IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v21y2024i3p302-d1351617.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Chronic Stress Indicator: A Novel Tool for Comprehensive Stress Analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Matthew Hill

    (Department of Built Environment, North Carolina A&T State University, Greensboro, NC 27411, USA
    Environmental Health and Disease Laboratory, North Carolina A&T State University, Greensboro, NC 27411, USA)

  • Sayed Mostafa

    (Department of Mathematics and Statistics, North Carolina A&T State University, Greensboro, NC 27411, USA)

  • Emmanuel Obeng-Gyasi

    (Department of Built Environment, North Carolina A&T State University, Greensboro, NC 27411, USA
    Environmental Health and Disease Laboratory, North Carolina A&T State University, Greensboro, NC 27411, USA)

Abstract

Extensive research has highlighted the strong association between chronic stress and negative health outcomes. This relationship is influenced by various factors, including sociobehavioral, environmental, and genetic and epigenomic forces. To comprehensively assess an individual’s stress levels, we propose the development of the Chronic Stress Indicator (CSI), a novel comprehensive multifaceted tool that incorporates key biological, anthropometric, behavioral, and socioeconomic factors. The objective of this study is to assess the effectiveness of the CSI compared to Allostatic Load (AL), a type of chronic stress, in identifying health issues related to stress. The objective of this research is to evaluate the performance of the Chronic Stress Indicator (CSI) versus Allostatic Load (AL) in detecting adverse health outcomes within the U.S. demographic aged 20–49. The information used for this study was sourced from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), carried out from 2001 to 2004. Logistic regression modeling was employed to calculate odds ratios and confidence intervals. The Wilcoxon rank-sum test was employed to assess differences in means, whereas the chi-square test, accompanied by Cramer’s V statistic, was used to examine the association among categorical variables. Additionally, the relationship between continuous variables was analyzed using Pearson’s correlation coefficient. Our association tests show that the length of occupation activity and health status were among the strongest associations to CSI risk. Based on our logistic regression models, age and sex were found to be significant factors in determining AL. We also found that age, smoking, and longest occupation activity were significant factors of CSI risk. These findings suggest a need for individuals to limit smoking as it may lead to higher overall stress despite its common use as a coping mechanism for stress. We should also review the level of occupational activity a job has before continuously working on it as this may also lead to higher cumulative stress.

Suggested Citation

  • Matthew Hill & Sayed Mostafa & Emmanuel Obeng-Gyasi, 2024. "Chronic Stress Indicator: A Novel Tool for Comprehensive Stress Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 21(3), pages 1-27, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:21:y:2024:i:3:p:302-:d:1351617
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/21/3/302/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/21/3/302/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Shervin Assari & Mohsen Bazargan, 2019. "Unequal Associations between Educational Attainment and Occupational Stress across Racial and Ethnic Groups," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(19), pages 1-11, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hafifa Siddiq & Babak Najand, 2022. "Immigration Status, Socioeconomic Status, and Self-Rated Health in Europe," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(23), pages 1-12, November.
    2. Gary Wingenbach & Alexis Zickafoose, 2023. "Postsecondary Students’ Social Stress and Learning Styles," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(16), pages 1-14, August.
    3. Shannon C. Montgomery & Joseph G. Grzywacz, 2022. "Work as a Social Determinant of Racial Health Inequalities," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(16), pages 1-18, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:21:y:2024:i:3:p:302-:d:1351617. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.