Summary
This project tests how various forms of social stress contribute to allostatic load and related health risk, and how aspects of social support networks may mitigate negative health effects of stress by reducing stress contagion. Our project focuses on two critical types of social stress: “day-to-day” stressful interactions and severe forms of social stress (e.g., experiences of violence), which may represent forms of stress resulting in acute and chronic changes to stress response, respectively. Changes in stress responding may contribute to worsening allostatic load, or the chronic “wear and
