Assessing measures of allostatic load among adolescents with learning and behavioral disabilities

Research has identified increased risk behaviors and morbidity for adolescents with disabilities. Allostatic Load (AL) is a measure of physiological stress that correlates with morbidity. AL has been linked to lower socioeconomic status, having few friends, and being African-American. The purpose of this study was to measure AL among adolescents with and without learning and behavioral disabilities. The study examined AL for n = 2,487 adolescents age 12-19 in the 2001-2002 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Independent variables were ADHD, Learning Disability (LD), and being Overweight (OW) from the Patient Interview Survey. Dependent variables included Body Mass Index (BMI), Blood Pressure, Cholesterol, and immune cell counts. Statistical analyses included ANCOVA. Adolescents in this age cohort were 51.7% female, 24.3% African-American, and 41.7% Caucasian. 10.7% reported having LD, 6.7% ADHD, and 9.4% OW. There were significant (p < .05) main effects for both ADHD and LD on family income, immune cell count, and blood pressure. There were significant interactions between LD and OW on BMI (F = 3.85, p = .050); between OW and Race on BMI (F = 7.18, p = .000), Cholesterol (F = 3.37, p = .009), and Blood Pressure (F = 3.56, p = .007). Results support previous research linking socioeconomic status, race, and allostatic load while demonstrating associations between learning/behavioral disabilities and AL. These results suggest new directions for assessing stress that may be associated with barriers that persons with disabilities face, assessments that currently are minimal in longitudinal studies.