Do Chronic Stressors Lead to Physiological Dysregulation? Testing the Theory of Allostatic Load

Abstract

Objectives: To explore three questions: 1) Do chronic stressors predict physiological dysregulation? 2) Is that relationship moderated by characteristics of the individual and his or her social environment? and 3) Do perceived levels of stress mediate the relationship between stressors and dysregulation? Methods: Data come from a nationally representative, longitudinal study of older Taiwanese (n ϭ 916). Regression models are used to examine the relationship between the number of life challenges (i.e., stressors) during 1996 to 2000 and physiological dysregulation (in 2000) based on 16 biomarkers that reflect neuroendocrine function, immune system, cardiovascular function, and metabolic pathways. We include interaction terms to test whether psychosocial vulnerability moderates the impact of stressors. Additional models evaluate the mediating effects of perceived stress. Results: We find a positive association between the number of stressors and physiological dysregulation. The results indicate that this relationship is stronger for persons with greater psychosocial vulnerability, but even so, the magnitude of the effect remains modest. We find some evidence that the level of perceived stress mediates the relationship between chronic stressors and physiological dysregulation. Conclusions: Our results provide some support for the theory of allostatic load, although the relationship between life challenges and physiological dysregulation is weak. The evidence also supports the stress-buffering hypothesis: the combination of low social position, weak social networks, and poor coping ability is associated with greater physiological consequences of life challenges.

Allostatic load and biological anthropology

“…Theoretically, stressful experiences directly increase allostatic load (Goldman, Glei, Seplaki, Liu, & Weinstein, 2005;Seeman et al, 2010). Accordingly, some studies demonstrate higher numbers of stressful events or life challenges are associated significantly with higher allostatic load (Glei, Goldman, Chuang, & Weinstein, 2007;Weinstein, Goldman, Hedley, Yu-Hsuan, & Seeman, 2003) Of particular interest to biological anthropology, health disparities along with differential morbidity and mortality may be related to variation in allostatic load. In general, higher allostatic load is associated with poorer physical performance and increased risk for physical decline (Seeman et al, 1997).…”

“…Cut-points defined by quartiles Seeman et al (1997Seeman et al ( , 2001Seeman et al ( , 2002, Seeman, Crimmins, et al (2004), Seeman, Glei, et al (2004), Kubzansky et al (1999), Karlamangla et al (2002Karlamangla et al ( , 2014, Schnorpfeil et al (2003), Weinstein et al (2003), Hampson et al (2009), Lipowicz et al (2014, Riva et al (2014), Barboza Solís et al (2015), Gale et al (2015), Horan and Widom (2015), McClure et al (2015), Zilioli et al (2015), Hansen et al (2016), Kusano et al (2016), and Robertson and Watts (2016) Cut-points defined by deciles Goldman et al (2005), Glei et al (2007), and Hwang et al (2014) Cut-points defined using clinical criteria Seeman et al (2008), Hampson et al (2009), Bird et al (2010 and Rosenberg et al (2014) Cut-points defined using a combination of clinical criteria and either deciles or quartiles (2015), Gale et al (2015), and Robertson and Watts (2016) Use of two-tailed cut-points Hampson et al (2009) and Hwang et al (2014) Use of recursive partitioning to calculate allostatic load Gruenewald et al (2006) Allostatic load scored by system rather than by biomarkers Karlamangla et al (2014), Seeman et al (2014), Gay et al (2015), and Zilioli et al (2015) Calculated allostatic...…”

“…While we are not aware of any including GH, IGF-1 has been used as a biomarker in multiple adult ALIs (Barboza Solís et al, 2015;Glei et al, 2007;Goldman et al, 2005;Hwang et al, 2014;Kobrosly et al, 2014).…”

Differential effects of chronic predictable and unpredictable stress on neurobehavioral and biochemical responses in rats

“…Immobilization/restraint stress can produce both physical and psychological stress together and can induce visible changes in behavior as well as internal biochemical changes in an organism [4] . Different responses to acute and chronic stress have been documented on various systems viz.…”

A Sexual Risk and Stress Reduction Intervention Designed for HIV-Positive Bisexual African American Men With Childhood Sexual Abuse Histories

“…Biomarker composite. A biomarker composite of primary mediators of the stress response system was calculated (as in previous studies 64,65 72,73 As in previous studies, we used a bidirectional strategy to assess cortisol levels, with values in the highest or lowest 12.5% of the total sample considered to indicate risk.…”