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Racial Discrimination and Stress Response

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ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT05820659
Recruitment Status : Recruiting
First Posted : April 20, 2023
Last Update Posted : December 8, 2023
Sponsor:
Information provided by (Responsible Party):
Western Kentucky University

Study Description
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Brief Summary:

The goal of this study is to learn about whether ethnic minority adolescents' racial discrimination experience is related to dysregulated biological responses to subtle racism, and how the relationship may be attenuated or exacerbated by a set of social and cognitive factors. The main questions it aims to answer are:

  • to reveal the relationship between racial discrimination experiences and ethnic minority adolescents' stress response to subtle racism
  • to test parental ethnic-racial socialization, children's attribution to subtle racism and their racial identity as potential risk and protective factors.

Condition or disease Intervention/treatment Phase
Stress Reaction; Acute Behavioral: peer rejection task and impossible puzzle task Not Applicable

Detailed Description:

Racial discrimination experiences constitute significant risks for ethnic minority youth's physical and mental health problems. One explanation poses that chronic stress can lead to altered, dysregulated stress responses, which can make individuals susceptible to health problems. Currently, there is no experimental study that comprehensively measure ethnic minority youth's stress response to subtle racism, or investigate the contributing roles of racial discrimination experience and possible risk and protective factors.

A community sample of 10-14-year-old ethnic minority adolescents (40 Latino American, 40 Black/African American) and their parents will be recruited. The study employs an adapted peer rejection task which has been widely used with youth, and carefully designed to elicit the experience of subtle racial discrimination from White peers. Adolescents' cardiovascular activity and saliva samples will be taken at multiple time points before, during, and after the peer rejection task, tapping on response involving hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, autonomic nervous system (ANS), and inflammatory mediator (IM). Adolescents will report their racial discrimination experience, make attribution about the peer rejection experience, report emotional experience, and rate their racial identity. Adolescents will complete an impossible puzzle task to elicit cognitive stress, during which they will be asked to fit all puzzle pieces into a wooden frame with a wrong piece provided. Their cardiovascular activity, attribution, and emotional experience in response to the impossible puzzle task will be measured. Parents will complete a questionnaire to report their ethnic-racial socialization practices.

The goals of this proposal are: 1) Reveal the relationship between racial discrimination experiences and ethnic minority adolescents' stress response to subtle racism as well as to cognitive stress; and 2) Test parental ethnic-racial socialization, children's attribution to subtle racism and their racial identity as potential risk and protective factors.

Study Design
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Study Type : Interventional  (Clinical Trial)
Estimated Enrollment : 160 participants
Allocation: N/A
Intervention Model: Single Group Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary Purpose: Basic Science
Official Title: Racial Discrimination and Dysregulated Stress Response: Risk/Protective Factors
Actual Study Start Date : June 29, 2023
Estimated Primary Completion Date : April 30, 2025
Estimated Study Completion Date : April 30, 2025

Resource links provided by the National Library of Medicine


Arms and Interventions
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Arm Intervention/treatment
Experimental: stress inducing task
Adolescents will complete an adapted peer rejection task on the computer to elicit the experience of subtle racial discrimination from White peers, as well as an impossible puzzle task to elicit cognitive stress.
 Behavioral: peer rejection task and impossible puzzle task

Peer rejection task: Adolescents will be informed that two peers will take turns to choose who they will chat with for different topics. Participants will not be chosen by virtual White peers 75% of the time. In reality, White peers are computerized avatars and whether or not adolescents are chosen by those peers is programmed with PsychoPy software.

Impossible puzzle task: Adolescents will be asked to fit all puzzle pieces into a wooden frame with a wrong piece provided.


Outcome Measures
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Primary Outcome Measures :
  1. change in blood pressure for peer rejection [ Time Frame: participants' blood pressure will be continuously monitored 10 minute before, during, and 45 minutes after the peer rejection task. ]
    participants' diastolic and systolic blood pressure will be continuously monitored.

  2. change in stress hormones for peer rejection [ Time Frame: participants' salivary samples will be collected at five time points (right before, 5 minutes after, 15 minutes after, 30 minutes after, and 45 minutes after the peer rejection task) ]
    participants' salivary samples will be collected, frozen, and assayed for cortisol.

  3. change in inflammatory biomarker of Interleukin 6 for peer rejection [ Time Frame: participants' salivary samples will be collected at five time points (right before, 5 minutes after, 15 minutes after, 30 minutes after, and 45 minutes after the peer rejection task) ]
    participants' salivary samples will be collected, frozen, and assayed for inflammatory biomarker of Interleukin-6

  4. change in inflammatory biomarker of C-reactive protein for peer rejection [ Time Frame: participants' salivary samples will be collected at five time points (right before, 5 minutes after, 15 minutes after, 30 minutes after, and 45 minutes after the peer rejection task) ]
    participants' salivary samples will be collected, frozen, and assayed for inflammatory biomarker of C-reactive protein

  5. attribution about the peer rejection for peer rejection [ Time Frame: right after the peer rejection task ]
    participants will complete the questionnaire, Attribution About The Peer Rejection (AATPR) to rate the likelihood of various reasons for the experience of peer rejection using a 7-point scale. The higher total score for the 4 racial reasons (possible range: 4-28) indicates the higher tendency of making racial attribution about the peer rejection.

