Stressful Life Research Articles

Impact of sleep quality on academic achievements of undergraduate medical students: a cross-sectional study from Saudi Arabia

BackgroundSleep is an active process that affects human health and quality of life. Sleep is essential for learning and memory consolidation. Good sleep is required for good academic performance. Sleep disorders are common among medical students, due to the high academic load, stressful life, and hectic schedule. Therefore, this study aims to assess sleep quality among medical students.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted among medical students at King Khalid University by using the Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI) to assess sleep duration, sleep efficiency, sleep latency, and global PSQI score. Participants were enrolled from second to sixth year. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression were used to predict factors related to poor sleep quality.ResultsOut of 514 medical students, 453 (88.1%) of students exhibited poor sleep quality. Fourth year students were less likely to have poor sleep quality (AOR, 0.381; CI, 0.158–0.934) p = 0.035 and students with regular sleep schedule were more likely to be good sleepers (AOR,0.349; CI, 0.129–0.940) p = 0.037. Additionally, students who had more than five courses per semester more frequently had daytime sleepiness p = 0.03. However, Insufficient sleep was not significantly affected by factors like gender, different age groups, number of courses per semester, daytime sleeping, and students with varying Grade Point Averages (GPA).ConclusionPoor sleep quality is common among medical students, which may affect academic performance and general health. It is essential to educate them about good sleep hygiene and time management skills.

Drug-Drug interactions prediction calculations between cardiovascular drugs and antidepressants for discovering the potential co-medication risks.

Predicting Drug-Drug Interactions (DDIs) enables cost reduction and time savings in the drug discovery process, while effectively screening and optimizing drugs. The intensification of societal aging and the increase in life stress have led to a growing number of patients suffering from both heart disease and depression. These patients often need to use cardiovascular drugs and antidepressants for polypharmacy, but potential DDIs may compromise treatment effectiveness and patient safety. To predict interactions between drugs used to treat these two diseases, we propose a method named Multi-Drug Features Learning with Drug Relation Regularization (MDFLDRR). First, we map feature vectors representing drugs in different feature spaces to the same. Second, we propose drug relation regularization to determine drug pair relationships in the interaction space. Experimental results demonstrate that MDFLDRR can be effectively applied to two DDI prediction goals: predicting unobserved interactions among drugs within the drug network and predicting interactions between drugs inside and outside the network. Publicly available evidence confirms that MDFLDRR can accurately identify DDIs between cardiovascular drugs and antidepressants. Lastly, by utilizing drug structure calculations, we ascertained the severity of newly discovered DDIs to mine the potential co-medication risks and aid in the smart management of pharmaceuticals.

Mental health of medical students at the Federal University of Amapá (UNIFAP): an approach to stress, sleep and quality of life

Mental health of medical students at the Federal University of Amapá (UNIFAP): an approach to stress, sleep and quality of life

Early life stress, kangaroo care, parenting behavior and secure attachment predict executive functioning in 2 year olds born preterm

Self-regulation and executive functioning are known key predictors of future cognitive development and mental health. We examined the effect of early life neonatal stress, maternal perinatal stress, kangaroo care, maternal parenting behavior and secure child attachment on executive function at 2 years corrected age (CA) in children born preterm (i.e. < 34 weeks of gestation and/or < 1500 g birth weight). Neonatal child characteristics were recorded at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). We examined self-reported perinatal maternal stress during NICU stay, maternal emotional availability at 4 months CA, and child attachment security at 14 months CA. The executive function battery at 2 years CA was completed by 97 children. Low birth weight, a high number of skin breaking procedures and high level of maternal stress predicted lower executive function scores. Kangaroo care, non-intrusive maternal parenting behavior and secure attachment were associated with higher executive function scores. Even after controlling for background factors, modifiable factors such as neonatal child and mother stress, kangaroo care, parenting style, and child attachment style uniquely predict later executive functioning development, indicating that preventive interventions need to integrate multiple aspects of neuroprotective care, including supporting the child-parent bond, both at the NICU and beyond.

