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Pain that sticks: The mental, physical, and immune health effects of negative emotional inertia and the role of childhood trauma in dementia spousal caregivers

Award Number: F31AG101910
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON AGING
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: FELLOWSHIP/SCHOLARSHIP/STUDENT LOANS
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 06/28/2026
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 06/27/2028

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Pain that sticks: The mental, physical, and immune health effects of negative emotional inertia and the role of childhood trauma in dementia spousal caregivers - Project Summary/Abstract Dementia spousal caregiving contributes to chronic diseases of aging that result from stress- associated increases in inflammation. Chronic stress in this population is characterized by negative emotions in response to disruptive behaviors, activities of daily life, and anticipatory grief associated with providing care for a person with dementia, among others. Negative emotions, however, are dynamic, altering over time in response to contextual change and internal emotion regulation processes. Negative emotions that resist change over time (i.e., negative emotional inertia) may pose additional threats to emotional and physical well-being. Indeed, research has shown that individuals reporting negative emotions that linger are at increased risk for poor emotional well-being and physiological dysregulation. Further, our team has shown that dementia spousal caregivers reporting traumatic childhoods show markedly increased pro-inflammatory cytokine production in response to a biological stressor relative to caregivers reporting less trauma in early life. As a result, the caregivers who experience negative emotional inertia and report relatively high levels of childhood trauma may exhibit the poorest self-rated health and immune dysregulation in pro- inflammatory cytokine production. Specific aims: (1) To evaluate the role of emotional inertia in caregiver self-reported health. (2) To assess the immune implications of emotional inertia in dementia spousal caregiving. (3) To assess whether childhood trauma is a risk factor for poor well-being experienced after high levels of emotional inertia. Study design: Within the funded RF1 parent grant, 140 dementia spousal caregivers will have a venous blood draw and report self-rated physical health at baseline and six months after baseline. Participants will also self-report affect throughout the day for two weeks with a smartphone via ecological momentary assessment. We will assess emotional inertia using dynamic structural equation modeling, defining emotional inertia as the within-person auto-regressive coefficient of negative emotion, as standard in the emotion dynamics literature. Blood assays will assess lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced cytokine (i.e., interleukin-1ß, interleukin-6, and tumor necrosis factor-α) production. This study will elucidate both the emotional dynamics and psychosocial risk factors that promote increased risk for poor emotional and physical well- being overall.


Issue Date FY	Funding FY	Legal Entity Name	Legal Entity Address	Legal Entity City	Legal Entity State	Legal Entity Zip Code	Legal Entity COUNTY	Legal Entity COUNTRY	Assistance Listing	Award Code	Budget Year	Action Date	Action Type	Action Amount

Issue Date FY: 2026 ( Subtotal = $50,114 )
2026	2026	WILLIAM MARSH RICE UNIVERSITY	6100 MAIN ST	HOUSTON	TX	77005	HARRIS	USA	Aging Research	001	1	6/8/2026	NEW	$0
2026	2026	WILLIAM MARSH RICE UNIVERSITY	6100 MAIN ST	HOUSTON	TX	77005	HARRIS	USA	Aging Research	000	1	6/8/2026	NEW	$50,114
														Subtotal = $50,114

Grand Total All Awards = $50,114

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Pain that sticks: The mental, physical, and immune health effects of negative emotional inertia and the role of childhood trauma in dementia spousal caregivers

Award Number: F31AG101910

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON AGING

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: FELLOWSHIP/SCHOLARSHIP/STUDENT LOANS

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 06/28/2026

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 06/27/2028

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