About

Sarah Pressman is a health psychologist who studies how social and emotional factors can improve physical health and physiological function, and buffer against the harmful effects of stress.

Research topics

• Psychology
• Artificial Intelligence
• Medicine
• Computer Science
• Internal medicine
• Clinical psychology
• Social psychology
• Developmental psychology
• Communication
• Cognitive psychology
• Immunology
• Psychiatry
• Neuroscience

Selected publications

• Capturing inflammatory reactivity to acute psychosocial stress in plasma and saliva among adolescents

  Brain Behavior and Immunity · 2026-04-03

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Physiological Pathways Connecting Positive Affect and Health

  2025-01-01

  book-chapterSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Superwoman schema and arterial stiffness in Black American women: assessing the role of environmental mastery

  Annals of Behavioral Medicine · 2025-01-01 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  BACKGROUND: Emerging evidence suggests that the Superwoman Schema (SWS)-the sociocultural representation of Black women as naturally strong, independent, and nurturing-may play an important role in Black women's cardiovascular health; but findings have been relatively mixed. One interesting possibility is that environmental mastery, a sense of control over one's environment, may mitigate negative aspects of SWS. PURPOSE: We investigated whether mastery moderated the association between SWS and pulse wave velocity (PWV), the gold standard measure of arterial stiffness linked to cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. METHODS: Participants were N = 368 early middle-aged (30-45 years old) Black women from the southeastern USA who completed the 35-item Giscombé Superwoman Schema Questionnaire and Ryff's 14-item environmental mastery scale. Carotid-femoral PWV was assessed using the SphygmoCor device. Linear regression models examined the main and interactive associations of SWS and mastery on PWV, adjusting for age, education, income, body mass index, smoking status, blood pressure, and antihypertensive medication use. RESULTS: Analyses revealed a significant overall SWS endorsement by mastery interaction [β = -.11, P = .02], such that SWS was positively associated with higher PWV only when mastery was low. Three SWS dimensions drove this association: SWS strength, SWS suppress emotions, and SWS resistance to vulnerability (all P-values < .05) showing similar patterns to the overall SWS interaction with mastery. CONCLUSIONS: In Black women, high endorsement of SWS is associated with greater arterial stiffness when environmental mastery is low. Thus, SWS may be more physiologically taxing when one senses less control over their environment.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The power of smiles: mitigating pain through facial expression

  The Journal of Positive Psychology · 2025-02-09

  articleSenior author

  Smiling, a facial expression observed surprisingly often during the experience of acute pain, may play a pivotal role in shaping physiological and psychological responses. This study explores the influence of smiling on objective (i.e., heart rate) and subjective responses (i.e., pain reports and state affect) during a painful cold temperature task (N = 57, Mage = 20.80, SD = 1.50). Participants who spontaneously smiled during the painful task had lower heart rates throughout the study and reported higher levels of positive affect during recovery from pain. By examining the significance of this facial expression, this study offers valuable insights into ways in which smiling contributes to the promotion of positive physiological and psychological outcomes within the challenging context of pain.

  PublisherDOI

• Biological, environmental, and psychological stress and the human gut microbiome in healthy adults

  Scientific Reports · 2025-01-02 · 19 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Emerging research suggests that the gut microbiome plays a crucial role in stress. We assess stress-microbiome associations in two samples of healthy adults across three stress domains (perceived stress, stressful life events, and biological stress /Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia; RSA). Study 1 (n = 62; mean-age = 37.3 years; 68% female) and Study 2 (n = 74; mean-age = 41.6 years; female only) measured RSA during laboratory stressors and used 16S rRNA pyrosequencing to classify gut microbial composition from fecal samples. Phylogenetic Investigation of Communities by Reconstruction of Unobserved States was used to predict functional pathways of metagenomes. Results showed differences in beta diversity between high and low stressful life events groups across both studies. Study 1 revealed differences in beta diversity between high and low RSA groups. In Study 1, the low perceived stress group was higher in alpha diversity than the high perceived stress group. Levels of Clostridium were negatively associated with RSA in Study 1 and levels Escherichia/Shigella were positively associated with perceived stress in Study 2. Associations between microbial functional pathways (L-lysine production and formaldehyde absorption) and RSA are discussed. Findings suggest that certain features of the gut microbiome are differentially associated with each stress domain.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Investigating Associations Between Neighborhood Characteristics and Fear Learning Processes in Female Survivors of Childhood Abuse

  Psychophysiology · 2025-12-01

  article

  Survivors of childhood abuse are at greater risk for a wide range of health disorders in adulthood, which is posited to occur in part through alterations to threat-related processes such as fear learning. Neighborhood characteristics such as area disadvantage and exposure to neighborhood crime are associated with threat processing in trauma-exposed individuals; however, their relationship with fear learning has not been studied to date. This study assessed relationships between three measures of neighborhood safety (neighborhood disadvantage, crime exposure, and self-reported neighborhood safety in childhood) with three established markers of fear learning (fear/safety discrimination, startle habituation, and fear extinction). A sample of N = 92 individuals assigned female at birth with varying levels of exposure to childhood abuse completed an established fear-potentiated startle task and reported their lifetime trauma history, as well as a brief measure of perceived neighborhood safety. The Trauma History Questionnaire (THQ) was used to identify the year and zip code of residence of their earliest abuse exposure; this was then used to identify census-derived indices for neighborhood disadvantage and neighborhood crime. Results showed that higher levels of neighborhood disadvantage were significantly associated with poorer fear/safety discrimination in adulthood (ß = -0.39, p = 0.03), and that this relationship remained significant after adjusting for the severity of childhood abuse (ß = -0.28, p = 0.01). Additionally, greater neighborhood disadvantage was associated with slightly blunted initial startle values during habituation (ß = -0.01, p = 0.03). No significant relationships were found between other neighborhood variables and markers of fear learning. These findings demonstrate the need for greater research into how neighborhood characteristics may influence recovery from traumatic experiences, particularly in terms of their influence on fear learning and memory processes.

