The recent polycrisis (COVID-19, Ukraine war, climate change, economic crisis) has been associated with mental health through cumulative stress, with young people being particularly vulnerable. We surveyed 403 college students from Poland to examine their psychological responses to the experienced crises. The results showed that polycrisis was associated with worse mental health of college students from disadvantaged groups (based on gender, sexual orientation, and financial situation) compared to other college students, in four areas: sense of proximity to the crises, stress caused by the crises, sense of responsibility for mitigating the crises, and experiencing everyday moral dilemmas regarding the crises. These young adults also suffered more in terms of negative affectivity, depressive symptoms, and subjective physical and mental health. Our findings suggest that when discussing public mental health perspectives, it is important to consider consequences of cumulative stress and its greater impact on young people from disadvantaged groups.

OBJECTIVE: Using a large longitudinal sample of adults from the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study, the present study extended a recently developed hierarchical model to determine how best to model the accumulation of stressors, and to determine whether the rate of change in stressors or traditional composite scores of stressors are stronger predictors of health outcomes.
METHODS: We used factor analysis to estimate a stress-factor score and then, to operationalize the accumulation of stressors we examined five approaches to aggregating information about repeated exposures to multiple stressors. The predictive validity of these approaches was then assessed in relation to different health outcomes.
RESULTS: The prediction of chronic conditions, body mass index, difficulty with activities of daily living, executive function, and episodic memory later in life was strongest when the accumulation of stressors was modeled using total area under the curve (AUC) of estimated factor scores, compared to composite scores that have traditionally been used in studies of cumulative stress, as well as linear rates of change.
CONCLUSIONS: Like endogenous, biological markers of stress reactivity, AUC for individual trajectories of self-reported stressors shows promise as a data reduction technique to model the accumulation of stressors in longitudinal studies. Overall, our results indicate that considering different quantitative models is critical to understanding the sequelae and predictive power of psychosocial stressors from midlife to late adulthood.

African American (AA) women navigate the world with multiple intersecting marginalized identities. Accordingly, AA women have higher cumulative stress burden or allostatic load (AL) compared to other women. Studies suggest that AA women with a college degree or higher have lower AL than AA women with less than a high school diploma. We examined the joint effect of educational attainment and AL status with long-term risk of cancer mortality, and whether education moderated the association between AL and cancer mortality.
We performed a retrospective analysis among 4,677 AA women within the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) from 1988 to 2010 with follow-up data through December 31, 2019. We fit weighted Cox proportional hazards models to estimate adjusted hazard ratios (aHRs) of cancer death between educational attainment/AL (adjusted for age, income, and smoking status).
AA women with less than a high school diploma living with high AL had nearly a 3-fold increased risk (unadjusted HR: 2.98; 95%C CI: 1.24-7.15) of cancer death compared to AA college graduates living with low AL. However, after adjusting for age, this effect attenuated (age-adjusted HR: 1.11; 95% CI: 0.45-2.74). AA women with high AL had 2.3-fold increased risk of cancer death (fully adjusted HR: 2.26; 95% CI: 1.10-4.57) when compared to AA with low AL, specifically among women with high school diploma or equivalent and without history of cancer.
Our findings suggest that high allostatic load is associated with a higher risk of cancer mortality among AA women with lower educational attainment, while no such association was observed among AA women with higher educational attainment. Thus, educational attainment plays a modifying role in the relationship between allostatic load and the risk of cancer death for AA women. Higher education can bring several benefits, including improved access to medical care and enhanced medical literacy, which in turn may help mitigate the adverse impact of AL and the heightened risk of cancer mortality among AA women.

Sexual minorities (SM) have higher chronic physiologic stress as indicated by allostatic load (AL), which may be explained in part by consistent experiences of discriminatory practices. This is one of the first studies to examine the joint effects of SM status and AL on the association with long-term risk for cancer death. Retrospective analyses were conducted on 12,470 participants using National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) from years 2001 through 2010 linked with the National Death Index through December 31, 2019. Cox proportional hazards models estimated adjusted hazard ratios (aHRs) of cancer deaths between groups of SM (those reporting as gay, lesbian, bisexual, or having same-sex sexual partners) status and AL. SM adults living with high AL (n = 326) had a 2-fold increased risk of cancer death (aHR: 2.55, 95% CI: 1.40-4.65) when compared to straight/heterosexual adults living with low AL (n = 6674). Among those living with high AL, SM (n = 326) had a 2-fold increased risk of cancer death (aHR: 2.26, 95% CI: 1.33-3.84) when compared to straight/heterosexual adults with high AL (n = 4957). SM with high AL have an increased risk of cancer mortality. These findings highlight important implications for promoting a focused agenda on cancer prevention with strategies that reduce chronic stress for SM adults.

