ABSTRACT
Background and Objectives: Chronic stress is implicated in many theories as a contributor to a wide range of physical and mental health problems. The current study describes the development of a chronic stress measure that was based on the UCLA Life Stress Interview (LSI) and adapted in collaboration with community partners for use in a large community health study of low-income, ethnically diverse parents of infants in the USA (Community Child Health Network [CCHN]). We describe the instrument, its purpose and adaptations, implementation, and results of a reliability study in a subsample of the larger study cohort. Design and Methods: Interviews with 272 mothers were included in the present study. Chronic stress was assessed using the CCHN LSI, an instrument designed for administration by trained community interviewers to assess four domains of chronic stress, each rated by interviewers. Results: Significant correlations ranging from small to moderate in size between chronic stress scores on this measure, other measures of stress, biomarkers of allostatic load, and mental health provide initial evidence of construct and concurrent validity. Reliability data for interviewer ratings are also provided. Conclusions: This relatively brief interview (15 minutes) is available for use and may be a valuable tool for researchers seeking to measure chronic stress reliably and validly in future studies with time constraints.
Acknowledgements
We wish to sincerely thank the work of our many community interviewers, study participants, and research assistants who contributed to this work. CCHN reflects joint endeavors of five local sites:
Baltimore: Baltimore City Healthy Start and Johns Hopkins University
Community PI: M. Vance
Academic PI: C. S. Minkovitz
Co-Is: P. O'Campo, P. Schafer
Project Coordinators: N. Sankofa, K. Walton
Lake County, Illinois: Lake County Health Department and Community Health Center and the NorthShore University Health System
Community PI: K. Wagenaar
Academic PI: M. Shalowitz
Co-Is: E. Adam, G. Duncan*, A. Schoua-Glusberg, C. McKinney, T. McDade, C. Simon
Project Coordinator: B. Clark-Kauffman
Los Angeles: Healthy African American Families, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, University of California, Los Angeles
Community PI: L. Jones
Academic PI: C. Hobel
Co-PIs: C. Dunkel Schetter, M. C. Lu
Co-I: B. Chung
Project Coordinators: F. Jones, D. Serafin, D. Young
North Carolina: East Carolina University, NC Division of Public Health, NC Eastern Baby Love Plus Consortium, and University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Community PIs: S. Evans, J. Ruffin, R. Woolard
Academic PI: J. Thorp
Co-Is J. DeClerque, C. Dolbier, C. Lorenz
Project Coordinators: L. S. Sahadeo, K. Salisbury
Washington, DC: Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute, Virginia Tech, and Washington Hospital Center, and Developing Families Center
Community PI: L. Patchen
Academic PI: S. L. Ramey
Academic Co-PI: R. Gaines Lanzi
Co-Is: L. V. Klerman, M. Miodovnik, C. T. Ramey, L. Randolph
Project Coordinator: N. Timraz
Community Coordinator: R. German
Data Coordination and Analysis Center (Pennsylvania State University)
PI: V. M. Chinchilli
Project Coordinator: G. Snyder
Co-Is: R. Belue, G. Brown Faulkner*, M. Hillemeier, I. Paul, M. L. Shaffer
Biostatisticians: E. Lehman, C. Stetter
Data Managers: J. Schmidt, K. Cerullo, S. Whisler
Programmers: J. Fisher, J. Boyer, M. Payton
NIH
Program Scientists: V. J. Evans and T. Raju, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development; Linda Weglicki, National Institute of Nursing Research
Program Officers: Michael Spittel*, and, Marian Willinger, NICHD; and Yvonne Bryan*, NINR.
Steering Committee Chairs: M. Phillippe (University of Vermont) and E. Fuentes-Afflick* (University of California – San Francisco School of Medicine)
*Indicates those who participated in the planning phase of the CCHN.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Supplemental data
Supplemental data for this article can be accessed at http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10615806.2015.1058368.