Psychosocial Stress

Although instances of overt discrimination are typically recognized as harmful to the well-being of targeted group members, chronic everyday events that are relatively mild and/or ambiguous (e.g., sexist or racist jokes) are often viewed as benign. We argue that these latter experiences are stressful, and as they occur on a chronic basis may result in wear and tear on psychological and physiological systems (termed allostatic overload), thereby rendering group members vulnerable to stress-related pathology. A series of studies is being conduced in collaboration with Kim Matheson to examine the relations between discrimination experiences and neurochemical disturbances and psychological symptomatology among visible minority groups. As well, we have been assessing stressors in a variety of related situations including, women in abusive dating relations, stigma associated with mental illness and obesity, trauma and sociatization (e.g., among Somali refugees), the trauma experienced by First Nations people, to name a few. If you would like to be a participant in one of these studies, you can complete one of our on-line surveys at www.copewell.carleton.ca

Stress in university students is common, and in a subset of students stress superimposed upon a backdrop of subclinical anxiety/depression, may culminate in full blown affective illness and/or failure to thrive in a university setting (dropping out). We, in collaboration with Kim Matheson (Carleton University) and Dr Owen Kelly (Royal Ottawa Hospital) have begun a large-scale project to identify psychosocial, behavioral and biological (salivary cortisol, prolactin as indices of stress) predictors of success/failure.

Last modified November 25, 2009