Childhood adversity is associated with heightened inflammation after sleep loss.

Objectives: To investigate whether childhood adversity exacerbates the relationship between sleep restriction and inflammation.

Methods: Participants (N = 46) were randomly assigned to an experimental sleep restriction group (n = 25) or a night of typical sleep (n = 21). Participants provided a dried blood spot sample the morning before and after the experimental night.

Childhood Trauma and Cortisol Reactivity: An Investigation of the Role of Task Appraisals.

Background: Childhood adversity is linked to adverse health in adulthood. One posited mechanistic pathway is through physiological responses to acute stress. Childhood adversity has been previously related to both exaggerated and blunted physiological responses to acute stress, however, less is known about the psychological mechanisms which may contribute to patterns of physiological reactivity linked to childhood adversity.

Loneliness and sleep in the American Indian Blackfeet community.

Background: Sleep is largely understudied in American Indians (AIs), even though sleep is implicated in the chronic diseases which disproportionately affect AI communities.

Objective: To investigate relationships between daily self-reported loneliness and sleep as measured with actigraphy.

Methods: In a sample of 98 Blackfeet adults living on the Blackfeet reservation in Montana, we used Ecological Momentary Assessment and actigraphy over a week-long period to investigate relationships between loneliness and sleep.

Changes in vitality in response to acute stress: an investigation of the role of anxiety and physiological reactivity.

Feeling alive and invigorated, or vitality, is examined within the framework of a stress paradigm. The current study investigated whether endocrine and cardiovascular responses to acute psychological stress predict declines in vitality. A sample of 90 undergraduate students completed an in-lab stressor.

Historical Loss: Implications for Health of American Indians in the Blackfeet Community.

Background: Historical loss in American Indians (AIs) is believed to contribute to high incidence of mental health disorders, yet less is known about the associations between historical loss and physical health.

Purpose: To investigate whether frequency of thought about historical loss predicts risk factors for chronic physical health conditions in an AI community.

Methods: Using Community Based Participatory research (CBPR) and Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA), we measured frequency of thoughts about historical loss in 100 AI adults residing on the Blackfeet reservation.