Can Allostatic Load Cross Over? Short-Term Work and Nonwork Stressor Pile-Up on Parent and Adolescent Diurnal Cortisol, Physical Symptoms, and Sleep

Details

• Journal Article:
  Journal of Applied Psychology
• Personal Author:
  French, Kimberly A. ; Smith, Claire E. ; Lee, Soomi ; Chen, Zheng
• Description:
  Grounded in and expanding upon the allostatic load model, the present study examined how repeated exposure to work and nonwork stressors (i.e., stressor pile-up) across an 8-day study period relates to daily strain-related outcomes-diurnal cortisol, physical symptoms, and sleep quantity and quality-in both parents and their adolescent children. Nonlinear associations between daily stressor pile-up and daily strain were explored. Data from the Work, Family, and Health Network study (N = 131 parent-child dyads, n = 1,014 daily survey observations, n = 465 daily observations with cortisol) were used to test the study hypotheses. Parent work stressor pile-up and adolescent stressor pile-up were associated with increased daily physical symptom likelihood in parents and adolescents, respectively. Counter to expectations, parent nonwork stressor pile-up was associated with steeper daily cortisol slopes. Additionally, we found curvilinear crossover effects for sleep quantity, such that parent nonwork stressor pile-up and adolescent stressor pile-up were associated with shorter sleep duration among adolescents and parents (respectively), but this relationship plateaued and reversed as daily pile-up increased to more extreme levels. Our article explores conceptual and operational pile-up definitions (level of analysis, length of time window, inclusion of the current-day stressor events). Individual-level analyses supported more consistent, positive linear relationships between stressor pile-up and strains. Time window had little consequences for conclusions, but inclusion of the current day yields some alternative conclusions. We discuss implications for understanding stressor pile-up across domains and across parent-child dyads as it relates to daily strain within the family system.
• Subjects:
  Adolescent Hydrocortisone Occupational Health Safety Sleep Stress, Psychological
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Allostatic Load; Crossover; Cortisol; Physical Symptoms; Sleep Families; Sleep; Job Stress; Emotional Stress; Occupational Psychology; Adolescents; Health Effects; Hormone Activity;
• Source:
  J Appl Psychol 2025 Oct; 110(10):1350-1370
• ISSN:
  0021-9010
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement; Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Oregon ; Colorado ; Florida ; Pennsylvania ; San Francisco Region [OSHA] ; Denver Region [OSHA] ; Atlanta Region [OSHA] ; Birmingham Region [OSHA] ; Philadelphia Region [OSHA]
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  21 pdf pages
• Volume:
  110
• Issue:
  10
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20071321
• Contact Point Address:
  Kimberly A. French, Department of Psychology, Colorado State University, 1876 Campus Delivery, Fort Collins, CO 80523, United States
• Email:
  kfrench0429@gmail.com
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2026
• Performing Organization:
  Portland State University
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20050901
• End Date:
  20081130
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:843cf0f796a4b782b3dd5ea98d88f0ed9ce25d74ab9c6e396122a35e9813c7b128e1a8c541e057309b62eb814bb4faf02cdedb78b9b4949e83e859785bdff8c0
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/258797/cdc_258797_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 641.73 KB ]