Anger and shame elicited by discrimination: Moderating role of coping on action endorsements and salivary cortisol

Interpersonal trauma, shame, and substance use: A systematic review

BACKGROUND

Interpersonal trauma is a risk factor for a wide array of adverse mental health outcomes, including substance use. Research has begun investigating the role of shame in the intersection between substance use and interpersonal trauma. The current systematic review summarizes the existing literature documenting the relation among shame, substance use, and interpersonal trauma.

METHOD

Articles were collected using a Boolean search strategy of terms related to interpersonal trauma, substance use, and shame across six databases. Independent search and screening by three researchers led to a final review of 27 articles, 15 of which were qualitative studies.

RESULTS

Findings highlight robust associations among shame, interpersonal violence, and substance use across varied samples. Findings emphasize that increased shame is associated with greater substance use among survivors of interpersonal violence and elevated shame and greater interpersonal violence are present among individuals who use substances given the high prevalence rates. Burgeoning research suggests that shame mediates the relationship between interpersonal violence and substance use.

CONCLUSION

Results from our review suggest that shame may be an important treatment target for individuals presenting with substance use and a history of interpersonal violence. Future studies, with longitudinal designs, are needed to parse out the temporal relation among shame, substance use, and interpersonal violence.

Worse for girls?: Gender differences in discrimination as a predictor of suicidality among Latinx youth

INTRODUCTION

Gender and ethnic differences exist in suicidal ideation, plan, and attempt among adolescents in the U.S. However, limited research has used theoretically-informed approaches to integrate how cultural and classic risk factors together account for suicide-related pathways among vulnerable populations. Informed by the interpersonal theory of suicide, the present cross-sectional study examined gender differences in the association between a cultural (i.e., discrimination) and classic (i.e., depressive symptomatology) risk factor, and suicidality among youth of Latin American heritage.

METHODS

A total of 390 Latinx adolescents (ages 13-18; 50% female) attending a high school in Southern California, U.S.A. completed a series of questionnaires that included measures of depressive symptoms, suicidality (including ideation, past attempts, and likelihood of future behavior), perceived discrimination, and demographics.

RESULTS

We found that discrimination was associated with increased suicidality among Latinx adolescents. The discrimination-suicidality association was stronger for girls versus boys, such that girls who experienced greater discrimination demonstrated the highest levels of suicidality. Although depression was also significantly associated with suicidality, the discrimination x gender interaction was found above and beyond the main effect of depressive symptomatology and covariates. Additional analyses revealed significant gender and moderation effects only for suicidal ideation and not for attempts.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings indicate that the relationship between discrimination and suicidality (particularly ideation) is more pronounced for Latinx girls than boys. This study also highlights the importance of drawing on theory-driven and culturally informed work that incorporates classic and cultural correlates of suicidality among diverse subpopulations.

Stress coping strategies and stress reactivity in adolescents with overweight/obesity

This study explored the associations between the frequency and effectiveness of habitual stress coping strategies on physiological and psychological stress responses to an acute laboratory stressor in adolescents with overweight/obesity (51 adolescents; 47% female; ages 14-19 years). Coping strategies were assessed using the Schoolager's Coping Strategies Inventory. Acute physiological stress responses were measured as salivary cortisol and α-amylase output during the Trier Social Stress Test and during a control condition. Acute psychological stress was measured using a Likert-type scale, and systolic blood pressure (SBP) and heart rate were measured at baseline. Results revealed that higher coping effectiveness was associated with lower log-based α-amylase during the stress (β = -0.025, p = 0.018) and control (β = -0.030, p = 0.005) conditions, but not with cortisol across either condition (all ps > 0.05). SBP moderated the association between coping effectiveness and α-amylase during the stress condition, with higher coping effectiveness associated with lower α-amylase only among individuals with lower SBP (β = 0.002, p = 0.027). Coping frequency was not associated with cortisol responses, neither was habitual stress coping strategies associated with psychological stress (all ps > 0.05). These findings provide preliminary evidence that effective use of stress coping strategies may provide a dampening effect on sympathetic activity in an at-risk adolescent population.

