Psychosocial stressors predict lower cardiovascular disease risk among Mexican-American adults living in a high-risk community: Findings from the Texas City Stress and Health Study

• Published in: PloS one 2021-10, Vol.16 (10), p.e0257940
• Main Authors: Hussain, Maryam, Howell, Jennifer L, Peek, M Kristen, Stowe, Raymond P, Zawadzki, Matthew J
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acculturation; Adult; Adults; Arteriosclerosis; Atherosclerosis; Behavior; Biology and Life Sciences; Blood pressure; Body mass index; Cardiovascular disease; Cardiovascular diseases; Cardiovascular Diseases - blood; Cardiovascular Diseases - epidemiology; Cardiovascular Diseases - pathology; Cardiovascular Diseases - psychology; Child; Childhood; Children; Cholesterol; Cholesterol - blood; Chronic illnesses; Cultural factors; Cultural values; Demography; Diabetes; Diabetes mellitus; Diabetes Mellitus - blood; Diabetes Mellitus - epidemiology; Diabetes Mellitus - pathology; Diabetes Mellitus - psychology; Discrimination; Earth Sciences; Education; English language; Female; Health aspects; Health care; Health risk assessment; Health risks; Heart Disease Risk Factors; Heart diseases; Hispanic Americans; Hispanic or Latino - psychology; Humans; Hypertension; Hypertension - blood; Hypertension - epidemiology; Hypertension - pathology; Hypertension - psychology; Inequality; Influence; Language attitudes; Language usage; Latin American cultural groups; Male; Medicine and Health Sciences; Mexican Americans; Mexican Americans - psychology; Neighborhoods; Physiology; Population; Preventive medicine; Psychological aspects; Psychological stress; Reserve capacity; Residence Characteristics; Risk assessment; Risk factors; Smoking; Social aspects; Social interactions; Social networks; Social organization; Social Sciences; Sociocultural factors; Stress; Stress (Psychology); Stress, Psychological - physiopathology
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0257940

The objective of this study was to examine the link between systemic and general psychosocial stress and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in a group of U.S. Latinos as a function of acculturation and education within the blended guiding conceptual framework of the biopsychosocial model of the stress process plus the reserve capacity model. We analyzed data from self-identifying Mexican-origin adults (n = 396, 56.9% female, Mage = 58.2 years, 55.5% < 12 years of education, 79% U.S.-born) from the Texas City Stress and Health Study. We used established measures of perceived stress (general stress), neighborhood stress and discrimination (systemic stress) to capture psychosocial stress, our primary predictor. We used the atherosclerotic CVD calculator to assess 10-year CVD risk, our primary outcome. This calculator uses demographics, cholesterol, blood pressure, and history of hypertension, smoking, and diabetes to compute CVD risk in the next 10 years. We also created an acculturation index using English-language use, childhood interaction, and preservation of cultural values. Participants reported years of education. Contrary to expectations, findings showed that higher levels of all three forms of psychosocial stress, perceived stress, neighborhood stress, and perceived discrimination, predicted lower 10-year CVD risk. Acculturation and education did not moderate the effects of psychosocial stress on 10-year CVD risk. Contextualized within the biopsychosocial and reserve capacity framework, we interpret our findings such that participants who accurately reported their stressors may have turned to their social networks to handle the stress, thereby reducing their risk for CVD. We highlight the importance of examining strengths within the sociocultural environment when considering cardiovascular inequities among Latinos.