Advancing Psychosocial & Biobehavioral Stress Measurement to Understanding Aging

描述(申请人提供)：现在有大规模的流行病学证据表明，慢性心理压力的一些方面，如早期的逆境或工作压力，以及早期的生活 压力，可以预测更早的疾病发病和死亡率。尽管有文献记载压力对健康的重要性，但仍有几个关键障碍阻碍了将压力作为疾病风险因素的流行病学研究取得进展。压力的测量本质上是复杂的和多层次的(例如，社会、心理、生理)。几乎没有达成一致的“金本位”。 压力的测量，因此测量往往是不一致的和肤浅的，在不同的结构被混为一谈。对于压力暴露在什么条件下可以提高对疾病的脆弱性和恢复力，人们也知之甚少。与此同时，应激过程的基础科学取得了快速进展，这有助于解开认知和情感成分、与大脑和外周生理反应的联系，以及更丰富的日常应激措施--例如，通过使用技术获得暴露和背景的详细概况的生态瞬时评估。因此，流行病学压力科学可以受益于一个更连贯的多水平模型，该模型包含对寿命暴露和反应的更好测量，包括对健康影响最大的压力的社会、心理和生理指数。拟议的R24将招募具有相关方法的优秀科学家，将他们的兴趣应用于整个人类发育过程中压力测量的进步，重点是寿命压力如何影响中老年健康。目标包括：1)开发压力测量分类，包括最佳测量指南；2)开发可用于国际成人老龄化流行病学研究的短期压力测量“工具箱”。这些将来自基础实验和实地研究的创新测量、现有措施的改进/缩短以及对有希望的措施的比较验证的结果；以及3)通过协调现有措施和增加新的工具箱措施，促进老龄化流行病学研究中的应激研究。这反过来将导致改进分类和研究方法的发现。改进的压力测量为推进基础研究领域、提高健康促进干预措施和政策的效力提供了巨大的机会。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): There is now large-scale epidemiological evidence that aspects of chronic psychological stress, such as early adversity or job strain, and early life stress, predict earlier disease onset and mortality. Despite documentation of the importance of stress to health, there are several critical barriers that prevent progress in the epidemiological study of stress as a risk factor for disease. Measurement of stress is inherently complex and multi-level (e.g., social, psychological, physiological). There are few agreed upon 'gold standard' measures of stress, hence measurement is often inconsistent and superficial where heterogeneous constructs are conflated. There is also little understanding of the conditions under which stress exposure can promote vulnerability vs. resiliency to disease. Meanwhile, there have been rapid advances in the basic science of stress processes, which have helped to unpack the cognitive and affective components, links to brain and peripheral physiological responses, and richer measures of daily stress - e.g., through ecological momentary assessments using technology to obtain detailed profiles of exposures and contexts. Thus, epidemiological stress science can benefit from a more coherent multilevel model that encompasses better measurement of lifespan exposures and responses, including the social, psychological, and physiological indices of stress that have the greatest impact on health. The proposed R24 will recruit excellent scientists with relevant methods to apply their interests to th advancement of stress measurement across human development, with a focus on how lifespan stress affects health in mid to late life. Aims include: 1) Development of a stress measurement taxonomy, including guidelines for best measurement; 2) Development of a 'toolbox' of short measures of stress that can be used in epidemiological studies of adult aging internationally. These will be drawn from innovative measurement from basic experimental and field research, refinement/shortening of existing measures, and results from comparative validation of promising measures; and 3) Promotion of stress research in epidemiological studies of aging, both through harmonizing existing measures and adding new toolbox measures. This in turn will lead to discoveries that refine the taxonomy and research methodologies. Improved stress measurement offers tremendous opportunities for advancing the field of basic research, enhancing the efficacy of health-promotion interventions and policy.