Momentary emotions and salivary cortisol: A systematic review and meta-analysis of ecological momentary assessment studies

An integrated view of the stress response requires consideration of both the emotional and hormonal sequelae of stress, which are regulated by the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. Understanding the extent of the association between emotions and cortisol at the momentary level can shed light on the biopsychological pathways linking stress to health. Research in this area has adopted heterogeneous approaches and produced mixed findings; thus, it is critical to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis. Systematic searches in major databases identified 22 studies (negative emotions [k = 19; 38,418 momentary observations]; positive emotions [k = 15; 31,721 momentary observations]). Meta-analysis found a significant positive association between momentary negative emotions and cortisol (r = .06, p < .001) and a significant negative association between momentary positive emotions and cortisol (r = -.05, p = .003). No methodological differences moderated these associations. Our findings suggest that emotional states correlate with cortisol levels at the momentary level. We discuss the health implications of our findings and provide recommendations for advancing this area of research.

Emotional Pathways to the Biological Embodiment of Racial Discrimination Experiences

OBJECTIVE

Racial discrimination experiences are common among youth with an ethnic minority background, and such experiences affect health. Stress-sensitive systems like the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis have been proposed as one mechanism. HPA-axis activity, measured through daily patterns of salivary cortisol, is altered among individuals who experience discrimination. We know little about the day-to-day processes by which discrimination experiences become embodied in stress biology. The HPA axis is responsive to negative social-evaluative (NSE) emotion. The present study investigated whether NSE emotions are a pathway by which discrimination dysregulates HPA-axis functioning as measured by cortisol levels.

METHODS

Perceived discrimination, diurnal cortisol, and changes in NSE emotion were assessed in a sample of 102 young adults. Emotions and cortisol were measured across the day for seven consecutive days in naturalistic settings. Multilevel modeling and regression analyses were used to examine average and day-to-day associations between discrimination, NSE emotion, and cortisol. Mediation and specificity analyses were conducted.

RESULTS

Discrimination was associated with NSE emotion (β = 0.34, p = .001). Day-to-day changes (β = 0.10, p = .002) and average levels (β = 0.03, p = .013) of NSE emotion were associated with dysregulated cortisol. NSE emotion mediated the association between discrimination and diurnal cortisol slopes (β = 0.10 [95% confidence interval = 0.01-0.21]). Findings were robust for covariates including stressful life events, more pronounced for NSE emotion compared with negative affect at the day level, similar for NSE emotion and general negative affect at the person level, and specific to cortisol slopes.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings suggest that daily NSE and average negative emotions are important pathways by which racial discrimination gets under the skin, or is embodied, in stress biology.

Responding to Sexual Objectification: The Role of Emotions in Influencing Willingness to Undertake Different Types of Action

Women may respond to being sexual objectified in different ways, such as confronting the perpetrator, ignoring the action, blaming oneself or considering the action as flattering. However, there has been little research looking at what predicts each of these different responses. The present research assessed the role of emotions in promoting and deterring different anticipated responses to sexual objectification. In both Studies 1 (n = 189) and 2 (n = 187), female participants were asked to imagine themselves in a situation where they received an inappropriate sexual comment. Participants then rated the emotions they believed they would feel and how they thought they would act in the situation. I found that expecting feelings of anger resulted in women thinking they would confront the perpetrator (i.e., undertake an active response) and that expecting disgust negatively predicted the belief that they would view the action as flattering (i.e., anticipate a benign response). By contrast, expecting shame resulted in women believing they would blame themselves (i.e., undertake a self-blame response). Study 2 also found that expecting pride was positively associated with anticipating a benign response. These findings suggest that the emotions that women expect to feel influence their anticipated responses to sexual objectification. It is, therefore, important to consider the emotional reactions that women have to instances of sexual objectification.

Revenge is sour, but is forgiveness sweet? Psychological health and cortisol reactivity among women with experiences of abuse

This study examined the relations among women's experiences of abuse, forgiveness, revenge, psychological health, and physiological stress reactivity. Both dispositional (Study 1; N = 103) and state (Study 2; N = 258) forgiveness and vengeance were associated with psychological symptoms. However, the relation between revenge and greater depression was magnified among psychologically abused women, whereas-unexpectedly-the positive link between forgiveness and psychological health was strengthened among physically abused women. Moreover, while revenge coincided with increased cortisol reactivity following any relationship conflict, this was only evident for forgiveness following physical abuse. The complex interactions among these variables are discussed within a stress and coping framework.

