Skip to main content
ABCT 2025 59th Annual Convention Main banner
Psychology Tools Ad
Final Program


Icon Legend
This session is not in your schedule.
This session is in your schedule. Click again to remove it.
Presentation Icons
Recorded Session
Recorded Session
Ticketed Session
Ticketed Session
ViewAttendees 1

Oppression and Resilience Minority Health
Session Type:: Symposia

Symposium 77 - The Body Talks: Psychophysiological Evidence of Contextual Embodiment as a Process through which Marginalized Individuals Thrive, Survive, and Heal

Sunday, November 23, 2025
12:00 PM - 1:30 PM CST
Location: Bolden 2, Level 2

Keywords: Psychophysiology, Race, LGBTQ+
Recommended Readings: Brownlow, B. N. (2022). How racism “Gets under the skin”: An examination of the physical- and mental-health costs of culturally compelled coping. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 18(3), 576-596. https://doi.org/10.1177/17456916221113762,   Busse, D., Yim, I. S., & Campos, B. (2017). Social context matters: Ethnicity, discrimination and stress reactivity. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 83, 187-193. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2017.05.025,   Ghabrial, M. A., & Andersen, J. P. (2023). Identity affirmation is associated with adaptive cardiovascular flexibility in response to stress among sexual and gender minority people of color. Social Science & Medicine, 320, 115703. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2023.115703,   Rosati, F., Williams, D., P., Juster, R., Thayer, J. F., Ottaviani, C., Baiocco, R. (2021). The cardiovascular conundrum in ethnic and sexual minorities: A potential biomarker for constant coping with discrimination. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 15, 619171. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2021.619171,  

Abstract Body

Trans and non-binary (TNB) people experience greater social exclusion because of their minoritized gender identities1 and have worse mental health outcomes compared to other marginalized groups2. The dominant theoretical account (the Minority Stress Model) attributes outcomes to negative experiences such as victimization/discrimination3 and resultant increases in stress reactivity. However, evidence for the relationship between minority stress experiences and increased stress reactivity has been mixed4, and moreover, this perspective arguably neglects the role of positive environments involving mutual social support within TNB communities. Social support is particularly pertinent as it is pivotal to TNB lived experiences5, linked to better mental health outcomes6, more adaptive stress recovery,7 and is an understudied phase of the stress response as compared to research on the initial stress response.
The current study aims to test the utility of a combined minority stress/social support model in predicting stress responses in TNB individuals. Based on an a-priori power analysis14, we are recruiting n = 70 TNB participants, with no requirements to have medically transitioned. Participants will self-report minority stress and social support experiences using validated minority stress and social support measures (BSSS, GMSR10-11). Stress reactivity and recovery will be measured during a well-validated social exclusion task with an additional inclusion condition (Cyberball12-13). To assess stress response dynamically (reactivity and recovery), we will construct a nonlinear growth-curve model describing dynamic changes in respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA); an estimate of parasympathetic nervous system responding well-known to withdraw during the initial response 8-9. We are currently completing pre-registration and thus are unable to analyze data until collection is complete. However, we expect that when both minority stress and social support are used to predict stress response trajectory: i) minority stress experiences will predict stress reactivity over and above the effects of social support, ii) social support experiences will predict stress recovery over and above the effects of minority stress, and iii) both social experiences combined will explain significantly more variance in stress response than either alone. This research extends knowledge of how TNB social environments are embodied, by capturing social support and stress recovery, and situating stress response within the body.

Presentations:

  • 12:27 PM - 12:48 PM CST
    (SYM 77) Psychophysiological Correlates of PTSD Risk and Resilience Among Transgender Trauma Survivors

    Speaker: Danielle S. Berke, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – Hunter College, City University of New York

    Co-author: Madalyn M. Liautaud, M.A. (she/her/hers) – The Graduate Center, City University of New York

  • 12:48 PM - 1:09 PM CST
    (SYM 77) A Mixed-methods Exploration into the Psychophysiological Link Between Racial Trauma Experiences and Health Outcomes Among Black Women of Reproductive Age

    Speaker: Sierra Carter, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – University of Georgia

    Co-author: Sheila E. Crowell, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – University of Oregon

    Co-author: Elisabeth Conradt, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – Duke University

    Co-author: Keianna Moyer, BSPH, MPH (she/her/hers) – University of Chicago

  • 1:09 PM - 1:30 PM CST
    (SYM 77) Gender Differences in the Relationship Between Culturally Compelled Coping, Psychophysiological Regulatory Capacity, and Depression Among Black Americans

    Speaker: Briana N. Brownlow, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – Duke University School of Medicine

    Co-author: Jennifer S. Cheavens, PhD – The Ohio State University

    Co-author: Michael W. Vasey, PhD – The Ohio State University

    Co-author: Julian F. Thayer, PhD – University of California Irvine

    Co-author: LaBarron K. Hill, PhD – University of North Carolina at Charlotte