Effects of laughter yoga practiced by the first year nursing students before clinical practice on their perceptions of stress and meaning of life: a randomized controlled trial

BackgroundLaughter yoga has a positive effect on the person’s mental/general health, life satisfaction and psychological well-being and enables the person to cope with stress.ObjectiveThis randomized controlled study was conducted to determine the effect of laughter yoga practiced by first year nursing students before clinical practice on their perceptions of stress and meaning of life.MethodIn this experimental randomized and controlled study including a control group, we administered a pre-test, post-test one and post-test two to the participating students. Ninety nursing students who met the inclusion criteria comprised the study sample. The students in the intervention group took part in eight sessions of laughter yoga for four weeks, twice a week. The Descriptive Information Form, Perceived Stress Scale, and Meaning and Purpose of Life Scale were administered to collect the study data.ResultsThe mean age of the students in the intervention and control groups was 19.65 ± 2.27 and 19.18 ± 1.01 years, respectively. Of the participants in both groups, 91.1% were women, and 97.8% were single. The difference between the mean scores obtained from the Perceived Stress Scale and the Meaning and Purpose of Life Scale by the students in the intervention group at the pre- and posttest were statistically significant (p < 0.05).ConclusionLaughter yoga positively affects nursing students’ perceptions of stress and meaning and purpose of life.Trial registrationTrial Registration number and Date of registration: NCT06042959 / 09/14/2023 06:17.

Early childhood stress and amygdala structure in children and adolescents with neurodevelopmental disorders.

Children and adolescents with neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may be more susceptible to early life stress compared to their neurotypical peers. This increased susceptibility may be linked to regionally-specific changes in the striatum and amygdala, brain regions sensitive to stress and critical for shaping maladaptive behavioural responses. This study examined early life stress and its impact on striatal and amygdala development in 62 children and adolescents (35 males, mean age = 10.12 years, SD = 3.6) with ASD (n = 14), ADHD (n = 28), or typical development (TD, n = 20) across two cohorts. We assessed stress from various sources, including from the family environment, loss of loved ones, social stress, and illness/injury. We further examined parenting styles as potential moderators of the effects of early life stress. Volumes of the striatum and amygdala were extracted using an automatic segmentation algorithm. Significant group differences in childhood stress exposure were observed (F = 3.29, df = 8, p = 0.002), with autistic children facing more early life stressors (social stress, illness/injury) compared to those with ADHD and neurotypical peers (both, p < 0.002). In autistic children, amygdala volumes were significantly associated with early life stress related to the familial environment, experiences of significant loss, and illness/injury (all, p < 0.03). Positive parenting moderated these effects. These findings suggest that autistic children are more likely to experience early life stress and exhibit region-specific changes in the amygdala, a key brain region implicated in emotional processing and stress responses. This underscores the need for targeted interventions to support autistic children in managing early life stress to potentially mitigate its impact on brain development.

Early life stress and functional connectivity in antipsychotic-naïve first episode psychosis patients

The neural mechanisms underlying the association between childhood trauma (CT) and psychosis spectrum disorders remains unclear. The objective of this study is to examine the relationship between childhood trauma and functional connectivity of fronto-limbic regions in a large sample of antipsychotic-naïve patients with first episode psychosis (FEP). Resting state fMRI data from 105 FEP patients and 123 healthy controls (HC) were used. Our regions of interest included bilateral hippocampus/amygdala and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC). Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) total and subscale scores were correlated with the resting state functional connectivity (rsFC) data. Partial correlation analyses indicated that higher CTQ sexual abuse subscale scores in FEP patients were associated with increased left amygdala—vmPFC rsFC (r(59) = 0.27, p < 0.05) and higher CTQ emotional neglect subscale scores in FEP patients were associated with increased left hippocampus—vmPFC rsFC (r(59) = 0.26, p < 0.05). Follow-up analysis showed a significant interaction effect of group (FEP and HC) and CTQ score (sexual abuse subscale) on left amygdala—vmPFC rsFC (β = 0.014, p < 0.05). Higher CTQ sexual abuse subscale scores were associated with increased rsFC in FEP patients (β = 0.56, p < 0.001). but reduced rsFC in healthy controls (β = −0.56, p < 0.001). The results also provide support for the long-term differential impact of trauma subtypes on the human brain. Overall, the results contribute to the understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying the association between childhood trauma and psychosis spectrum disorders.

Explanatory models of common mental disorders among South Asians in high-income countries: A systematic review.