In 2021, there were close to 37 million children displaced worldwide. There were 13.7 million refugees and an additional 22.8 million internally displaced. In Europe, this included 23,255 unaccompanied minors seeking asylum, up 72% compared with 2020 (13,550). The objective was to review the current literature regarding PTSD in unaccompanied refugee minors (URM). The authors searched Ovid Medline, Embase, and Cochrane Library from 1 January 2008 through 15 January 2019. Thirty full texts were chosen that specifically studied unaccompanied refugee minors (URM). The results showed that URM had a prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD of 17-85% across the studies reviewed. There were numerous factors that contributed to PTSD, including cumulative stress and trauma, guilt, shame, and uncertainty about legal status. Protective factors included resilience, a trusted mentor, belonging to a social network, religion, having an adult mentor, and having a family (even if far away). Immigrant youth can thrive most easily in multiculturally affirming countries. Five interventions demonstrated effectiveness, comprising trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (TF-CBT); \"Mein Weg\", a TF-CBT combined with a group-processing mixed therapy approach; teaching recovery techniques (TRT), narrative exposure therapy for children (KIDNET), and expressive arts intervention (EXIT). The significant mental health conditions include depression, anxiety, internalizing and externalizing behaviors, and frequently PTSD. It is fair to conclude that the high levels of mental health problems experienced in URM are due to exposure to traumatic experiences, separation from parents, and lack of social support.

Little is known about women veterans\' intimate partner violence (IPV) experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic or the impacts of pandemic-related stress on their mental and physical health.
To identify IPV experiences among women veterans prior to and during the pandemic, pandemic-related stressors, and examine their respective contributions to mental and physical health.
National sample of women veterans drawn from a larger web-based longitudinal study. Relationships between recent IPV and pandemic-related stressors were tested with linear regressions, controlling for pre-pandemic IPV and mental and physical health symptoms, demographic, and military-related covariates.
One hundred forty-two women veterans (Mage=58.8 years).
We assessed IPV (CTS-2), PTSD (PCL-5), depression (CESD), anxiety (DASS-A), physical health (PHQ-15), and physical health-related quality of life (SF-12) prior to the pandemic (June 2016-December 2016/January 2017) and during the pandemic study period (March 2020-December 2020/January 2021). We assessed pandemic-related stressors (EPII) during the pandemic study period.
Over a third (38.7%) of participants experienced IPV during the pandemic study period (psychological: 35.9%, physical: 9.9%, sexual: 4.2%). Overall rates, frequency, and severity of IPV experience did not significantly differ between the pre-pandemic and pandemic study periods. Few participants tested positive for COVID-19 (4.2%); however, most participants reported experiencing pandemic-related stressors across life domains (e.g., social activities: 88%, physical health: 80.3%, emotional health: 68.3%). IPV during the pandemic and pandemic-related stressors were both associated with greater PTSD and depressive symptoms. Pandemic-related stressors were associated with worse anxiety and physical health symptoms. Neither IPV during the pandemic nor pandemic-related stressors were associated with physical health-related quality of life.
IPV experiences during the pandemic were common among women veterans, as were pandemic-related stressors. Although IPV did not increase in the context of COVID-19, IPV experiences during the pandemic and pandemic-related stressors were linked with poorer mental and physical health.

UNASSIGNED: Several studies suggest that chronic stress may be associated with increased risk of cancer mortality. Our study sought to determine the association between allostatic load (AL), a measure of cumulative stress, and risk of cancer death; and whether these associations varied by race/ethnicity.
UNASSIGNED: We performed retrospective analysis using National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) years 1988 through 2010 linked with the National Death Index through December 31, 2019. We fit Fine & Gray Cox proportional hazards models to estimate sub-distribution hazard ratios (SHRs) of cancer death between high and low AL status (models adjusted for age, sociodemographics, and comorbidities).
UNASSIGNED: In fully adjusted models, high AL was associated with a 14% increased risk of cancer death (adjusted (SHR): 1.14, 95% CI: 1.04-1.26) among all participants and a 18% increased risk of cancer death (SHR:1.18, 95% CI: 1.03-1.34) among Non-Hispanic White (NH-White) adults. When further stratified by age (participants aged <40 years), high AL was associated with a 80% increased risk (SHR: 1.80, 95% CI: 1.35-2.41) among all participants; a 95% increased risk (SHR: 1.95, 95% CI: 1.22-3.12) among NH-White adults; a 2-fold (SHR: 2.06, 95% CI: 1.27-3.34) increased risk among Non-Hispanic Black (NH-Black) adults; and a 36% increased risk among Hispanic adults (SHR: 1.36, 95% CI: 0.70-2.62).
UNASSIGNED: Overall, the risk of cancer death was associated with high AL; however, when stratified among NH-Black and Hispanic adults this association was slightly attenuated.
UNASSIGNED: High AL is associated with increased risk of overall cancer death, and future studies should delineate the association between AL and cancer-specific mortality to better understand the causal mechanisms between cumulative stress and cancer.

