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

Details

• Alternative Title:
  The Journal of Applied Psychology, 2025, v. 110, no. 10: Can Allostatic Load Cross Over? Short-term Work and Nonwork Stressor Pile-up on Parent and Adolescent Diurnal Cortisol, Physical Symptoms, and Sleep.
• Journal Article:
  The 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 (
  
  = 131 parent-child dyads,
  
  = 1,014 daily survey observations,
  
  = 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. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).
• Content Notes:
  Author manuscript
• Subjects:
  • Humans
  • Hydrocortisone
  • Female
  • Male
  • Allostasis
  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Parents
  • Stress, Psychological
  • Sleep
  More +
• Keywords:
  • allostatic load
  • crossover
  • cortisol
  • physical symptoms
  • sleep
• Source:
  The Journal of Applied Psychology, 2025, v. 110, no. 10
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.1037/apl0001284
• ISSN:
  0021-9010 ; 1939-1854
• Pubmed ID:
  40323880
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC12353331
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  William T. Grant Foundation/ ; Alfred P. Sloan Foundation/ ; National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health; Mountain and Plains Education and Research Center/ ; U01 HD051256/HD/NICHD NIH HHSUnited States/ ; Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development/ ; U01 OH008788/OH/NIOSH CDC HHSUnited States/ ; U01 AG027669/AG/NIA NIH HHSUnited States/ ; U01 HD059773/HD/NICHD NIH HHSUnited States/ ; Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research/ ; U01 HD051217/HD/NICHD NIH HHSUnited States/ ; U01 HD051276/HD/NICHD NIH HHSUnited States/ ; U01 HD051218/HD/NICHD NIH HHSUnited States/ ; T42 OH009229/OH/NIOSH CDC HHSUnited States/ ; NH/NIH HHSUnited States/ ; CC/CDC HHSUnited States/ ; AG/NIA NIH HHSUnited States/ ; OH/NIOSH CDC HHSUnited States/ ; AF/ACF HHSUnited States/
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Pages in Document:
  1350-1370 (44 pdf pages)
• Volume:
  110
• Issue:
  10
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/261435/cdc_261435_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 634.82 KB]
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:de0c24edaacc569c025b830b747e87c4971785b8d150cf61a412f1d9257a9aa2fb5ed58322a009a89093597ef0a469a44a71b95c11fc336f32c97747775a8cc4