BACKGROUND: Whether life stressors and resiliency interact on asthma risk in adults is largely unknown.

OBJECTIVE: To examine life stressors, resiliency, and asthma in Hispanic/Latino adults.

METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study of 4747 adults aged 18 to 74 years in the Sociocultural Ancillary Study of the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos. Participants completed questionnaires on life stressors (adverse childhood experiences [ACE], traumatic stress exposure (TSE), and chronic stressors [for ≥6 months]) and resilience resources (family cohesion, perceived social support, and spiritual well-being). Logistic regression was used for the multivariable analyses of current asthma and current asthma symptoms.

RESULTS: Any ACE and any chronic stressor were associated with 54% to 69% increased odds of asthma and asthma symptoms in all individuals, with stronger associations for ACE in men and for chronic stressors in women. In a separate analysis, high family cohesion and high spiritual well-being were each associated with 35% to 36% reduced odds of asthma symptoms. There was suggestive evidence of interactions: any TSE was associated with increased odds of asthma in adults with low family cohesion (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 2.40, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.01-5.73) but not in others, and any chronic stressor was associated with increased odds of asthma symptoms in adults with low spiritual well-being (aOR = 2.24, 95% CI = 1.20-4.20) but not in others.

CONCLUSIONS: In Hispanic/Latino adults, ACE and chronic stress were associated with higher odds of asthma or asthma symptoms, whereas family cohesion and spiritual well-being were linked to lower odds of asthma or asthma symptoms. Further, resiliency may interact with life stressors on asthma.