Purpose To examine the associations of the frequency and type of everyday discrimination with diurnal cortisol and whether those associations depend upon adolescents’ ethnicity and gender. Methods Adolescents (N=292, Mage=16. 39 years, SD=.74; 58% female) reported the frequency of perceived everyday discrimination and whether they attributed that discrimination to race, gender, age, or height and weight. Five saliva samples were collected per day across 3 days and assayed for cortisol. Results Higher frequency of everyday discrimination was associated with greater total daily cortisol output (area under the curve; AUC), lower wake and bedtime levels of cortisol, and less of a decline in cortisol across the day. These associations generally did not depend upon ethnicity or gender and attributions for the discrimination were not as consequential as the actual frequency of any type of unfair treatment. Conclusion Everyday discrimination, regardless of its type, may contribute to heightened HPA activity among adolescents of different ethnic backgrounds and genders.

Social experiences can affect the relationship between depression and physical health. The current study examined how social support from parents and friends may moderate the association of depressive symptoms with hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activity and C-reactive protein among adolescents (N = 316, Mage = 16.40, SD = .74; 57% female) from diverse ethnic backgrounds (23.1% Asian, 29.1% European, 41.8% Latino, and 6.0% other backgrounds). Results indicated that parent support, but not friend support, moderated the link between depressive symptoms and both total daily cortisol output (a measure HPA activity) and C-reactive protein (a marker of inflammation). These patterns did not differ by ethnicity. Overall, the study highlights the continued, and perhaps accumulated, importance of parents during adolescence despite increasing needs for autonomy from and exploration outside of the family unit.

No abstract