the impact of gay-related stress on autonomic arousal, heart rate

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Transcript the impact of gay-related stress on autonomic arousal, heart rate

THE IMPACT OF racism and GAYRELATED STRESS ON physiological
arousal in african-american
and GAY MALE YOUTH
populations
PRESENTED BY:
JENNIFER LYNN DEFEO, PHD
October, 2012
San Juan, Puerto
Idea Behind the Study
 What happens to the body’s physiology
when exposed to prejudice and/or
discriminatory events?
October, 2012
San Juan, Puerto
Minority Stress

Distinguishable excess stress to which individuals from stigmatized social categories
are exposed as a result of their social position (Meyer, 1991)
October, 2012
San Juan, Puerto
Armstead, et. al
 Conducted research exploring racism as a stressor
affecting blood pressure in African American college
students.
 Found that blood pressure was significantly higher for
the racist film clip compared to a neutral film clip.
 Found that those who characteristically internalized
anger had higher blood pressure responses than those
that did not.
October, 2012
San Juan, Puerto
Racism as a Stressor
for African Americans
 Racism is defined as “beliefs, attitudes, institutional
arrangements, and acts that tend to denigrate
individuals or groups because of phenotypic
characteristics or ethnic group affiliation” (Clark,
Anderson, Clark & Williams, 1999, p. 805).
 Perceived racism is an individual’s “subjective
experience of prejudice or discrimination” (Clark et al.,
1999, p. 808).
 Coping styles will influence the effect of the stress of
perceived and actual racism.
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Biopsychosocial Effects
of Perceived Racism
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San Juan, Puerto
Racism as a stressor
 Biopsychosocial Effects:
 Racism perceived as stressful
 Coping responses to perceptions of racism
 Interventions and prevention of adverse effects
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San Juan, Puerto
Racism as a Stressor
 Psychological and Physiological Responses
 Psychological: paranoia, anger, frustration,
helplessness and hopelessness, fear, resentment
 Physiological: cardiovascular functioning,
neuroendocrine, immune
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Racism as a Stressor
 Effects of stress on health
 Facilitate depression
 Low birth weight
 Cardiac problems
 Upper respiratory infections
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Gay-related Stress
 Occurs when individuals are exposed to stressors that are based
upon their sexual orientation (Meyer, 1995).
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San Juan, Puerto
Rico
Glsen Statistics (2003)
 9 of 10 Gay Youth experience homophobic remarks in
school such as “fag” or “queer”
 2 of 10 youth report having heard antigay remarks from
school faculty, including teachers
 5 of 10 youth report the presence of school faculty when
experiencing prejudice from other students
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San Juan, Puerto
Physiological Measures

Diastolic Blood pressure

Systolic Blood Pressure

Heart Rate

LF/HF Ratio (Sympathovagal Dominance)
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San Juan, Puerto
Film Clips
 Neutral
- Fish swimming
 General Stress
-Tsunami
 Antigay Stress
-Military
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San Juan, Puerto
results
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San Juan, Puerto
Diastolic Blood Pressure
- Blood
vessel pressure between heart beats (Resting)
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San Juan, Puerto
Systolic Blood Pressure
-The amount of pressure that is exerted on the blood vessels
while the heart is beating
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San Juan, Puerto
Heart Rate
-The number of heart beats per unit of time
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San Juan, Puerto
LF/HF Sympathovagal
Dominance
-
LF= Low Frequency (Sympathetic Nervous System Output)
-
HF= High Frequency (Parasympathetic Nervous System Output)
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San Juan, Puerto
Theoretical
Implications
 Ewart & Jorgenson (2004)
-ANS force at chronic levels is a risk factor for
coronary heart disease and damage.
- If replicated is consistent with this theory.
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San Juan, Puerto
Clinical Implications
(2) Cognitive Behavioral Approaches
(A) School-Based Interventions
- Sagren & Rogers (2001) discuss the importance of cognitive-
behavioral and educational interventions in addressing and changing
the minds of students and staff from prejudice, fear, and stereotypical
thinking to accepting, understanding, and affirming sexual orientation.
Serves three functions: (Sagren & Rogers, 2001)
(1) positively affects the school environment and climate
(2) decreases school-related stress
(3) improves the protective factors, such as
support
and advocacy for gay youth.
October, 2012
San Juan, Puerto
Clinical implications
 Educate school staff on the specific needs of gay youth;
school-based mental health programs and school-based
clinicians can formulate interventions to improve
physical, social, and psychological functioning and
well-being of gay youth.
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San Juan, Puerto
The End
 THANK YOU AND HAVE A GREAT
REST OF YOUR TIME IN PUERTO
RICO!
October, 2012
San Juan, Puerto