Low socioeconomic status (SES) has a profound influence on physical health outcomes throughout the lifespan. For example, the most common childhood chronic health condition, asthma, is more severe in low SES children. Understanding the reasons why low SES children suffer from worse asthma thus has important public health implications. This proposed project seeks a more thorough understanding of both psychological and biological pathways that could help to explain epidemiological findings linking low SES with increased asthma severity. The focus will be on the effects of SES on stress and biological systems that have been implicated in asthma exacerbations.
The specific aims of this proposal include: 1) Examining the dimensions of SES (prestige SES, resource SES, relative SES) that are associated with asthma biological processes, and considering the implications of these associations for our understanding of how SES impacts asthma; 2) Determining which components of stress (stress exposure, stress interpretations, stress reactivity) form psychological pathways between SES and asthma biological processes; and 3) Identifying psychological factors that characterize a subgroup of vulnerable children (low SES) who are resilient (have good asthma profiles). This last aim will entail assessing child characteristics (e.g., control) as well as social network factors as potential buffers of the SES and asthma relationship. We will recruit a sample of 120 children (ages 13-18) with persistent asthma. Children will be interviewed about life stresses and parents interviewed about family SES. Biological processes implicated in asthma, including immune markers (e.g., cytokines) and neuroendocrine hormones (salivary cortisol), as well as asthma outcomes (e.g., pulmonary function) will be assessed. Children will be tested 5 times over a 2-year period to track changes in stress and asthma. The results from this project will allow us to begin developing models of how the larger social environment comes to affect a child's clinical course of asthma.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01HL073975-03
Application #
7263934
Study Section
Behavioral Medicine, Interventions and Outcomes Study Section (BMIO)
Program Officer
Taggart, Virginia
Project Start
2005-09-15
Project End
2010-07-31
Budget Start
2007-08-01
Budget End
2008-07-31
Support Year
3
Fiscal Year
2007
Total Cost
$256,009
Indirect Cost
Name
University of British Columbia
Department
Type
DUNS #
251949962
City
Vancouver
State
BC
Country
Canada
Zip Code
V6 1-Z3
Manczak, Erika M; Dougherty, Bryn; Chen, Edith (2018) Parental Depressive Symptoms Potentiate the Effect of Youth Negative Mood Symptoms on Gene Expression in Children with Asthma. J Abnorm Child Psychol :
Ehrlich, Katherine B; Miller, Gregory E; Chen, Edith (2015) Harsh parent-child conflict is associated with decreased anti-inflammatory gene expression and increased symptom severity in children with asthma. Dev Psychopathol 27:1547-54
Ehrlich, Katherine B; Miller, Gregory E; Chen, Edith (2015) Family Functioning, Eosinophil Activity, and Symptoms in Children With Asthma. J Pediatr Psychol 40:781-9
Murphy, Michael L M; Slavich, George M; Chen, Edith et al. (2015) Targeted rejection predicts decreased anti-inflammatory gene expression and increased symptom severity in youth with asthma. Psychol Sci 26:111-21
Ross, Kharah M; Murphy, Michael L M; Adam, Emma K et al. (2014) How stable are diurnal cortisol activity indices in healthy individuals? Evidence from three multi-wave studies. Psychoneuroendocrinology 39:184-93
Schreier, Hannah M C; Chen, Edith (2013) Socioeconomic status and the health of youth: a multilevel, multidomain approach to conceptualizing pathways. Psychol Bull 139:606-54
Chen, Edith; Strunk, Robert C; Trethewey, Alexandra et al. (2011) Resilience in low-socioeconomic-status children with asthma: adaptations to stress. J Allergy Clin Immunol 128:970-6
Schreier, Hannah M C; Miller, Gregory E; Chen, Edith (2011) Clinical potentials for measuring stress in youth with asthma. Immunol Allergy Clin North Am 31:41-54
Chen, E; Miller, G E; Kobor, M S et al. (2011) Maternal warmth buffers the effects of low early-life socioeconomic status on pro-inflammatory signaling in adulthood. Mol Psychiatry 16:729-37
Miller, Gregory E; Chen, Edith; Parker, Karen J (2011) Psychological stress in childhood and susceptibility to the chronic diseases of aging: moving toward a model of behavioral and biological mechanisms. Psychol Bull 137:959-97

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