Perceived stress, coping, and cortisol reactivity in daily life: A study of adolescents during the first year of college

Adolescents change how they cope with stress across different situations, but also differ from one another in their general capacity to cope. The current study examined whether cortisol reactivity to perceived daily stress varies with both situational (within-person) and individual (between-person) differences in coping. First-year college students (N=63; Mage=18.85) provided 15 stress-coping diaries and 15 corresponding saliva samples across 3 weekdays. Results from hierarchical linear growth models revealed that perceiving greater stress than usual in the last hour was significantly associated with elevations in cortisol (relative to diurnal patterning) only during situations characterized by greater than usual diary-reported engagement coping. Regarding individual differences, perceiving greater stress than usual was significantly associated with elevations in cortisol only for adolescents below average on trait measures of engagement coping or belief in their ability to handle stress. Findings indicate that cortisol reactivity to daily stress varies with both situational variation and individual differences in coping.

Stereotype threat as a determinant of burnout or work engagement. Mediating role of positive and negative emotions

Stereotype threat as an example of serious interpersonal strain at workplace can lead either to impaired work engagement or it can motivate workers to strengthen their efforts to disconfirm a stereotype and can result in excessive work engagement. Thus, the basic aim of the study was to examine whether stereotype threat is related to burnout or to work engagement. The mediating role of the negative and positive emotions were also tested in the classical approach. Mediational analysis revealed a linear relation of stereotype threat and burnout, mediated by negative emotions and a quadratic relationship between stereotype threat and work engagement. In the latter analysis none of the mediators were significant. Therefore, the results showed that both burnout and work engagement are associated with stereotype threat at the workplace, probably depending on the stage of response to the stereotype threat. Further research should confirm these associations in a longitudinal study.

Depression history as a moderator of relations between cortisol and shame responses to social-evaluative threat in young adults

Changes in cortisol and shame are commonly elicited by psychosocial stressors involving social-evaluative threat. According to social self preservation theory, this coordinated psychobiological response is adaptive. Individuals with a history of depression, however, may exhibit diminished cortisol reactivity to acute stressors, which could interfere with coordinated cortisol and shame responses. The present study examined temporal relations between cortisol and shame responses to a psychosocial stress task in young adults who varied in their history of depression (56 remitted-depressed, 46 never-depressed). Lagged effects multilevel models revealed that depression history moderated relations between cortisol levels and shame ratings 25-55min later. The pattern of these interactions was similar: whereas higher cortisol levels predicted increases in shame in never-depressed individuals, cortisol levels were unrelated to shame responses in remitted-depressed individuals. Findings suggest a dissociation between cortisol and shame responses to stress in individuals with a history of depression.

Religious and Ethnic Discrimination: Differential Implications for Social Support Engagement, Civic Involvement, and Political Consciousness

Social identity threats, depending on the content of the identity targeted, may evoke varying socio-political responses. In this regard, religious discrimination may be especially threatening, challenging both the social group and its belief system, thereby promoting more active collective responses. This research examined how religious and ethnic identification differentially evoked engagement with support resources (ingroup and spiritual), civic involvement (including individual and collective action-taking), and political participation (voting or political consciousness) following group-based threats. Study 1 drew from the CanadianEthnic Diversity Survey(N= 1806). Participants who reported religious discrimination demonstrated greater religious identification, ingroup social engagement, and civic involvement—comparable associations were absent for ethnic discrimination. Study 2 (N= 287) experimentally primed participants to make salient a specific incident of religious or ethnic discrimination. Although ethnic discrimination elicited greater ingroup support-seeking and political consciousness, religious discrimination was perceived as especially harmful and evoked more individual and collective action-taking. Further to this, religious high-identifiers’ responses were mediated by engagement with ingroup or spiritual support in both studies, whereas no mediated relations were evident for ethnic identification. Findings are discussed in terms of distinct socio-political responses to threats targeting identities that are grounded in religious belief systems.

