Graduation Semester and Year
Fall 2025
Language
English
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy in Kinesiology
Department
Kinesiology
First Advisor
R. Matthew Brothers
Abstract
Young adulthood is often considered a period of optimal health, yet subtle disruptions in cerebrovascular function during this stage may represent early pathways contributing to later-life disparities in cardiovascular and cognitive outcomes. Black adults, particularly Black females, experience disproportionate rates of hypertension, stroke, and small-vessel disease, and psychosocial stressors such as early-life adversity, discrimination, and high-effort coping are increasingly recognized as upstream contributors. However, the extent to which these factors influence cerebrovascular health in young adults remains unclear. This dissertation examined (1) whether psychosocial stress exposures relate to early markers of cerebrovascular function, (2) whether high effort coping behaviors are associated with cognitive performance and whether cerebrovascular physiology provides explanatory context, and (3) whether race and sex differences in cerebrovascular stiffness and vasodilatory responsiveness emerge in early adulthood.
Chapter 2 showed that adverse childhood experiences were modestly associated with reduced cerebrovascular vasodilatory responsiveness among non-Hispanic Black participants, despite no group-level differences in stress exposure or vascular outcomes. Chapter 3 demonstrated that high-effort coping was linked to slower executive function performance in Black adults, and these associations were attenuated after adjusting for cerebrovascular indices, suggesting a physiological pathway linking coping and cognition. Chapter 4 identified a robust sex difference in cerebral pulsatility, males exhibited higher stiffness, while vasodilatory responsiveness did not differ by sex or race after accounting for baseline cerebral blood velocity.
Collectively, these findings highlight how psychosocial experiences, coping behaviors, and demographic factors intersect to influence early cerebrovascular health. This work underscores the importance of identifying modifiable contributors to cerebrovascular health disparities long before clinical disease manifests.
Keywords
psychosocial stress, cerebrovascular function, pulsatility index, cognitive performance, racial disparities, sex differences, John Henryism, vascular reactivity, NIH Toolbox cognition, young adults
Disciplines
Other Kinesiology | Systems and Integrative Physiology
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Kolade, John, "Indices of Cerebral Vascular and Neurocognitive Function: Exploring the Influence of Race, Sex, and Social Determinant of Health" (2025). Kinesiology Dissertations. 51.
https://mavmatrix.uta.edu/kinesiology_dissertations/51