Childhood Family Stress and Women's Health: Parasympathetic Activity as a Risk and Resiliency Factor.

ABSTRACT: Childhood family stress (CFS) exacerbates risk for physical health problems across the lifespan. Health risks associated with CFS are particularly relevant for women who tend to endorse more CFS than men. Importantly, some evidence suggests that individuals may vary in their susceptibility to CFS. Parasympathetic activity, which helps to regulate automatic bodily activity (e.g., breathing, digestion), has been proposed to represent a marker of plasticity to environmental exposure. However, no research to date has tested whether parasympathetic activity may modulate the impact of early adversity on health. We examined whether parasympathetic activity would moderate the link between CFS and health complaints in a sample of 68 undergraduate women (Mean age = 19.44). Participants self-reported

SUBMITTER: Chong LS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11590747 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature