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. 2015 Dec:62:279-91.
doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2015.08.018. Epub 2015 Aug 28.

Developmental histories of perceived racial discrimination and diurnal cortisol profiles in adulthood: A 20-year prospective study

Emma K Adam  1 , Jennifer A Heissel  2 , Katharine H Zeiders  3 , Jennifer A Richeson  4 , Emily C Ross  2 , Katherine B Ehrlich  4 , Dorainne J Levy  5 , Margaret Kemeny  6 , Amanda B Brodish  7 , Oksana Malanchuk  7 , Stephen C Peck  7 , Thomas E Fuller-Rowell  8 , Jacquelynne S Eccles  9
Affiliations

Developmental histories of perceived racial discrimination and diurnal cortisol profiles in adulthood: A 20-year prospective study

Emma K Adam et al. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2015 Dec.

Abstract

Perceived racial discrimination (PRD) has been associated with altered diurnal cortisol rhythms in past cross-sectional research. We investigate whether developmental histories of PRD, assessed prospectively, are associated with adult diurnal cortisol profiles. One-hundred and twelve (N=50 Black, N=62 White) adults from the Maryland Adolescent Development in Context Study provided saliva samples in adulthood (at approximately age 32 years) at waking, 30min after waking, and at bedtime for 7 days. Diurnal cortisol measures were calculated, including waking cortisol levels, diurnal cortisol slopes, the cortisol awakening response (CAR), and average daily cortisol (AUC). These cortisol outcomes were predicted from measures of PRD obtained over a 20-year period beginning when individuals were in 7th grade (approximately age 12). Greater average PRD measured across the 20-year period predicted flatter adult diurnal cortisol slopes for both Black and White adults, and a lower CAR. Greater average PRD also predicted lower waking cortisol for Black, but not White adults. PRD experiences in adolescence accounted for many of these effects. When adolescent and young adult PRD are entered together predicting cortisol outcomes, PRD experiences in adolescence (but not young adulthood) significantly predicted flatter diurnal cortisol slopes for both Black and White adults. Adolescent, but not young adult PRD, also significantly predicted lower waking and lower average cortisol for Black adults. Young adult PRD was, however, a stronger predictor of the CAR, predicting a marginally lower CAR for Whites, and a significantly larger CAR for Blacks. Effects were robust to controlling for covariates including health behaviors, depression, income and parent education levels. PRD experiences interacted with parent education and income to predict aspects of the diurnal cortisol rhythm. Although these results suggest PRD influences on cortisol for both Blacks and Whites, the key findings suggest that the effects are more pervasive for Blacks, affecting multiple aspects of the cortisol diurnal rhythm. In addition, adolescence is a more sensitive developmental period than adulthood for the impacts of PRD on adult stress biology.

Keywords: Adolescence; Cortisol; Diurnal cortisol rhythms; Early experience; Hypocortisolism; Hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis; Racial discrimination.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of interest: None.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Adolescent perceived racial/ethnic discrimination and adult cortisol rhythms across the day by race/ethnicity.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Young adult perceived racial/ethnic discrimination and adult cortisol rhythms across the day, by race/ethnicity.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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    1. Adam EK. Emotion-cortisol transactions occur over multiple time scales in development: implications for research on emotion and the development of emotional disorders. In: Dennis TA, Buss KA, Hastings PD, editors. Physiological Measures of Emotion from a Developmental Perspective: State of the Science. 2. Vol. 77. Monogr Soc Re in Child; 2012. pp. 17–27.
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    1. Adam EK, Doane LD, Zinbarg RE, Mineka S, Craske MG, Griffith JW. Prospective prediction of major depressive disorder from cortisol awakening responses in adolescence. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2010;35:921–931. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Adam EK, Hawkley LC, Kudielka BM, Cacioppo JT. Day-to-day dynamics of experience-cortisol associations in a population-based sample of older adults. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2006;103:17058–17063. - PMC - PubMed

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