Determinants of Chronic Biological Stress, Measured as Hair Cortisol Concentration, in a General Population of Adolescents: From Individual and Household Characteristics to Neighborhood Urbanicity

Chronic biological stress may adversely affect adolescents' physical and mental health, but insight in the personal and environmental factors that determine chronic stress is limited. We measured 3-month cumulative hair cortisol concentration (HCC) in 419 adolescents, participating in the Flemish Environment and Health Study. Adolescents' health and lifestyle characteristics, household and neighborhood socio-economic status as well as neighborhood urbanicity were assessed as potential determinants of HCC, using multiple linear regression models. We additionally explored heterogeneity of our re... Mehr ...

Verfasser: Veerle J. Verheyen
Sylvie Remy
Eva Govarts
Ann Colles
Gudrun Koppen
Laura Rodriguez Martin
Flemming Nielsen
Liesbeth Bruckers
Esmée M. Bijnens
Stijn Vos
Bert Morrens
Dries Coertjens
Ilse Loots
Annelies De Decker
Carmen Franken
Elly Den Hond
Vera Nelen
Stefaan De Henauw
Adrian Covaci
Nicolas Van Larebeke
Caroline Teughels
Tim S. Nawrot
Greet Schoeters
Dokumenttyp: Artikel
Erscheinungsdatum: 2021
Reihe/Periodikum: Frontiers in Public Health, Vol 9 (2021)
Verlag/Hrsg.: Frontiers Media S.A.
Schlagwörter: adolescents / chronic biological stress / determinants / hair cortisol concentration / Flemish environment and health study (FLEHS) / neighborhood urbanicity / Public aspects of medicine / RA1-1270
Sprache: Englisch
Permalink: https://search.fid-benelux.de/Record/base-27088764
Datenquelle: BASE; Originalkatalog
Powered By: BASE
Link(s) : https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2021.669022

Chronic biological stress may adversely affect adolescents' physical and mental health, but insight in the personal and environmental factors that determine chronic stress is limited. We measured 3-month cumulative hair cortisol concentration (HCC) in 419 adolescents, participating in the Flemish Environment and Health Study. Adolescents' health and lifestyle characteristics, household and neighborhood socio-economic status as well as neighborhood urbanicity were assessed as potential determinants of HCC, using multiple linear regression models. We additionally explored heterogeneity of our results by sex. HCC were significantly higher in boys from densely populated neighborhoods, the association was not significant in girls. Accordingly, boys living outside cities had significantly lower HCC than boys, living in cities. HCC was significantly lower in adolescents with an optimal vitality, a measure of a positive mental health status. In adolescent girls, menarcheal status (pre-/postmenarche) was a significant determinant of HCC. Our findings are the first to suggest that residential urbanicity may have an impact on chronic biological stress in a general population of adolescent boys.