More than a feeling: A unified view of stress measurement for population science.

Stress can influence health throughout the lifespan, yet there is little agreement about what types and aspects of stress matter most for human health and disease. This is in part because "stress" is not a monolithic concept but rather, an emergent process that involves interactions between individual and environmental factors, historical and current events, allostatic states, and psychological and physiological reactivity. Many of these processes alone have been labeled as "stress." Stress science would be further advanced if researchers adopted a common conceptual model that incorporates epidemiological, affective, and psychophysiological perspectives, with more precise language for describing stress measures. We articulate an integrative working model, highlighting how stressor exposures across the life course influence habitual responding and stress reactivity, and how health behaviors interact with stress. We offer a Stress Typology articulating timescales for stress measurement - acute, event-based, daily, and chronic - and more precise language for dimensions of stress measurement

Radically reframing studies on neurobiology and socioeconomic circumstances: A call for social justice-oriented neuroscience

Socioeconomic circumstances are associated with symptoms and diagnostic status of nearly all mental health conditions. Given these robust relationships, neuroscientists have attempted to elucidate how socioeconomic-based adversity “gets under the skin.” Historically, this work emphasized individual proxies of socioeconomic position (e.g., income, education), ignoring the effects of broader socioeconomic contexts (e.g., neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage) which may uniquely contribute to chronic stress. This omission represented a disconnect between neuroscience and other allied fields that have recognized health is undeniably linked to interactions between systems of power and individual characteristics. More recently, neuroscience work has considered how sociopolitical context affects brain structure and function; however, the products of this exciting line of research have lacked critical sociological and historical perspectives. While empirical evidence on this topic is burgeoning, the cultural, ethical, societal, and legal implications of this work have been elusive. Although the mechanisms by which socioeconomic circumstances impact brain structure and function may be similar across people, not everyone is exposed to these factors at similar rates. Individuals from ethnoracially minoritized groups are disproportionally exposed to neighborhood disadvantage. Thus, socioeconomic inequities examined in neuroscience research are undergirding with other forms of oppression, namely structural racism. We utilize a holistic, interdisciplinary approach to interpret findings from neuroscience research and interweave relevant theories from the fields of public health, social sciences, and Black feminist thought. In this perspective piece, we discuss the complex relationship that continues to exist between academic institutions and underserved surrounding communities, acknowledging the areas in which neuroscience research has historically harmed and/or excluded structurally disadvantaged communities. We conclude by envisioning how this work can be used; not just to inform policymakers, but also to engage and partner with communities and shape the future direction of human neuroscience research

Early Adversity and Executive Dysfunction in Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

This dissertation was designed to inform the existing literature gap regarding variability in Executive Dysfunction on neuropsychological assessment tasks in children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The two primary objectives of the study included: (a) evaluation of the relationship between number of adverse childhood events (ACEs) and performance on neuropsychological tasks of executive functions (EF; as measured by neuropsychological test results on Color–Word Interference, Verbal Fluency, Trail Making Test, and Semantic Clustering) for children with ADHD; and (b) evaluation of the relationship between number of ACEs and behavioral impairment on parent ratings of EFs (as measured by the Inhibit, Task Completion, Shift, and Planning/Organization scales on the BRIEF) for children with ADHD. Archival data derived from neuropsychological and behavioral assessment were used to evaluate 107 children diagnosed with ADHD. Eight separate linear regressions for the two families of dependent variables (i.e., four cognitive variables and four behavioral variables) were conducted. Number of ACEs significantly predicted neurocognitive shifting performance, as well as parent-reported behavioral problems with inhibition, set shifting, and self-monitoring. Findings support the hypothesis that children with ADHD who have experienced higher levels of adversity can be expected to show greater deficits on some neuropsychological measures of executive functioning and to be rated by their parents as demonstrating a higher level of behavioral dysregulation when compared to same-age peers with ADHD and lower levels of adversity. Results suggest that the experience of early adversity is a potential developmental pathway to ADHD symptomology

Frontal alpha asymmetry in response to stressor moderates the relation between parenting hassles and child externalizing problems

Inequitable urban environments are associated with toxic stress and altered neural social stress processing that threatens the development of self-regulation. Some children in these environments struggle with early onset externalizing problems that are associated with a variety of negative long-term outcomes. While previous research has linked parenting daily hassles to child externalizing problems, the role of frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA) as a potential modifier of this relationship has scarcely been explored. The present study examined mother-child dyads, most of whom were living in low socioeconomic status households in an urban environment and self-identified as members of racial minority groups. Analyses focused on frustration task electroencephalography (EEG) data from 67 children (mean age = 59.0 months, SD = 2.6). Mothers reported the frequency of their daily parenting hassles and their child’s externalizing problems. Frustration task FAA moderated the relationship between parenting daily hassles and child externalizing problems, but resting FAA did not. More specifically, children with left frontal asymmetry had more externalizing problems as their mothers perceived more hassles in their parenting role, but parenting hassles and externalizing problems were not associated among children with right frontal asymmetry. These findings lend support to the motivational direction hypothesis and capability model of FAA. More generally, this study reveals how individual differences in lateralization of cortical activity in response to a stressor may confer differential susceptibility to child behavioral problems with approach motivation (i.e., left frontal asymmetry) predicting externalizing problems under conditions of parental stress

Lead and crime: an ecological study between lead contaminated topsoil and violent crime.

Lead is a known neurotoxicant. Human exposure to lead comes primarily through environmental exposures, including remnant lead paint, lead contaminated topsoil and lead contaminated water. Prenatal and early life lead exposure has been associated with numerous neurocognitive and neuropsychiatric disorders. This dissertation presents findings from an ecological study which evaluated the geospatial association between topsoil lead content and the incidence of FBI designated violent crime in Jefferson County, Kentucky. A total of 412 topsoil samples were collected along roadways (n=300) and from Louisville Metro Parks (n=112). Jefferson County crime data was obtained from the Louisville Metro Police Department – Crime Information Center. Shared areas of higher than expected rates of FBI designated violent crime was designated as the Study Area. Three Control Areaswere established based upon their low to expected rates of violent crime. The Control Areas were located northeast, southeast and southwest of the Study Area. Spatial Error Model was used to compare topsoil lead content between the Study Areaand the threeControl Areas. A Bayesian sparse spatial generalized linear mixed model (SGLMM) was used to evaluate the geospatial association between violent crime and topsoil lead content while controlling for eight pertinent census-tract-level covariates. Spatial Error Model results showed that the Study Areahad an approximate 8-fold increase in topsoil lead content compared to the referent Control Area. Unadjusted SGLMM, found that every 100-unit increase in topsoil lead content was associated with a 62 percent increased risk for violent crime events per census tract (RR=1.62, 95% CI:1.59, 1.64). The full SGLMM, which controlled for eight census-tract-level covariates, found that every 100-unit increase in topsoil lead content was associated with a 5 percent increased risk for violent crime events per census tract (RR=1.05, 95% CI: 1.03, 1.08). The results of this study are based upon an ecological study and should be interpreted with caution. However, these findings provide a rationale for the design of future studies aimed at exploring the relationship between lead poisoning and subsequent criminality