William R Lovallo1,2, Andrew J Cohoon1,2, Ashley Acheson3, Kristen H Sorocco1,4, Andrea S Vincent5. 1. Behavioral Sciences Laboratories, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Oklahoma City, OK, USA. 2. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK, USA. 3. Department of Psychiatry, University of Arkansas Medical Center, Little Rock, AK, USA. 4. Donald W. Reynolds Department of Geriatric Medicine, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK, USA. 5. Cognitive Science Research Center, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, USA.
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND AIMS: People with blunted stress reactivity have poor impulse control and also show increased risk for alcoholism. Exposure to early life adversity (ELA) contributes to blunted reactivity, but individual differences in susceptibility to ELA are not well understood. This study aimed to determine whether exposure to ELA has a greater impact on stress reactivity in young adults with a family history of alcoholism (FH+) compared with young adults with no family history of alcoholism (FH-). DESIGN: Observational study using linear modeling. SETTING: Oklahoma, USA. PARTICIPANTS: Seven hundred and nine young adults (398 females) recruited through community advertisement. MEASUREMENTS: We obtained heart rates and cortisol levels in subjects while undergoing public speaking and mental arithmetic stress compared with a resting control day (1418 test sessions). ELA was quantified as 0, 1 or > 1 adverse events experienced by age 15 years. FH+ people had one or two parents with an alcohol use disorder, and FH- controls had no such history for two generations. FINDINGS: Increasing levels of ELA predicted progressive blunting of cortisol and heart rate reactivity for the whole sample (Fs = 4.57 and 4.70, Ps ≤ 0.011), but examination by FH status showed that the effect of ELA was significant only among FH+ (Fs ≥ 3.5, Ps < 0.05) and absent in FH- (Ps > 0.40). This difference in ELA impact was not explained by the cortisol diurnal cycle or subjective evaluation of the stressors. CONCLUSIONS: People with a family history of alcoholism appear to be vulnerable, in terms of changes to physiological stress response, to the impact of exposure to early life adversity while people with no family history of alcoholism appear to be resilient. Blunted stress reactivity may reflect differential vulnerability to early life adversity in young adults with a family history of alcoholism.
BACKGROUND AND AIMS: People with blunted stress reactivity have poor impulse control and also show increased risk for alcoholism. Exposure to early life adversity (ELA) contributes to blunted reactivity, but individual differences in susceptibility to ELA are not well understood. This study aimed to determine whether exposure to ELA has a greater impact on stress reactivity in young adults with a family history of alcoholism (FH+) compared with young adults with no family history of alcoholism (FH-). DESIGN: Observational study using linear modeling. SETTING:Oklahoma, USA. PARTICIPANTS: Seven hundred and nine young adults (398 females) recruited through community advertisement. MEASUREMENTS: We obtained heart rates and cortisol levels in subjects while undergoing public speaking and mental arithmetic stress compared with a resting control day (1418 test sessions). ELA was quantified as 0, 1 or > 1 adverse events experienced by age 15 years. FH+ people had one or two parents with an alcohol use disorder, and FH- controls had no such history for two generations. FINDINGS: Increasing levels of ELA predicted progressive blunting of cortisol and heart rate reactivity for the whole sample (Fs = 4.57 and 4.70, Ps ≤ 0.011), but examination by FH status showed that the effect of ELA was significant only among FH+ (Fs ≥ 3.5, Ps < 0.05) and absent in FH- (Ps > 0.40). This difference in ELA impact was not explained by the cortisol diurnal cycle or subjective evaluation of the stressors. CONCLUSIONS:People with a family history of alcoholism appear to be vulnerable, in terms of changes to physiological stress response, to the impact of exposure to early life adversity while people with no family history of alcoholism appear to be resilient. Blunted stress reactivity may reflect differential vulnerability to early life adversity in young adults with a family history of alcoholism.
Authors: Kristen H Sorocco; Nathan C Carnes; Andrew J Cohoon; Andrea S Vincent; William R Lovallo Journal: Drug Alcohol Depend Date: 2015-02-11 Impact factor: 4.492
Authors: William R Lovallo; Noha H Farag; Kristen H Sorocco; Andrew J Cohoon; Andrea S Vincent Journal: Biol Psychiatry Date: 2011-11-23 Impact factor: 13.382
Authors: Ashley Acheson; Jennifer L Robinson; David C Glahn; William R Lovallo; Peter T Fox Journal: Drug Alcohol Depend Date: 2008-11-20 Impact factor: 4.492
Authors: Thomas G Brown; Marie Claude Ouimet; Louise Nadeau; Jacques Tremblay; Christina Gianoulakis; Sophie Couture; Nathaniel Moxley-Kelly Journal: Psychopharmacology (Berl) Date: 2019-09-11 Impact factor: 4.530
Authors: Mustafa al'Absi; Briana DeAngelis; Mark Fiecas; Alan Budney; Sharon Allen Journal: Psychopharmacology (Berl) Date: 2022-03-11 Impact factor: 4.415