How Hispanic Patients Address Ambiguous versus Unambiguous Bias in the Doctor's Office

Two studies examined Hispanic individuals' preferences for using ten different bias reduction strategies when interacting with a doctor whose beliefs about their group were either ambiguous or clearly biased. Consistent with predictions, participants who imagined interacting with a doctor whose beliefs were ambiguous preferred strategies that facilitate positive doctor-patient interactions, whereas participants whose doctor explicitly endorsed negative stereotypes about their group preferred strategies that address stereotype content. The results also revealed that, regardless of whether the doctor's beliefs were ambiguous or clearly biased, stigma consciousness predicted participants' preferences for using strategies that address stereotype content. These findings suggest that both doctors' behavior and individual-level factors influence how minority individuals choose to behave in a healthcare setting.

Emotional reactions to unequal payment: The impact of meritocratic ideology and salary negotiability

People respond to low-status inequality with feelings of anger and shame. This work investigates the impact of meritocracy beliefs and implied salary negotiability on individuals’ emotional reactions within a stable status hierarchy. When an unequal system appears negotiable, believing that hard work pays off may decrease anger felt in response to inequality. However, learning that a system is non-negotiable violates expectations associated with meritocratic beliefs, and may therefore increase negative emotion. In two experiments investigating participants’ emotional reactions to payment systems, the more participants endorsed meritocratic ideologies, the less anger they felt when unequal treatment appeared negotiable. Experiment 2 showed that endorsement of meritocracy beliefs increased negative emotions when individuals learned that the unequal payment was non-negotiable. Taken together, this work suggests that it is important to consider beliefs about individual agency alongside system parameters establishing opportunities for individual mobility to understand emotional reactions to unequal treatment.

Bearing Witness

Recognizing discrimination does not necessarily translate into victim support. Willingness to provide support to a female victim of gender discrimination was hypothesized to vary as a function of whether the participant was male or female, along with the emotions conveyed by the victim (anger, shame, or no affect). Participants (N = 198) heard an audiotaped accounting of a woman’s discriminatory (vs. nondiscriminatory) conflict. When the victim encountered discrimination, males saw her as less blameworthy when she expressed anger, but their support was enhanced when she expressed shame. Females’ own anger predicted willingness to provide tangible support, although victim shame also elicited support. Thus, anger might motivate taking action, but its expression did not garner the support of others.

Ethnic identification in response to perceived discrimination protects well-being and promotes activism: A longitudinal study of Latino college students

Using structural equation modeling and cross-lagged analyses, this longitudinal study investigates ethnic identification, a group-based coping strategy, as a mediator of the influence of perceived discrimination on psychological well-being and willingness to engage in activism on behalf of one’s ethnic group among Latino students in both their first and fourth years of college. We found cross-sectional evidence for the rejection–identification model (RIM) during both years of college. Further, multiple step bootstrapping analyses of the longitudinal data showed that the relationships between perceived discrimination during Year 1 and both well-being and activism during Year 4 were sequentially mediated by activism during Year 1 predicting ethnic identification during Year 4. These data extend the RIM by including activism as an additional outcome variable that has important implications for Latino students across time.

Contending With Stereotype Threat at Work: A Model of Long-Term Responses 1Ψ7

Women and people of color are still underrepresented in many occupational roles. Being in a situation where one is underrepresented, and thus in the demographic minority, has been shown to be a factor leading to the experience of stereotype threat—the expectation that one will be judged or perceived on the basis of social identity group membership rather than actual performance and potential. Although numerous laboratory studies have documented the negative impact of stereotype threat on short-term task performance, its effects in applied contexts, such as work settings, remain unexplored. Utilizing theories from the social, organizational, and counseling psychology literatures, the authors propose a conceptual model of long-term responses to stereotype threat in the workplace. The authors posit a framework of possible responses to stereotype threat that include fending off the stereotype, discouraged by the stereotype, and resilient to the stereotype. Within each response set, there are numerous strategies that an individual can employ, with varying benefits and consequences. The authors conclude the article by suggesting an agenda for future research and discussing the implications of the model for understanding stereotype threat in the workplace.