Stigmatization, self-esteem, and coping among the adolescent children of lesbian mothers

PURPOSE

To examine perceived stigma, coping, disclosure, and self-esteem among adolescents with lesbian mothers.

METHOD

Interviews were conducted with 76 adolescents ages 11-18 years. Standardized measures of self-esteem and coping skills were used. A measure of stigma was adapted for this study and a measure of disclosure was developed. The relationship between perceived stigma and self-esteem was examined. General coping skills and level of disclosure about the adolescents' mothers' sexual orientation were assessed as potential moderators of the relationship between perceived stigma and self-esteem.

RESULTS

Adolescents who perceived more stigma had lower self-esteem in five of seven self-esteem areas, compared to those who perceived less stigma. In addition, coping skills moderated the effect of stigma on self-esteem in three self-esteem areas. However, only one subtype of coping skills, that of decision-making coping, was found to moderate the relationship of perceived stigma and self-esteem in such a way that adolescents using more decision-making coping had higher self-esteem in the face of high perceived stigma. For social support coping, in the face of high perceived stigma, the adolescents with more effective coping skills had lower self-esteem. In the face of high perceived stigma, adolescents who disclosed more about their mother's sexual orientation had higher self-esteem in the subscale of close friendship than those who disclosed less.

CONCLUSIONS

Results suggest that stigma is related to self-esteem among the adolescent children of lesbian mothers. The results indicate that this relationship is moderated by coping skills. These results have implications for intervention and prevention of stigmatization by the establishment of effective coping skills as well as through educational efforts to eradicate stigmatizing attitudes.

Potassium intake and cardiovascular reactivity in children with risk factors for essential hypertension

OBJECTIVES

Our study objectives were as follows: (1) to determine whether urinary excretion of potassium is lower in black than in white children, (2) to determine whether cardiovascular reactivity (CVR) varies inversely with dietary intake of potassium, and (3) to confirm that CVR is greater in black than in white children, and in children with a family history of hypertension than in those without such a history.

STUDY DESIGN

Baseline measurements included 24-hour urinary sodium, potassium, and creatinine levels and food intake (by questionnaire). Resting and stress blood pressure were measured during blood sampling, cold water foot immersion, and a video game before and after 1 week each of supplementation with potassium citrate, 1.5 mmol/kg per day, and placebo administered in random order.

RESULTS

Thirty-nine children aged 7 to 15 years were studied. White subjects had higher baseline excretion of potassium than black subjects (p < 0.001) and higher vegetable intake (p < 0.01), which were positively correlated (r = 0.53, p < 0.001). At baseline, the 24-hour urinary potassium/creatinine ratio varied inversely with diastolic CVR to the video game stressor in white children (r = -0.55, p = 0.02). Cardiovascular reactivity was not attenuated measurably by potassium supplementation compared with placebo. The CVR was greater in children with a family history of hypertension than in those without, but was not greater in black children than in white children.

CONCLUSIONS

The urinary potassium/creatinine ratio is higher in white than black children because their intake of vegetables is greater; dietary potassium intake may modulate CVR, particularly in white children with a family history of hypertension, but may need to be supplemented for more than 1 week to demonstrate attenuation of CVR; and a family history of hypertension may be a stronger predictor of enhanced CVR than is race.

Life events, frontal electroencephalogram laterality, and functional immune status after acute psychological stressors in adolescents

OBJECTIVE

Past studies have found that environmental stress affects cellular immune function and that extensive variability exists in the magnitude and direction of stress-induced immune changes. Past research also suggests that individuals with greater right, relative to left, resting frontal electroencephalogram (EEG) activation perceive environmental stress as more aversive and have lower baseline cellular immune function. In this study, we examined environmental stressors, resting frontal EEG laterality, and immune responses to short-term psychological stressors in adolescent boys.

METHODS

A sample of twenty-four 14-16 year old right-handed boys underwent a recording of resting EEG and collections of blood taken before and after a laboratory protocol designed to induce psychological stress. Blood samples were used to measure changes in mitogen lymphoproliferative responses, natural killer (NK) cell activity, and T-cell phenotypic subsets. Life events were measured using self-report questionnaires.

RESULTS

Life events and frontal laterality showed a first order interaction in predicting changes in lymphocyte proliferation to tetanus toxoid (R2 increment = .26, p < .01) and pokeweed mitogen (R2 increment = .25, p < .02). The interaction also predicted changes in NK activity (R2 increment = .24, p < .02).

CONCLUSIONS

Changes in lymphocyte proliferation and NK activity were associated with negative life events only among individuals with greater left frontal cortical activation. Our results suggest that recent psychosocial stress and individual differences in resting frontal cortical activation are together linked to immunologic responses to acute psychological stressors.

Life events, cardiovascular reactivity, and risk behavior in adolescent boys

BACKGROUND

Risk behavior contributes to injuries, one of the most important sources of morbidity and mortality in adolescents. Although research has shown that environmental stress makes adolescents more likely to engage in risk behavior and to sustain injuries, the magnitude of these associations has been small. Little is known about the role of individual differences in psychobiologic reactivity to stress in moderating the impact of stressful events. In this study, we examined associations among environmental stressors, cardiovascular reactivity to stress, and the level of risk behavior in adolescent boys.

METHODS

Twenty-four 14- to 16-year-old boys underwent a laboratory protocol designed to measure responses to psychologically and physically stressful tasks. Changes in heart rate and mean arterial blood pressure were measured serially at standard points in the protocol, and levels of positive and negative life events and recent risk behavior were measured using self-report questionnaires.

RESULTS

Neither life events nor cardiovascular reactivity were independently associated with risk behavior. Positive life events and mean arterial blood pressure reactivity significantly interacted, however, in predicting risk behavior (R2 increment = .25). Boys with high reactivity who reported numerous positive life events engaged in markedly less risk behavior than their peers.

CONCLUSION

We conclude that adolescents with exaggerated cardiovascular responses to laboratory stressors are associated with less risk behavior in a setting of positive life circumstances. This result suggests that reactivity may exert protective, rather than harmful, influences in some environments.

Psychobiological differences in childhood stress response. II. Cardiovascular markers of vulnerability

A fuller understanding of the distribution of morbidity in childhood may be achieved through the study of individual differences in stress susceptibility. The importance of person-environment transactions has been appreciated in the psychological domain, but only recently have individual differences in children's psychobiological responsivity to the environment become the focus of systematic study. Current work on individual differences in children's biobehavioral stress response is illustrated by reviewing current research on two aspects of cardiovascular regulation: cardiovascular reactivity and cardiac vagal tone. Both show promise of being stable individual traits emerging early in childhood, and both have correlates with children's patterns of health, behavior, and development. Consideration of individual differences in children's physiological responsivity can enrich our understanding of the meaning and adaptive significance of childhood behavior.