Mental health service use by individuals of South Asian origin living outside of South Asia is influenced by cultural factors such as endorsing psycho-social-spiritual over biological explanations, somatisation, and stigma. The aim of this review is to synthesise the evidence about (a) explanatory models of common mental disorders (CMDs) among people of South Asian origin residing in high-income countries, and (b) their help-seeking for CMDs, including formal and informal care. The systematic review protocol was registered a priori on Prospero (registration number CRD42021287583). We ran extensive searches on explanatory models and help-seeking of people of South Asian origin across five databases (MEDLINE, Embase, Cumulated Index to Nursing and Allied Health (CINAHL), PsycINFO, and Global Health). We extracted the data and conducted a narrative synthesis. We included 33 reports and 29 studies (9,030 participants). The participants in the included studies viewed CMDs through a psychosocial rather than a biological lens (e.g., resulting from family issues vs. neurotransmitters). Causal attributions included life stressors and attitudinal and religious/spiritual factors. Commonly used help-seeking strategies included private coping (i.e., crying or praying), speaking to friends and family, and visiting their General Practitioner. We can conclude that cultural factors play an important role in how South Asian individuals experience and understand CMDs. To cope, they use pluralistic help-seeking strategies. Implications for clinical practice and policy include increasing research on the explanatory models of CMDs, involving family in services, and developing community-based interventions for individuals who do not engage with formal care.

Reconsidering remission in recurrent late-life depression: clinical presentation and phenotypic predictors of relapse following successful antidepressant treatment.

Late-life depression (LLD) is characterized by repeated recurrent depressive episodes even with maintenance treatment. It is unclear what clinical and cognitive phenotypic characteristics present during remission predict future recurrence. Participants (135 with remitted LLD and 69 comparison subjects across three institutions) completed baseline phenotyping, including psychiatric, medical, and social history, psychiatric symptom and personality trait assessment, and neuropsychological testing. Participants were clinically assessed every two months for two years while receiving standard antidepressant treatment. Analyses examined group differences in phenotypic measure using general linear models. Concurrent associations between phenotypic measures and diagnostic groups were examined using LASSO logistic regression. Sixty (44%) LLD participants experienced a relapse over the two-year period. Numerous phenotypic measures across all domains differed between remitted LLD and comparison participants. Only residual depressive symptom severity, rumination, medical comorbidity, and executive dysfunction significantly predicted LLD classification. Fewer measures differed between relapsing and sustained remission LLD subgroups, with the relapsing group exhibiting greater antidepressant treatment intensity, greater fatigue, rumination, and disability, higher systolic blood pressure, greater life stress and lower instrumental social support. Relapsing group classification was informed by antidepressant treatment intensity, lower instrumental social support, and greater life stress. A wide range of phenotypic factors differed between remitted LLD and comparison groups. Fewer measures differed between relapsing and sustained remission LLD subgroups, with less social support and greater stress informing vulnerability to subsequent relapse. This research suggests potential targets for relapse prevention and emphasizes the need for clinically translatable relapse biomarkers to inform care.

The relationship between social support and life stress coping strategies for breast cancer patients

The relationship between social support and life stress coping strategies for breast cancer patients

Shared social identity and social safety as health promoting factors for gender diverse individuals with a chronic illness and/or disability: A qualitative analysis of intersectional experiences

Background Gender diverse people with a chronic illness and/or disability (CI/D) encounter stigma and disempowerment at all social-ecological levels, reducing access to individual health promoting behaviors and resulting in population health disparities. Living at the intersection of two populations experiencing social marginalization, this group is also at higher risk of experiencing chronic stress—a factor that leads to suboptimal health outcomes over the life span. Aims To better understand the experiences of individuals embodying this intersection of identity and experience, and to learn more about promoting health within this population, qualitative interviews were conducted. Methods Fifteen gender diverse people who live with a CI/D acquired in adulthood took part in in-depth, semi-structured narrative interviews about life stressors and experiences related to their intersecting identities. Data were analyzed using inductive thematic analysis. Results Participants described social isolation and mental health struggles as significant challenges. Support from communities of shared identity mediated stress and bolstered mental health, but participants reported few opportunities to make such connections. Consistent with existing literature, these results highlight the significant role social safety plays in health and well-being. Conclusion This work emphasizes the critical role of applying intersectional frameworks to health promotion in gender diverse communities. The findings can be leveraged by psychologists, community health workers, and other professionals to support this population.

