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Abstract
Objective: Youth with IBD have an increased risk of poor HRQOL compared to healthy peers, but little information is known about how self-reported psychological stress symptoms and objective biomarkers of stress processing shortly after diagnosis may be related to their risk of low HRQOL. The current study aimed to (1) examine the relations between psychological stress, skin conductance reactivity (SCR), and overall and domains of HRQOL and (2) determine whether SCR moderates the relation between psychological stress and HRQOL. Method: Participants (N = 54) ages 8-17 were recruited from a pediatric gastroenterology clinic shortly after diagnosis (≤ 45 days) and completed a measure of psychological stress symptoms and an IBD-specific measure of HRQOL. Participants also completed experimental tasks (i.e., star tracing mirror task, IBD verbal task) during which their SCR was assessed. Disease-related information was obtained via medical chart review. Results: Correlational results indicated a strong, negative relation between psychological stress and overall HRQOL, as well as specific domains of HRQOL (i.e., emotional functioning, social functioning, systemic symptoms, bowel symptoms) with higher stress associated with lower HRQOL. SCR across both tasks was not associated with psychological stress or HRQOL. Neither type of SCR emerged as a significant moderator. Exploratory analyses were conducted to further examine relations between primary study variables. Discussion: Results offer information that psychologists and clinicians can use when providing education to families about a diagnosis of IBD. Results further suggest the clinical utility in assessing for and intervening upon high psychological stress symptoms and low HRQOL related to their IBD in newly diagnosed patients. Although findings from SCR analyses were inconclusive, consideration of the limitations of this construct in the current study can help inform future research in an effort to determine the role of SCR in psychosocial functioning within this sample.