RESUMO
Greater exposure to stressors over the life course is believed to promote striatum-dependent over hippocampus-dependent learning and memory processes under stressful conditions. However, little research in this context has actually assessed lifetime stressor exposure and, moreover, it remains unknown whether greater cumulative lifetime stressor exposure exerts comparable effects on striatum-dependent learning and hippocampus-dependent learning in non-stressful contexts. To investigate this issue, we used the Stress and Adversity Inventory for Adults (Adult STRAIN) and Multicued Search Task to investigate the relation between cumulative lifetime stressor exposure and striatum-dependent stimulus-response learning and hippocampus-dependent contextual learning under non-stressful conditions among healthcare professionals (N = 205; 157 females, 48 males; Age: M = 34.23, SD 9.3, range 20-59 years). Individuals with moderate, but not low, cumulative lifetime stressor exposure exhibited impaired learning for stimulus-response associations. In contrast, learning for context associations was unrelated to participants' lifetime stressor exposure profiles. These results thus provide first evidence that cumulative lifetime stressor exposure may have negative consequences on human striatum-dependent stimulus-response learning under non-stressful environmental conditions.
Assuntos
Aprendizagem , Estresse Psicológico , Humanos , Masculino , Feminino , Adulto , Estresse Psicológico/fisiopatologia , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Adulto Jovem , Aprendizagem/fisiologia , Hipocampo/fisiologia , Corpo Estriado/fisiologiaRESUMO
Introduction: Numerous instruments have been developed around the world to assess stress. This study aimed to identify instruments with validation studies that mapping stress in Brazil. Method: an integrative review was carried out on databases and the Testing System of the Federal Council of Psychology (SATEPSI) in June 2017 and updated this year. Two independent judges participated in analyzing the results. Results: Of the 6,377 articles, 47 articles were selected from the Index Psi, SciELO, LILACS and PubMed databases, and 35 instruments made up the sample, two of which were from SATEPSI. Nine of these tools map stress in a more general way, nine are aimed at specific clinical contexts, 12 are aimed at occupational stress, three at the sports context and another two at other contexts. Discussion: Numerous health problems are associated with early and chronic stressors, however it was identified that most instruments access stress in a more recent period of time (last year, month or week). A more accurate analysis of the relationships between longitudinal stress and health outcomes appears limited in this sense. The Stress and Adversity Inventory (STRAIN) appears as an alternative for studying stress throughout life in the Brazilian reality.
RESUMO
It has been widely hypothesized that stressors occurring over the lifespan exert a cumulative impact on health, but little work has directly tested these theories given the difficulty associated with measuring cumulative stress exposure over the lifespan. We addressed this issue in Brazil by translating the Stress and Adversity Inventory for Adults (Adult STRAIN) into Brazilian Portuguese. We then examined the instrument's usability and acceptability; concurrent, discriminant, predictive, and incremental validity; and test-retest reliability. Participants were 330 Brazilian adults (238 women; M age = 32.16; range: 18-76 years old) who completed the Adult STRAIN in Brazilian Portuguese, Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form (CTQ-SF), and Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). They also completed measures of socioeconomic status, personality, social desirability, negative affect, physical and mental health complaints, sleep quality, executive function, and doctor-diagnosed general health problems and autoimmune disorders. The STRAIN exhibited excellent usability and acceptability and was completed in 16 min and 27 s, on average. It showed good concurrent validity relative to the CTQ-SF and PSS (rs ≥ 0.377) and good discriminant validity, both with and without adjusting for covariates. In addition, the STRAIN significantly predicted all of the health outcomes assessed except for executive function and explained substantial variance in these outcomes over and above the CTQ-SF, PSS, and covariates assessed. Finally, the test-retest reliability indices for total lifetime stressor count and severity were outstanding (r icc = 0.936 and 0.953, respectively, over M = 34.86 days). The Adult STRAIN in Brazilian Portuguese thus exhibits excellent usability and acceptability, good concurrent and discriminant validity, strong predictive and incremental validity across a variety of health outcomes, and outstanding test-retest reliability. We therefore conclude that the STRAIN is a practical, valid, and reliable instrument for researchers and clinicians looking to efficiently assess cumulative lifetime stress exposure in Brazilian Portuguese.