The relationship between life stresses And Academic procrastination among university youth

The relationship between life stresses And Academic procrastination among university youth

The role of personality traits and life stress in alcohol use disorder: Insights from NGF gene polymorphisms of Han Chinese population in Taiwan.

Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a complex neuropsychiatric condition influenced by genetic and environmental factors. Nerve growth factor (NGF) plays a crucial role in neuronal neuroplasticity and chronic alcohol consumption may alter NGF levels in specific brain regions. The study investigates the associations between NGF gene polymorphisms, susceptibility to AUD, and specific stress and personality characteristics. Our study involved 1133 participants from a homogeneous Han Chinese population, 587 of whom had AUD and 546 were controls. To minimize potential confounding factors, the AUD group was stratified by sex and age at baseline. A total of 414 participants completed the Life Event Questionnaires (LEQ), while 559 participants completed the Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire (TPQ). The NGF's rs7523654 and rs11102929 loci were significantly associated with AUD, especially in female subgroups. Additional haplotype research confirmed similar findings. AUD patients showed more vital propensities for novelty seeking (NS) and harm avoidance (HA) compared to controls. Additionally, they recorded higher negative LEQ results. Notably, HA and negative LEQ scores among AUD people were significantly affected by the SNP rs11102929 in the NGF gene. The age at which AUD first manifested and NS scores showed a reverse link, suggesting that a higher NS characteristic may predispose people to develop AUD earlier in life. The findings suggest that the NGF gene may influence AUD susceptibility and its links to personality traits and life stress. However, the small sample of women with AUD limits the reliability of these associations, highlighting the need for further study.

Disease-Related Knowledge, Stress and Quality of Life of Parental Caregivers of Children with Cleft Lip and Palate in a Selected Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Disease-Related Knowledge, Stress and Quality of Life of Parental Caregivers of Children with Cleft Lip and Palate in a Selected Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Association of life stressors and suicidal ideation with long-term outcomes in patients with acute coronary syndrome and stroke

Association of life stressors and suicidal ideation with long-term outcomes in patients with acute coronary syndrome and stroke

Early Life Stress and Pubertal Predictors of Subsequent Substance Use in a National Diverse Sample of Adolescents: Sex and Substance Type Matter

Early Life Stress and Pubertal Predictors of Subsequent Substance Use in a National Diverse Sample of Adolescents: Sex and Substance Type Matter

Stress reactivity moderates the association between early experiences of unpredictability and emotional problems in adolescents.

Researchers have documented that exposure to different kinds of psychosocial stressors can lead to emotional difficulties and, further, that heightened reactivity to stress can moderate these associations. Recently, investigators have distinguished among threat, deprivation, and unpredictability as different dimensions of early life stress (ELS). It is not clear, however, whether reactivity in specific stress response systems functions as a diathesis to lead to emotional difficulties following exposure to these dimensions of ELS. In this study (N=154) we examined whether stress reactivity, assessed across different psychobiological systems during the Trier Social Stress Test, is a unitary or multidimensional construct, and if reactivity differentially moderates the associations between ELS dimensions and adolescents' susceptibility to emotional and behavioral problems two years later. A factor analysis conducted on stress reactivity measures yielded two factors: one composed of reactivity in heart rate, heart rate variability, and cortisol, and one composed of reactivity in skin conductance and self-reported mood. These two factors independently moderated the associations between early unpredictability and subsequent emotional problems. For each factor, the combination of higher unpredictability and higher stress reactivity predicted higher emotional problems; stress reactivity factors were not significant moderators of the effects of threat and deprivation. Our findings suggest that increased stress reactivity, assessed across several domains of functioning, functions as a diathesis that interacts with ELS characterized by unpredictability to predict subsequent mental health difficulties in adolescents and, further, that low stress reactivity buffers against mental health difficulties in adolescents who have experienced unpredictability early in life.

