Investigating associations between stress-related daily social experiences and risks of hypertension and cardiovascular disease

About This Grant

PROJECT SUMMARY The leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the U.S. is cardiovascular disease (CVD). Data shows CVD and related health burden are unevenly distributed in the U.S. Adults who experience higher rates of predisposing conditions, including hypertension and obesity, and emerging CVD risk factors such as psychological stress are at a higher risk for developing CVD. In everyday lives, adults could be dealing with stressful events related to social interactions and experiences that lead to physiological effects (e.g., irregular heartbeat, anxiety), which can be compounded over time and result in long-term negative health outcomes. There is an increased interest in investigating how individuals' everyday experience may impact physiological mechanisms that link to chronic disease development, such as CVD. This knowledge can lead to more tailored intervention and treatment strategies for U.S. adults to address CVD disparities. However, existing measurements of stress-related daily social experiences were designed to assess individuals' accumulative exposures and, therefore, are limited in assessing the (1) day-to-day social stress experienced by an individual and (2) how the person may immediately respond to those stressful events, both emotionally and behaviorally. Thus, the goals of the proposed project are twofold: first, we will develop an item bank that contains a series of brief survey questions that can be used to assess adults' daily experience of perceived social stress and the immediate psychological effects and coping behaviors related to those events. The item banks will be developed through in-depth content and cognitive interviews (n=35) and a nationwide survey sample (n=2,000). Second, we will investigate the association between daily experiences of social stress, related responses and behaviors and risks of hypertension and CVD in a sample of adults (n=90) through a 14-day monitoring period, along with a set of comprehensive lab-based physiological/biological assessments. This proposed project will use a multilevel approach that develops state-of-the-science measures to assess adults' external environment that reflects their daily experience at the interpersonal and individual level and apply these measures to investigate the downstream impacts of the external environment on the biological risks and mechanisms related to CVD. Overall, our project aligns well with the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities' strategic plan and research priorities to offer insights for future solution-oriented approaches in health disparities research.