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Psychological and Physiological Responses following Repeated Peer Death
OBJECTIVE: Undergraduates at a university in the United States were exposed – directly and indirectly – to 14 peer deaths during one academic year. We examined how individual and social factors were associated with psychological (e.g., anxiety, depression, somatization) and physiological (i.e., cort...
Autores principales: | , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Public Library of Science
2013
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3785440/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24086655 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0075881 |
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author | Andersen, Judith Pizarro Silver, Roxane Cohen Stewart, Brandon Koperwas, Billie Kirschbaum, Clemens |
author_facet | Andersen, Judith Pizarro Silver, Roxane Cohen Stewart, Brandon Koperwas, Billie Kirschbaum, Clemens |
author_sort | Andersen, Judith Pizarro |
collection | PubMed |
description | OBJECTIVE: Undergraduates at a university in the United States were exposed – directly and indirectly – to 14 peer deaths during one academic year. We examined how individual and social factors were associated with psychological (e.g., anxiety, depression, somatization) and physiological (i.e., cortisol) distress responses following this unexpected and repeated experience with loss. METHOD: Two to three months after the final peer death, respondents (N = 122, 61% female, 18–23 years, M = 20.13, SD = 1.14) reported prior adverse experiences, degree of closeness with the deceased, acute responses to the peer deaths, ongoing distress responses, social support, support seeking, and media viewing. A subset (n = 24) returned hair samples for evaluation of cortisol responses during the previous 3 months. RESULTS: Ongoing psychological distress was associated with a) prior interpersonal trauma, b) fewer social supports, and c) media exposure to news of the deaths (p's<.05). Participants who had no prior bereavements showed, on average, high cortisol (>25 p/mg) compared to individuals with one or two prior bereavement experiences (who were, on average, within the normal range, 10 to 25 p/mg) (p<.05). Only 8% of the sample utilized available university psychological or physical health resources and support groups. CONCLUSIONS: Limited research has examined the psychological and physiological impact of exposure to chronic, repeated peer loss, despite the fact that there are groups of individuals (e.g., police, military soldiers) that routinely face such exposures. Prior adversity appears to play a role in shaping psychological and physiological responses to repeated loss. This topic warrants further research given the health implications of repeated loss for individuals in high-risk occupations and university settings. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-3785440 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2013 |
publisher | Public Library of Science |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-37854402013-10-01 Psychological and Physiological Responses following Repeated Peer Death Andersen, Judith Pizarro Silver, Roxane Cohen Stewart, Brandon Koperwas, Billie Kirschbaum, Clemens PLoS One Research Article OBJECTIVE: Undergraduates at a university in the United States were exposed – directly and indirectly – to 14 peer deaths during one academic year. We examined how individual and social factors were associated with psychological (e.g., anxiety, depression, somatization) and physiological (i.e., cortisol) distress responses following this unexpected and repeated experience with loss. METHOD: Two to three months after the final peer death, respondents (N = 122, 61% female, 18–23 years, M = 20.13, SD = 1.14) reported prior adverse experiences, degree of closeness with the deceased, acute responses to the peer deaths, ongoing distress responses, social support, support seeking, and media viewing. A subset (n = 24) returned hair samples for evaluation of cortisol responses during the previous 3 months. RESULTS: Ongoing psychological distress was associated with a) prior interpersonal trauma, b) fewer social supports, and c) media exposure to news of the deaths (p's<.05). Participants who had no prior bereavements showed, on average, high cortisol (>25 p/mg) compared to individuals with one or two prior bereavement experiences (who were, on average, within the normal range, 10 to 25 p/mg) (p<.05). Only 8% of the sample utilized available university psychological or physical health resources and support groups. CONCLUSIONS: Limited research has examined the psychological and physiological impact of exposure to chronic, repeated peer loss, despite the fact that there are groups of individuals (e.g., police, military soldiers) that routinely face such exposures. Prior adversity appears to play a role in shaping psychological and physiological responses to repeated loss. This topic warrants further research given the health implications of repeated loss for individuals in high-risk occupations and university settings. Public Library of Science 2013-09-27 /pmc/articles/PMC3785440/ /pubmed/24086655 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0075881 Text en © 2013 Andersen et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited. |
spellingShingle | Research Article Andersen, Judith Pizarro Silver, Roxane Cohen Stewart, Brandon Koperwas, Billie Kirschbaum, Clemens Psychological and Physiological Responses following Repeated Peer Death |
title | Psychological and Physiological Responses following Repeated Peer Death |
title_full | Psychological and Physiological Responses following Repeated Peer Death |
title_fullStr | Psychological and Physiological Responses following Repeated Peer Death |
title_full_unstemmed | Psychological and Physiological Responses following Repeated Peer Death |
title_short | Psychological and Physiological Responses following Repeated Peer Death |
title_sort | psychological and physiological responses following repeated peer death |
topic | Research Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3785440/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24086655 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0075881 |
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