Microglia Morphology in the Developing Primate Amygdala and Effects of Early Life Stress

A unique pool of immature glutamatergic neurons in the primate amygdala, known as the paralaminar nucleus (PL), are maturing between infancy and adolescence. The PL is a potential substrate for the steep growth curve of amygdala volume during this developmental period. A microglial component is also embedded among the PL neurons and likely supports local neuronal maturation and emerging synaptogenesis. Microglia may alter neuronal growth following environmental perturbations such as stress. Using multiple measures in rhesus macaques, we found that microglia in the infant primate PL had relatively large somas and a small arbor size. In contrast, microglia in the adolescent PL had a smaller soma and a larger dendritic arbor. We then examined microglial morphology in the PL after a novel maternal separation protocol, to examine the effects of early life stress. After maternal separation, the microglia had increased soma size, arbor size, and complexity. Surprisingly, strong effects were seen not only in the infant PL, but also in the adolescent PL from subjects who had experienced the separation many years earlier. We conclude that under normal maternal-rearing conditions, PL microglia morphology tracks PL neuronal growth, progressing to a more “mature” phenotype by adolescence. Maternal separation has long-lasting effects on microglia, altering their normal developmental trajectory, and resulting in a “hyper-ramified” phenotype that persists for years. We speculate that these changes have consequences for neuronal development in young primates.

FINANCIAL HARDSHIP IS ASSOCIATED WITH REPEATED STRESSORS AS MEASURED BY STRESSOR DIVERSITY

Abstract Financial hardship supplements traditional measures of socioeconomic status (i.e., education, income) to elucidate how the insufficiency of socioeconomic resources is experienced. Financial hardship may impact health by differentiating exposure to stressors in daily life. This study examined how three domains of financial hardship (i.e., material, behavioral, and psychological) relate to daily stressor concentration (e.g., experiencing many stressors that are all arguments versus fewer stressors spread across arguments, work stress, home overloads). Higher stressor concentration has been associated with poorer health and well-being across adulthood. The present analyses used data from the Midlife in the United States study wave 3 (2016-2020), in which 1,024 participants (ages = 43-90, 57% female) completed 8-day daily diary interviews. Measures of financial hardship include material indicators of poverty, healthcare, and financial aid; psychological perceptions of financial situation; and behaviors including payments, earnings, and spending. Daily stressor concentration was calculated using 1- the Gini diversity index. In a regression model accounting for age, sex, daily stressor exposure, and education, a higher total score of financial hardship was associated with higher stressor concentration (b = 0.07, SE = 0.03, p &amp;lt;.01). This result replicated across material (b = 0.26, SE = 0.09, p &amp;lt;.01) and psychological domains (b = 0.11, SE = 0.04, p &amp;lt;.01) of financial hardship, and the findings were exacerbated with older age (ps &amp;lt;.05). Experiencing repeated stressors in specific domains may be a mechanism by which insufficient economic resources can worsen health outcomes for adults as they age.

LIFE SATISFACTION MODERATES LIFESPAN DECLINES IN STRESS REACTIVITY

Abstract Positive psychological well-being is often conceptualized as a protective factor for maintaining health across the lifespan. But why does psychological well-being confer such benefits? One potential possibility is that it shapes how we respond to stressors on a daily basis. However, much of existing research on this topic will examine these associations in the context of short-term experience sampling studies. Although useful in linking well-being to how we perceive and experience stress, this research can be limited in that it rarely tests prospective effects of well-being on stress reactivity over longer intervals. In the current study, I examined changes in stress reactivity across three waves of the National Study of Daily Experiences from approximately 1996 to 2017 (N = 1,500; Mage = 46.74; 54.1% women; 91.7% white) as a function of life satisfaction at wave 1. Employing three-level multi-level models, I reproduced recent research showing stress reactivity declines across life (b = -.02, p &amp;lt;.001); life satisfaction predicts lower stress reactivity both overall (b = -.04, p &amp;lt;.001) and in the context of a higher number of average (b = -.04, p &amp;lt;.001) and daily stressors (b = -.02, p &amp;lt;.001). Integrating repeated measures of life satisfaction and stress reactivity in the context of a random-intercept cross-lagged panel model suggested that reduced stress reactivity might lead to increases in life satisfaction across life. The results will be discussed in the context of how daily processes might “trickle up” to cultivate variation in global reports of well-being.