overcome environmental stressors. Using a diverse community sample of 184 adolescents followed from the age of 13 to 29 years, along with their friends and romantic partners, this study examined links between family SES and stress responses in adulthood. Low family SES at the age of 13 years directly predicted blunted heart rate responding and fewer attempts to answer math problems during a modified version of the Trier Social Stress Task at the age of 29 years. Indirect effects were found from low family SES to blunted respiratory sinus arrhythmia responding and the number of words spoken during a speech task. SES at the age of 29 years mediated many of these relations. Findings held after accounting for a number of potential confounds, including adolescent academic and attachment functioning and body mass index. We interpret these findings as evidence that low familial SES may predict freezing-type responses in adulthood.
个体在社会经济地位（SES）较低的家庭中成长，往往会经历不成比例的慢性压力。“冻结”反应的特征是心血管反应迟钝，与环境的互动减少，与慢性压力有关，当个体无法逃避或克服环境压力源时，可能会利用这种反应。本研究使用了一个多样化的社区样本，其中包括 184 名青少年，从 13 岁到 29 岁进行了跟踪研究，同时还包括他们的朋友和恋人，研究了家庭 SES 与成年期应激反应之间的联系。13 岁时的低家庭 SES 直接预测了 29 岁时在一项改良版特里尔社会应激测试中心率反应迟钝和回答数学问题次数减少。从低家庭 SES 到呼吸窦性心律失常反应迟钝和演讲任务中说话次数减少的间接影响也被发现。29 岁时的 SES 介导了这些关系中的许多关系。在考虑了许多潜在的混杂因素后，包括青少年的学业和依恋功能以及体重指数，这些发现仍然成立。我们将这些发现解释为低家庭 SES 可能预测成年期冻结反应的证据。
