Title

Perceived Stress and Physiological Dysregulation

Author(s)

Noreen Goldman Noreen Goldman (Princeton University)

Dana A. Glei Dana Glei (Georgetown University)

Christopher Seplaki Christopher Seplaki (Princeton University)

I-Wen Liu I-Wen Liu (Center for Population and Health Survey Department of Health, Taiwan, ROC)

Maxine Weinstein Maxine Weinstein (Georgetown University)

Abstract

We use a population-based representative sample of older Taiwanese to investigate links between perceived stress and a broad set of biological measures. These biomarkers were collected at a single time (2000) and reflect SNS-activity, HPA-activity, immune function, cardiovascular response, and metabolic pathways. We model the relationship between measures of perceived stress and (1) both high and low values for each of 16 individual biological indicators; and (2) a measure of cumulative physiological dysregulation based on the full set of biomarkers. We consider two measures of perceived stress, one derived from the 2000 interview and a second based on data from three interviews (1996-2000). Age and sex-adjusted models reveal significant associations between measures of perceived stress and extreme values of cortisol, triglycerides, IL-6, DHEAS and fasting glucose. Numerous biomarkers examined here, including those pertaining to blood pressure and obesity, are not significantly related to perceived stress. On the other hand, the measure of cumulative physiological dysregulation is associated with both the level of perceived stress at a given time and to a longitudinal measure of perceived stress. Some results suggest that the relationship between level of perceived stress and physiological response is stronger for women than men.

Creation Date

2004-05

Section URL ID

OPR

Paper Number

opr0405.pdf

URL

https://web.archive.org/web/20150906193427/http://opr.princeton.edu/papers/opr0405.pdf

File Function

Jel

I10

Keyword(s)

Taiwan

Suppress

false

Series

11