Browsing by Author "Papke, Victoria"

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    Differences in Cortisol Levels in Depressed Adolescents Who Engage in Non-Suicidal Self-Injury
    (2020) Papke, Victoria; Klimes-Dougan, Bonnie
    Major depressive disorder (MDD) is one of the most common mental disorders affecting the adolescent population, which is in part due to the excessive vulnerability of that particular age group. A subgroup of those who suffer from depression also engage in non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI), which is the act of causing harm to one’s body without the intent of suicide. Prior research suggests an underlying mechanism of NSSI is its relationship to the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, where stress hormones such as cortisol are regulated and released throughout the body in response to stress. Depressed adolescents engaging in NSSI have shown blunted reactivity to stress in the HPA axis by producing lower levels of cortisol, and elevated levels for the cortisol awakening response (CAR). This study explores differences in HPA axis functioning, by way of cortisol levels, in depressed adolescents who have or have not engaged in NSSI. Results showed that participants who have engaged in NSSI had an elevated CAR, particularly 30 minutes post-awakening, although no significant differences were found in cortisol reactivity to stress. These results add to the prior literature suggesting that HPA axis functioning is impaired in depressed adolescents who engage in NSSI, which can allow future research to further explore this association on a larger scale.
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    Sexual and Gender Minority Stress: Preliminary Evidence of Advanced Pubertal Development in Early Adolescence
    (2024-01) Papke, Victoria
    The burden of societal stressors on individuals who identify as sexual and gender minorities (SGM) can be tremendous. Minority stress has been linked to indexes of accelerated aging across the lifespan in racial and ethnic minorities but has yet to be examined in SGM youth. This study explores whether SGM youth who report that their identity is a problem at school or home, a potential index of minority stress (STRESS+) would show more evidence of accelerated pubertal development compared to those who do not report their identity as being a problem (STRESS-). This study uses data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study®. Participants were 9-10 years old at baseline, 10-11 years old at T1, and 11-12 years old at T2. Participants who identified as SGM at any time point were included in data analyses (N= 475). Pubertal development across different time points were compared between STRESS+ and STRESS-. Among 490 participants who identified as SGM, 397 were assigned female at birth and 138 were in the STRESS+ group. As hypothesized, pubertal development was accelerated across time for STRESS+ in comparison to STRESS-. This finding appeared to be driven by differences at T1. We reported that accelerations in pubertal development were associated with minority stress in SGM youth (ages 9-12). These findings set the foundation for future work examining the impacts of minority stress on developmental processes in SGM youth as they move through the critical stages of adolescence into adulthood.