  PublisherDOI

• Digital Meditation to Target Employee Stress

  JAMA Network Open · 2025-01-14 · 7 citations

  articleOpen access

  Importance: Mindfulness meditation may improve well-being among employees; however, effects of digital meditation programs are poorly understood. Objective: To evaluate the effects of digital meditation vs a waiting list condition on general and work-specific stress and whether greater engagement in the intervention moderates these effects. Design, Setting, and Participants: This randomized clinical trial included a volunteer sample of adults (aged ≥18 years) employed at a large academic medical center who reported mild to moderate stress, had regular access to a web-connected device, and were fluent in English. Exclusion criteria included being a regular meditator. Participants were recruited from May 16, 2018, through September 28, 2019, and completed baseline, 8-week, and 4-month measures assessing stress, job strain, burnout, work engagement, mindfulness, depression, and anxiety. Data were analyzed from March 2023 to October 2024. Intervention: Participants were randomized 1:1 to a digital meditation program or the waiting list control condition. Participants in the intervention group were instructed to complete 10 minutes of meditation per day for 8 weeks. The control group was instructed to continue their normal activities and not add any meditation during the study period. Main Outcomes and Measures: The primary outcome measure was change in Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) score at 8 weeks. Secondary outcome measures included changes in job strain, measured as work effort-reward imbalance. Results: A total of 1458 participants (mean [SD] age, 35.54 [10.30] years; 1178 [80.80%] female) were included. Those randomized to meditation (n = 728) vs waiting list (n = 730) showed improvements in PSS (Cohen d, 0.85; 95% CI, 0.73-0.96) and in all secondary outcome measures (eg, job strain: Cohen d, 0.34; 95% CI, 0.23-0.46) at 8 weeks. These improvements were maintained at 4 months after randomization (PSS: Cohen d, 0.71; 95% CI, 0.59-0.84; job strain: Cohen d, 0.37; 95% CI, 0.25-0.50). Those using the app from 5 to 9.9 min/d vs less than 5 min/d showed greater reduction in stress (mean PSS score difference, -6.58; 95% CI, -7.44 to -5.73). Conclusions and Relevance: The findings suggest that a brief, digital mindfulness-based program is an easily accessible and scalable method for reducing perceptions of stress. Future work should seek to clarify mechanisms by which such interventions contribute to improvements in work-specific well-being. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03527303.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Su1911 BIOLOGOCAL, ENVIRONMENTAL, AND PSYCHOLOGICAL STRESS AND THE HUMAN GUT MICROBIOME

  Gastroenterology · 2024-05-01

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Positive affect and health: past, present, and future scientific endeavors

  Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks · 2024-07-16 · 1 citations

  book-chapterSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Brief report: perseverative cognition and behaviors during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic

  Cogent Psychology · 2024-04-04 · 1 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Objective: the onset of the coViD-19 pandemic engendered a host of different behavioral responses in key areas such as resource purchasing and compliance with coViD regulations.this study explores why participation in these behaviors may have varied by examining the role of perseverative cognition (i.e., worry, rumination).Method: a representative sample of U.s. adults (N = 230, M age = 45.4,50% female) was recruited online early in the coViD-19 pandemic (June 2020), approximately three months into safety-related school and business shutdowns.Participants completed a series of questionnaires on coViD-19-related worry, non-specific rumination, and a range of behaviors observed during the early stages of the pandemic (e.g., excessive shopping, purchasing guns, following isolation guidelines).exploratory principal axis factoring and reliability studies of the newly created coViD-19 worry and behavior scales were performed, followed by an examination of the associations between worrying, ruminating and coViD-19-related early behaviors.Results: coViD-related worry and reflective rumination were positively associated with purchasing behavior (i.e., purchasing household items, items for security, and items for entertainment).coViD-related worry was also positively associated with compliance behavior (i.e., watching the news, following government directives strictly, and staying home but contacting family and friends remotely).Brooding rumination was not significantly associated with either type of behavior.Conclusions: Perseverative cognition can help explain patterns in coViD-related behaviors, what motivated differences in these behaviors and, thereby, help explain how people coped during this trying time.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Susan A. Everson‐Rose

  University of Minnesota

  733 shared

• Kimberly M. Henderson

  Mayo Clinic

  733 shared

• Cari J. Clark

  Emory University

  705 shared

• Yori Gidron

  University of Haifa

  697 shared

• Peter Allebeck

  Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation

  671 shared

• Laura Rodriguez‐Murillo

  Columbia University Irving Medical Center

  553 shared

• Olveen Carrasquillo

  535 shared

• Rany M. Salem

  University of California, San Diego

  523 shared

Education

• MS and PhD, Psychology

  Carnegie Mellon University

  2006