Associations of Lifetime Trauma and Chronic Stress With C-reactive Protein in Adults Ages 50 Years and Older: Examining the Moderating Role of Perceived Control

Objective: The aim of the study was to investigate whether high perceived control mitigates systemic inflammatory risk associated with traumatic and chronic stress exposures in older adults.
Methods: A sample of community-dwelling adults ages 50 years and older (N = 4779) was drawn from the Health and Retirement Study. Structural equation models tested interactions of lifetime trauma and chronic stress with mastery and perceived constraints predicting baseline levels and 4-year change in C-reactive protein (CRP).
Results: There were significant interactions of lifetime trauma (β = −.058, p = .012) and chronic stress (β = −.069, p = .010) with mastery as related to baseline CRP levels. Both measures were associated with higher CRP at low (β = .102, p = .003; β = .088, p = .015) but not high levels of mastery. In addition, chronic stress interacted with baseline mastery (β = .056, p = .011) and change in mastery (β = −.056, p = .016) to predict 4-year change in CRP. Chronic stress was associated with an increase in CRP at high baseline mastery (β = .071, p = .022) and when mastery decreased during follow-up (β = .088, p = .011). There were no main effects of stress or control variables other than an association of constraints with a larger increase in CRP (β = .062, p = .017). Interactions were minimally attenuated (

Source: Psychosomatic Medicine - June 30, 2017 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Tags: Original Articles Source Type: research