UNDERGRADUATE SUMMER RESEARCH PROGRAM
2010 NSSP Information
Laura Stoppelbein, Ph.D.
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Laura Stoppelbein, Ph.D. Small Grant Principal Investigator Assistant Professor Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior |
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| Co-Investigators: Lani Greening, Ph.D. David Elkin, Ph.D. |
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Key Laboratory Personnel:
TBA, Research Associate
" The Role of Hypocortisolism in the Development
of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder"
This research is a two-part project designed to assess the relation between a biological marker, cortisol, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a psychiatric disorder that afflicts 13 million Americans. The purpose of study 1 of the project (0-22 months) is to examine if lowered cortisol secretion is specific to PTSD when exposed to a traumatic event. Two groups of parents, one group that has experienced a traumatic event (i.e., having a child diagnosed with cancer) and a second group that is living under chronic but not imminently life-threatening stress (i.e., having a child diagnosed with Type I diabetes), will be compared on the rate for PTSD and differences in cortisol levels. Mothers attending a routine clinic visit at UMMC's pediatric diabetes clinic (n = 50) and the pediatric oncology clinic (n = 50) will be invited to complete standardized measures of PTSD, anxiety, depression, hardiness, a life events checklist, and to provide a saliva sample. The saliva samples will be stored in a subzero freezer and analyzed as a group, using a radioimmunoassay procedure, at the completion of the study. Group status (cancer vs. diabetes) will be tested as a predictor of PTSD diagnosis in logistic regression analyses while controlling for past trauma experience and hardiness. If group status is significant, then cortisol level will be tested as a mediator using a series of logistic regression analyses. The purpose of study 2 (0-24 months) is to test hyposecretion of cortisol as a predictor of PTSD longitudinally. Mothers (N = 30) of newly diagnosed pediatric cancer patients will be approached during their child's routine clinic visit and invited to complete standardized measures of PTSD, depression, anxiety, hardiness, a life events checklist, and to provide a saliva sample. The mothers will be asked to return to complete the same assessment battery at 6- and 12-months post-diagnosis. They will also be asked to return on a monthly basis during the 12 months to provide a sample of saliva and to complete a shorter battery of measures that will include a measure of PTSD. The saliva samples will be stored in a subzero freezer and analyzed for cortisol level using a radioimmunoassay procedure at the conclusion of data collection. Logistic regression analyses will be used to test if lowered cortisol secretion is a predictor of PTSD while controlling for past trauma experience and hardiness. Aim 1: To examine if the hyposecretion of cortisol is a biological marker that is specific to PTSD when exposed to a traumatic event and not general chronic stress.Aim 2: To test if the hyposecretion of cortisol at the onset of a traumaticevent predicts the development of PTSD in people exposed to theevent.