A treatment of the formation of a basic core fibril (shish) of the type that is generated by flow-induced crystallization of a polymer from solution is given that features the concept of cumulative strain. Multiple nucleation acts by flow-elongated molecules produce an embryonic fibril that is a connected set of bundlelike nuclei. Surface stress resulting from repulsion of the quasi-random coil chains in the amorphous zone between the nuclei or crystallites builds up at the bundle ends as the nuclei mature, leading ultimately to a high end surface free energy, and to volume strain in the crystallites comprising the core fibril. The theory leads to a stable (or metastable) fibril diameter a s and mean characteristic length l s with a fixed axial ratio, and predicts why the diameter does not grow further even in a medium that is supersaturated with polymer. The predicted dependence of a s, l s , and the axial ratio, on undercooling is in approximate agreement with experiment. The lattice expansion in the crystal resulting from volume strain is also in fair accord with experiment. The effect of annealing, including the commonly encountered case where the volume strain relaxes to give normal lattice dimensions, but with a high end surface energy still remaining, is noted. The effect of volume strain and the distribution of core fibril lengths about l s on the melting behavior is calculated. The theory can reproduce crystallinity versus temperature data on polyethylene fibrils. This procedure yields an independent value of l s . The overall treatment implies that the core fibril is a set of concatenated and substantially extended-chain crystallites with bundlelike ends and a somewhat expanded lattice when unannealed and under tension, the molecular connections between the crystallites consisting of short amorphous ciliary bridges. It is suggested that prolonged annealing at high temperatures can remove a substantial number of the amorphous zones.

Stress may impact the ability to effectively regulate emotions. To study the impact of stressful experiences in early and recent life on emotion regulation, we examined the relationship between early life stress, recent stress, and brain activation during cognitive reappraisal. We investigated two regulation goals: the decrease and increase of emotional response to both negative and positive stimuli. Furthermore, two models of stress consequences were examined: the cumulative and match/mismatch models. A total of 83 participants (Mage = 21.66) took part in the study. There was an interaction between cumulative stress and stimuli valence in the cuneus, superior lateral occipital cortex, superior parietal lobule, supramarginal gyrus extending to superior temporal gyrus, and precentral gyrus extending to supplementary motor area. Interaction between mismatched stress index and stimuli valence was found in the left hippocampus, left insula extending to the orbitofrontal cortex and amygdala, and in a cluster including the anterior cingulate cortex, superior frontal gyrus, and frontal pole. Furthermore, there were differences between the effects of cumulative and mismatched stress indices on brain activation during reappraisal of positive but not negative stimuli. Results indicate that cumulative stress and match/mismatch approaches are both useful for explaining brain activation during reappraisal. This finding is important for our understanding of the multifaceted impact of stress on emotion regulation.

The present study tested a hierarchical model of cumulative stress in a large probability sample of adults from the United States.
Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) models were used to develop and test a hierarchical model of cumulative stress. Structural equation models were used to estimate concurrent associations with demographic factors, polygenic risk scores, and physical health outcomes, as well as prospective associations with physical health outcomes.
A hierarchical model of cumulative stress was the best-fitting model, with a general \"s-factor\" capturing the tendency for subordinate dimensions of stress to correlate. Associations with demographic factors and polygenic risk scores for physical and psychological phenotypes provide evidence for the convergent validity of a general s-factor of cumulative stress. The general s-factor and subordinate factors of cumulative stress were also associated with physical health outcomes, concurrently and prospectively, including number of chronic conditions, body mass index, and difficulty with activities of daily living.
Like other human individual differences, the co-occurrence of social stressors can be understood using a hierarchical model.