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Asthma in Latinx Youth: Voluntary and Involuntary Stress Responses
Emma R. Lopez
Faculty Advisor: Erin Rodriguez, PhD
Asthma is a leading cause of impaired health-related quality of life that affects over 4.9 million children in the United States. Children with asthma face illness-related stressors, including medical appointments, medication management, and concerns about asthma attacks. Latinx youth suffer from disparate rates of asthma outcomes and face additional stressors, including low socioeconomic conditions, language barriers, and inequitable healthcare, that may affect voluntary and involuntary stress responses and exacerbate asthma severity. Secondary control coping, which includes mental adaptation to stress, has been associated with better asthma control, whereas disengagement coping, characterized by denial or avoidance, has been consistently linked to poorer outcomes. Fewer studies have examined involuntary stress responses, however; chronic stress leads to nervous system arousal and inflammatory processes that underlie asthma control. This study examined the relationship between stress responses and asthma control and hypothesized to find (a) secondary control coping to be positively associated with asthma control, and (b) involuntary engagement and involuntary disengagement responses to be negatively associated with asthma control. Correlation analyses of baseline data from Adapt 2 Asthma, a randomized controlled trial of a novel asthma intervention, supported these hypotheses. Greater use of secondary control coping was associated with better asthma control in child r(136) = .28, p < .001, and parent reports of asthma control, r(136) = -.17, p = .044. Involuntary disengagement and involuntary engagement were negatively associated with child-reports of asthma control, r(136) = -.30, p < .001; r(136) =-.26, p = .002. Findings add to the current literature that support adaptive coping interventions for pediatric asthma. Although a more novel topic, the relationship between involuntary stress responses and asthma control is one that suggests directions for future studies and asthma interventions to address stress reactivity.