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Exploring Stress in Hispanic Women with Breast Cancer: The Role of Ethnicity, Neighborhood Disadvantage, and Protective Factors
Location: 46
Mentor: Dr. Michael Antoni
Hispanic women with breast cancer (BC) face unique disparities, including younger age at diagnosis, more aggressive tumor subtypes, and heightened psychosocial stress compared to non-Hispanic White (NHW) women. Neighborhood disadvantage, a lack of economic and social resources, further exacerbates these challenges, contributing to worse BC-related outcomes through increased stress and physiological dysregulation, such as altered cortisol secretion patterns. However, the Hispanic Paradox suggests that cultural protective factors may mitigate adverse health effects. Participants (N=91) were women with Stage 0-III BC in a stress management trial. At baseline, women completed psychosocial assessments measuring depression (CES-D), BC-specific distress (IES-I), negative affect (ABS-NA), and social support (SPS). Sixty-one women provided salivary cortisol samples, averaged to create a diurnal slope. Neighborhood disadvantage was measured via the Area Deprivation Index (ADI) using participant zip codes. The study aimed to examine (1) whether Hispanic women experience greater psychological (e.g., anxiety) and physiological (e.g., flattened cortisol slope) stress post-surgery, (2) the impact of neighborhood disadvantage on stress, and (3) the potential protective role of cultural factors in moderating stress processes. Of the participants, 56 identified as NHW (62%) and 35 as Hispanic (38%). Linear regressions revealed no significant findings regarding (1) stress differences between Hispanic and NHW women, (2) the impact of neighborhood disadvantage, or (3) social support as a moderator. Future work with a larger sample may better reflect the roles of the intersection between ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and stress in BC patients to improve resources and outcomes for Hispanic BC patients.