  6. emotional experience for peer rejection [ Time Frame: right after the peer rejection task ]
    participants will complete the questionnaire, Emotions In The Peer Rejection (EITPR) to rate the emotional experiences in the peer rejection task using a 7-point scale. The higher total score for 5 sets of emotion terms (possible range: 5-35) indicates the higher levels of negative emotions in the peer rejection task.

  7. change in skin conductance activity for peer rejection [ Time Frame: participants' skin conductance will be continuously monitored 10 minutes before, during, and 45 minutes after the peer rejection task ]
    participants' skin conductance will be continuously monitored for the peer rejection task.

  8. change in respiratory sinus arrhythmia for peer rejection [ Time Frame: participants' electrocardiogram data will be continuously monitored 10 minutes before, during, and 45 minutes after the peer rejection task ]
    participants' electrocardiogram data that can be used to extract respiratory sinus arrhythmia, heart rate variability in synchrony with respiration, will be continuously monitored for the peer rejection task.


Secondary Outcome Measures :
  1. change in cardiovascular activity for impossible puzzle [ Time Frame: participants' systolic and diastolic blood pressure will be continuously monitored 6 minutes before, during, and 15 minutes after the impossible puzzle task ]
    participants' systolic and diastolic blood pressure will be continuously monitored for the impossible puzzle task

  2. attribution for impossible puzzle [ Time Frame: right after the impossible puzzle task ]
    participants will complete the questionnaire, Attribution About The Impossible Puzzle (AATIP) to rate the likelihood of various reasons for the experience of not being able to complete the puzzle using a 7-point scale. The higher total score for the 3 intrinsic reasons (possible range: 3-21) indicates the higher tendency of making intrinsic attribution about performance in the impossible puzzle task.

  3. emotional experience for impossible puzzle [ Time Frame: right after the impossible puzzle task ]
    participants will complete the questionnaire, Emotions In The Impossible Puzzle (EITIP) to rate the emotional experiences in the impossible puzzle task using a 7-point scale. The higher total score for 5 sets of emotion terms (possible range: 5-35) indicates the higher levels of negative emotions in the impossible puzzle task

  4. change in skin conductance for impossible puzzle [ Time Frame: participants' skin conductance will be continuously monitored 6 minutes before, during, and 15 minutes after the impossible puzzle task ]
    participants' skin conductance will be continuously monitored for the impossible puzzle task

  5. change in respiratory sinus arrhythmia for impossible puzzle [ Time Frame: participants' electrocardiogram data will be continuously monitored 6 minutes before, during, and 15 minutes after the impossible puzzle task ]
    participants' electrocardiogram data that can be used to extract respiratory sinus arrhythmia, heart rate variability in synchrony with respiration, will be continuously monitored for the impossible puzzle task


Eligibility Criteria
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Ages Eligible for Study:   10 Years to 69 Years   (Child, Adult, Older Adult)
Sexes Eligible for Study:   All
Accepts Healthy Volunteers:   Yes
Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

  • 10-14 years old
  • identified as Latino American or Black/African American
  • Living in Warren county of Kentucky
  • Parents of eligible adolescents

Exclusion Criteria:

Adolescents will not participate in the peer rejection task when they report to have:

  • frequent experiences of peer victimization
  • frequent experiences of racial discrimination
  • severe depression
  • severe social anxiety disorder
  • severe generalized anxiety disorder
Contacts and Locations
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Top of Page Study Description Study Design Arms and Interventions Outcome Measures Eligibility Criteria Contacts and Locations More Information

Information from the National Library of Medicine

To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the contact information provided by the sponsor.

Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier (NCT number): NCT05820659


Contacts
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Contact: Qingfang Song, Ph.D. (270)745-4229 qingfang.song@wku.edu

Locations
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United States, Kentucky
Western Kentucky University Recruiting
Bowling Green, Kentucky, United States, 42101
Contact: Qingfang Song, Ph.D.    270-745-4229    qingfang.song@wku.edu   
Sponsors and Collaborators
Western Kentucky University
Investigators
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Principal Investigator: Qingfang Song, Ph.D Western Kentucky University
More Information
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Publications:

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Responsible Party: Western Kentucky University
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT05820659    
Other Study ID Numbers: U5GMACGETKJ1
First Posted: April 20, 2023    Key Record Dates
Last Update Posted: December 8, 2023
Last Verified: April 2023
Individual Participant Data (IPD) Sharing Statement:
Plan to Share IPD: Yes
Plan Description: The research resources from the project will include the study protocol and associated data, which will be provided upon request.
Supporting Materials: Study Protocol
Statistical Analysis Plan (SAP)
Informed Consent Form (ICF)
Clinical Study Report (CSR)
Analytic Code
Time Frame: The protocol and deidentified data will become available six months after the first publication.
Access Criteria: Data will be shared upon individual request.

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Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated Drug Product: No
Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated Device Product: No
Keywords provided by Western Kentucky University:
cardiovascular reactivity
hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis
inflammatory mediator
subtle racism
Additional relevant MeSH terms:
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Fractures, Stress
Stress Disorders, Traumatic, Acute
Fractures, Bone
Wounds and Injuries
 Stress Disorders, Traumatic
Trauma and Stressor Related Disorders
Mental Disorders