The Science of Behavior Change in African American Breast Cancer Survivors

Dysregulation of the HPA has been suggested as a mechanism through which social and biological factors contribute to racial disparities in breast cancer outcomes.The HPA axis plays a central role in regulating the physiological stress response;a prolonged and elevated glucocorticoid (GC) response following a social stressor predicts tumor growth rates and the development of mammary cancer in rats that histologically and etiologically resembles human disease.Many African Americans experience stressful life events and circumstances, including economic, discriminatory, and other stressors. These psychosocial factors may contribute to an increased risk of advanced stage breast cancer among African American women, but not all African American women who are exposed to adverse psychosocial and social stressors develop advanced stage breast cancer and African American women who have a limited number of stressors also develop advanced stage breast cancer, regardless of early detection. This may be because stress reactivity, or one's physiological and psychological responses to a stressor, is highly individualized and dependent on psychological and social determinants. However, empirical data are not available on stress reactivity among African American breast cancer survivors and how these reactions vary among women based on their exposure to chronic stressors and psychological characteristics. Empirical data are also lacking on the association between stress reactivity and cancer control behaviors among African American breast cancer survivors even though prior studies have shown that these women are less likely than whites to engage in health behaviors that are important to cancer control and research is now being conducted to understand how stress affects these behaviors.This research is testing the hypothesis that stress: (1) promotes temporal discounting; (2) has an adverse effect on self-efficacy, and (3) reduces executive functioning (e.g., goal setting, planning). However, stress reactivity, and the association between these responses and cancer control behaviors (e.g., diet, physical activity, and treatment compliance), have not been examined among African American breast cancer survivors. Prior studies have shown that African Americans have a dysregulated stress response as a result of persistent exposure to chronic and acute and stressors; this may alter stress responses and lead to high levels of allostatic load. In order to develop effective behavioral interventions for African American breast cancer survivors, an important first step is to verify that the mechanisms (e.g., temporal discounting, self-efficacy) involved in health behaviors for cancer control (e.g., diet, physical activity, treatment compliance) are associated with stress reactivity among these women. Therefore this study will characterize stress reactivity among African American breast cancer survivors and validate the association between these responses and targeted mechanisms of behavior change.