WHAT RESEARCHERS HAVE LEARNED ABOUT GENES, CULTURE AND STRESS

Reactions both inside and outside their cultural community matter to people under stress. “Unsupportive interactions” with people both inside and outside the community were associated with depression and anxiety, according to surveys of both Somali refugees and indigenous peoples. However, the kinds of actions that are perceived as “unsupportive” varied from one cultural group to another. Among indigenous respondents, feeling blamed for their own bad experiences was particularly distressing. Stress prompts chemical changes in the body. Elevated levels of the “stress hormone” cortisol suppresses the immune system and has been associated with weight gain, high blood pressure and heart disease. Oxytocin is another example. This “love hormone” plays a role in bonding and childbirth and promotes empathy, trust and helping behaviour. Oxytocin may make people more helpful and supportive, which may help dial down stress in groups. On the other hand, oxytocin could also make people more sensitive to rejection, and therefore more stressed. Not only do the children of residential school survivors show higher rates of suicidal ideation and suicide attempts, but the effect also appears to be cumulative. Those with parents and grandparents who had attended residential school were even more likely to think about or attempt suicide than those with only one parent in a residential school or no association to residential schools, according to research published this year in the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry.