Year Round-up: What's been happening in SASHLab over the last 12 months?
It’s the time of year when everything is a little less busy, and we have gotten a chance to reflect on the activities we have engaged in over the past 12 months. Hopefully this gives people considering joining a lab an idea of the type of work we engage in!
Last summer we were featured in the American Psychosomatic Society (APS) newsletter. You can read all about our lab members and research interests in the APS feature.
Achievements
Adam O’ Riordan was awarded a prestigious Irish Research Council (IRC) Postgraduate scholarship to support his PhD research examining personality, stress, and cardiovascular health in September 2019. This highly competitive award is a testament to the cutting-edge research being undertaken.
Grace McMahon was awarded the STAR student development award by the Stress and Anxiety Society in July 2019; based on her work on adolescents and social relationships.
Two of our lab members successfully defended their PhD theses! Eoin Brown’s thesis focussed on loneliness and CVR to stress and Siobhán Griffin’s thesis focussed on emotion regulation and CVR to stress.
Páraic O' Suilleabháin was awarded the Royal Irish Academy Charlemont Award to examine personality, loneliness, and cardiovascular disease trajectories in old age!
Selected Publications
2020
Coyle, D.T.K., Howard, S., Bibbey, A., Gallagher, S., Whittaker, A.C., & Creaven, A-M. (2020). Personality, cardiovascular, and cortisol reactions to acute psychological stress in the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 148, 67-74, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2019.11.014.
Creaven, A-M., Higgins, N. M., Ginty, A. T., & Gallagher, S. (2020). Social support, social participation, and cardiovascular reactivity to stress in the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study. Biological Psychology, 155. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsycho.2020.107921
Gallagher, S., O’Sullivan, L., Hughes, Z., & O’Connell, B. (2020). Building resources in caregivers: Feasibility of a brief writing intervention to increase benefit finding in caregivers. Applied Psychology Health and Well-being, 12, https://doi.org/10.1111/aphw.12195
Gallagher, S., Solano, A. C., & Liporace, M. F. (2020). State, but not trait gratitude is associated with cardiovascular responses to acute psychological stress. Physiology & Behavior, 221, 112896. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physbeh.2020.112896
Griffin, S. M., & Howard, S. (2020). Establishing the validity of a novel passive stress task. Psychophysiology, 57, e13555. https://doi.org/10.1111/psyp.13555.
Howard, S., Fitzgerald, G., & Gallagher, S. (2020). Cardiovascular stress reactions in recent- and long-retired rugby players when watching a game. Physiology & Behaviour, 219, 112832. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physbeh.2020.112832
Leader, G., Murray, M., O'Súilleabháin, P. S., et al. (2020). Relationship between parent-reported gastrointestinal symptoms, sleep problems, autism spectrum disorder symptoms, and behavior problems in children and adolescents with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome [published online ahead of print, 2020 May 28]. Res Dev Disabil, 104,103698.
McMahon, G., A-M, Creaven, & Gallagher, S. (2020). Stressful life events and adolescent well-being: The role of parent and peer relationships. Stress and Health, 1-12, https://doi.org/10.1002/smi.2923
O’Riordan, A., Howard, S., & Gallagher, S. (2020). Type D personality and life event stress: the mediating effects of social support and negative social relationships. Anxiety, Stress & Coping, 33, 452-465. https://doi.org/10.1080/10615806.2020.1746284
Summary: This study examined if Type D personality was associated with perceptions of life event stress, social support and negative social relationships. The results from this study suggests that while individuals do no experience a greater amount of life stressors, they perceive their life to be significantly more stressful than non-Type D individuals. Additionally, Type D individuals also reported lower social support and greater perceptions of negative social relationships.
O'Súilleabháin, P. S., Sutin, A. R., Gerstorf, D. (2020). Body mass index, waist circumference, and mortality risks over 27 years of follow-up in old age. Ann Epidemiol, 46, 20-23. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annepidem.2020.04.008
2019
Andrews, K. L., Gallagher, S., & Herring, M. P. (2019). The effects of exercise interventions on health and fitness of firefighters: A meta-analysis. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports, 29. https://doi.org/10.1111/sms.13411
Bradshaw, D.T., Hannigan, A., Creaven, A-M., & Muldoon, O.T. (2019). Longitudinal associations between parental incarceration and children’s emotional and behavioural development: results from a population cohort study. Child: Care, Health & Development, 46(2), 195-202. https://doi.org/10.1111/cch.12732
Griffin, S. M. & Howard, S. (2019). Effects of Trait Emotion Regulation on Stress Responsivity. In P. Buchwald, K. Krzysztof, K. A. Moore, & P. Arenas-Landgrave (Eds.). Stress and Anxiety. Berlin: Logos Verlag.
McMahon, G., Creaven, A-M., & Gallagher, S. (2019). Perceived social support mediates the association between attachment and cardiovascular reactivity in young adults, Psychophysiology, 57, e13496. http://doi.org/10.1111/psyp.13496
O’Riordan, A., Howard, S., & Gallagher, S. (2019). Social Context and Sex Moderate the Association Between Type D Personality and Cardiovascular Reactivity. Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback, 44, 321-330. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10484-019-09447-x
Summary: This study examined the cardiovascular reactions exhibited by Type D individuals in response to acute stress. The findings from this study suggested that individuals with Type D personality exhibit atypical reactions to acute stress. Additionally, the most damaging cardiovascular responses were exhibited by Type D males in response to social stressors.
