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Victimization and Biological Stress Responses in Urban Adolescents: Emotion Regulation as a Moderator

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Abstract

Associations between urban adolescents’ victimization experiences and biological stress responses were examined, as well as emotion regulation as a moderator of these associations. Data from a 4-wave longitudinal study with a low-income, community-based sample (n = 242; 91 % African American; 57 % female; M = 11.98, SD = 1.56 years at baseline) revealed that victimization, assessed over 3 study waves, was associated with an attenuated cortisol response to a stress interview at the final study wave, indicating that responses of the Hypothalamus–Pituitary–Adrenal (HPA) axis were dysregulated. Cortisol responses were moderated by caregiver-reported adolescent emotion regulation, suggesting that this modifiable protective factor that is taught in many school-based prevention programs could help reduce harm associated with HPA axis dysregulation linked to victimization.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by National Institute on Drug Abuse Grants K01 DA015442 01A1 and R21 DA 020086-02 awarded to Wendy Kliewer and by Clinical and Translational Science Award UL1TR000058 from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the National Institutes of Health awarded to Virginia Commonwealth University. I thank the families who participated in this study and the research staff who supported this work.

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  1. Department of Psychology, Virginia Commonwealth University, PO Box 842018, Richmond, VA, 23284-2018, USA

    Wendy Kliewer

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Correspondence to Wendy Kliewer.

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The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). All procedures performed in this study were in accordance with the ethical standards of Virginia Commonwealth University and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Written informed consent was provided by the maternal caregiver and assent was provided by the adolescent prior to initiating the data collection.

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Kliewer, W. Victimization and Biological Stress Responses in Urban Adolescents: Emotion Regulation as a Moderator. J Youth Adolescence 45, 1812–1823 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-015-0398-6

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