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Cambridge University Press, Development and Psychopathology, p. 1-17, 2023

DOI: 10.1017/s0954579423000019

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Stress and diurnal cortisol among Latino/a college students: A multi-risk model approach

Journal article published in 2023 by Jeri Sasser ORCID, Leah D. Doane ORCID, Jinni Su ORCID, Kevin J. Grimm
This paper was not found in any repository, but could be made available legally by the author.
This paper was not found in any repository, but could be made available legally by the author.

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Abstract

Abstract The transition to college is a time of increased opportunity and stress spanning multiple domains. Adolescents who encounter significant stress during this transition may be vulnerable to adverse outcomes due to a “wear and tear” of the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis. Latino/a students may be particularly at-risk for heightened stress exposure due to experiences of both minority-specific and general life stress. Despite this, little is known regarding the cumulative impact of multiple stressors on Latino/a students’ HPA axis functioning. The present study employed a “multi-risk model” approach to examine additive, common, and cumulative effects of multiple stress forms (general, academic, social, financial, bicultural, ethnic/racial discrimination) on diurnal cortisol in a sample of first-year Latino/a college students (N = 196; 64.4% female; Mage = 18.95). Results indicated that no stress forms were additively associated with the cortisol awakening response (CAR), but general stress was associated with a flatter diurnal cortisol slope (DCS) and bicultural stress was linked with a steeper DCS. A college stress latent factor was associated with a lower CAR, whereas a latent factor of discrimination was not associated with diurnal cortisol. Cumulative risk was linked with a lower CAR. Findings highlight the physiological correlates of various stressors experienced by Latino/a college students.