O’Súilleabháin, P., Gallagher, S., & Steptoe, A. (2019). Loneliness, living alone, and all-cause mortality: The role of emotional and social loneliness in the elderly during 19 years of follow-up. Psychosomatic Medicine, 81, 521-526. http://doi.org/10.1097/PSY.0000000000000710
Sumner, R. C., Bennett, R., Creaven, A-M., & Gallagher, S. (2019). Unemployment, employment precarity, and inflammation. Brain Behavior and Immunity, 83, 303-308. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2019.10.013
Whittaker, A. C., & Gallagher, S. (2019). Caregiving alters immunity and stress hormones: a review of recent research. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, 28, 93-97. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cobeha.2019.02.002
Selected Conference Presentations
17th Annual Psychology, Health and Medicine Conference, UCC (May, 2020).
Costello, A., Creaven, A-M. & Howard, S. (2020). Rumination and cardiovascular habituation to acute psychological stress. (Poster). https://osf.io/7r58j/
Costello, A. (2020). Defining cardiovascular recovery from acute psychological stress: A systematic review. (Poster). https://osf.io/8fz7p/
Keogh, T. M., Howard, S., O’Riordan, A., & Gallagher, S. (2020). Motivational orientation mediates the association between depression and cardiovascular reactivity to acute psychological stress. (Poster)
Synopsis of Tracy’s papers: study examines the role of motivation in the relationship between depression and cardiovascular responding; showing that lower levels of intrinsic motivation was associated with a more healthful stress response in those with higher symptoms of depression.
McMahon, G., Creaven, A-M., & Gallagher, S. (2020). Attachment, social support and
cardiovascular reactivity. (Poster)
O' Riordan, A., Howard, S., Brown, E., & Gallagher, S. (2020) Type D personality and
cardiovascular reactivity to acute stress: The mediating effects of social support and negative social relationships. https://osf.io/y98kr/
O' Riordan, A., Howard, S. & Gallagher, S. (2020). Type D personality, social support and
cardiovascular reactivity to acute psychological stress.
78th Annual Meeting of the American Psychosomatic Society, Long Beach, California, March, 2020
Costello, A. (2020). Rumination and cardiovascular habituation to acute psychological stress. (Online poster). https://osf.io/e3sf5/
Keogh, T. M., Howard, S., O’Riordan, A., & Gallagher, S. (2020). Motivational orientation mediates the association between depression and cardiovascular reactivity to acute psychological stress. (Online Poster)
McMahon, G., Creaven, A-M., & Gallagher, S. (2020). Cardiovascular reactivity and
attachment styles: Does social support benefit everyone? (Online Poster)
O' Riordan, A., Howard, S. & Gallagher, S. (2020) Type D personality, social support and
cardiovascular reactivity to acute psychological stress. https://osf.io/hwtgy/
21st Annual Convention of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, February 2020.
Griffin, S. M., & Howard, S. (2020). Individual differences in emotion regulation style: Implications for health. (Poster at SPSP main conference)
Griffin, S. M., & Howard, S. (2020). Instructed reappraisal: Does it aid cardiovascular habituation
to recurrent stress? (Poster at the Emotions Pre-Conference, SPSP). https://osf.io/h7a34/
47th Annual Psychological Society of Ireland Conference, Kilkenny, Ireland. November, 2019.
Griffin, S. M., Gallagher, S., & Howard, S. (2019). Reappraising arousal as adaptive and
beneficial: Effects on cardiovascular responding and performance during an acute stress task. (Oral presentation)
40th International Conference of the Stress and Anxiety Research Society (STAR), Mallorca, 2019
Costello, A., Creaven, A-M. & Howard, S. (2019). Defining cardiovascular recovery from
acute psychological stress: A systematic review. (Poster). https://osf.io/sr4ew/
Costello, A., Creaven, A-M. & Howard, S. (2019). Physiological responses to acute stress. (Symposium)
Gallagher, S. & Creaven, A-M. (2019). Social identity, online and off-line social support and depression in those living with breast cancer. (Oral Presentation)
Griffin, S. M., Gallagher, S., & Howard, S. Does the emotional content of the stressor matter? Implications for emotion regulation and cardiovascular reactivity. (Oral Presentation).
Griffin, S. M., Gallagher, S., & Howard, S. Testing the validity of a novel passive stress task. (Poster)
McMahon, G., Creaven, A-M., & Gallagher, S. (2019). Perceived social support mediates the association between attachment and cardiovascular reactivity among young adults.
(Symposium)
McMahon, G., Creaven, A-M., & Gallagher, S. (2019). Stressful life events and adolescent well-being: The role of parent and peer relationships in a national cohort study. (Poster)
O' Riordan, A., Gallagher, S., & Howard, S. (2019) Type D personality, social relationships and cardiovascular reactivity to acute psychological stress. (Symposium)
O' Riordan, A., Gallagher, S., & Howard, S. (2019) Negative social relationships mediate the association between Type D personality and perceived life events stress. (Poster)
Rapid Response: COVID Research
Lots of COVID research is on-going, but some scientists have expressed concern that this is exacerbating the problem of research waste. You can read Ann-Marie’s rapid response to a BMJ editorial on this topic, here: https://www.bmj.com/content/369/bmj.m1847/rr-5
Outreach
Tracey volunteered during Science Week in UL last year – “Secondary school students from around Limerick came to UL and we spoke about different aspects of psychology, so they could get an understanding of not only how broad it is, but how unbelievably cool it is!! I spoke about eyewitness testimony and showed the students a video, where they had to pay particular attention as they were going to be asked a series of questions about what they saw afterwards. Their reactions were priceless, and it was a great opportunity to showcase psychology as a discipline”.
That's some snippets from the last year - looking forward to another year of research, and hopefully some conferences, virtual or otherwise (fingers crossed)!
A special thanks to all the research interns who worked in our lab over the past 12 months, including Crea Hickson, Beverly Hoban, Michelle Kerins, and Ciara Price!
