Drought-compounded stress and immune function in Kenyan pastoralist boys and girls occupying contrasting climate zones
Background and aim We provide ethnographic, photovoice, and psychosocial stress data (food and water insecurity, potentially traumatic events, stress biomarkers) documenting the joys, hazards, and stressors of adolescents engaging in climate-sensitive pastoralist livelihoods in a global climate chan...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Taylor & Francis Group
2025-12-01
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| Series: | Annals of Human Biology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/03014460.2025.2455698 |
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| author | Bilinda Straight Charles E. Hilton Charles Owuor Olungah Belinda L. Needham Erica Tyler Lora Iannotti Theodore Zava Melanie A. Martin Eleanor Brindle |
| author_facet | Bilinda Straight Charles E. Hilton Charles Owuor Olungah Belinda L. Needham Erica Tyler Lora Iannotti Theodore Zava Melanie A. Martin Eleanor Brindle |
| author_sort | Bilinda Straight |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background and aim We provide ethnographic, photovoice, and psychosocial stress data (food and water insecurity, potentially traumatic events, stress biomarkers) documenting the joys, hazards, and stressors of adolescents engaging in climate-sensitive pastoralist livelihoods in a global climate change hot spot. We aim to holistically capture socio-environmental relationships characterised by climate sensitive livelihoods and forms of precarity exacerbated by climate change.Subjects and methods Qualitative and quantitative methods were integrated to understand the embodied toll of hazards that Samburu pastoralists faced based on a sample of 161 young people. Quantitatively, we tested for associations of psychosocial stressors with both psychological distress and cell-mediated immune function (assessed through differences in IgG antibodies to Epstein-Barr virus).Results Qualitatively, young Samburu reported drought, food and water insecurity, wildlife encounters, and war exposure. Girls overall endorsed more posttraumatic stress symptoms, although boys reported relatively more stressors; girls overall and young people in the hotter subregion manifested more immune dysregulation.Conclusion In spite of important differences between climate subregions, the common elements throughout the Samburu pastoralist leanscape include food and water insecurity and overall precarity exacerbated by drought and climate change. Community-driven interventions are needed to reduce precarity for young people pursuing pastoralist livelihoods. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-8707a041f7484d438a8eb2d1605f99f2 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 0301-4460 1464-5033 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-12-01 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Annals of Human Biology |
| spelling | doaj-art-8707a041f7484d438a8eb2d1605f99f22025-08-20T02:30:00ZengTaylor & Francis GroupAnnals of Human Biology0301-44601464-50332025-12-0152110.1080/03014460.2025.2455698Drought-compounded stress and immune function in Kenyan pastoralist boys and girls occupying contrasting climate zonesBilinda Straight0Charles E. Hilton1Charles Owuor Olungah2Belinda L. Needham3Erica Tyler4Lora Iannotti5Theodore Zava6Melanie A. Martin7Eleanor Brindle8School of Environment, Geography, and Sustainability, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan, USADepartment of Anthropology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USAInstitute of Anthropology, Gender, and African Studies, University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya;Epidemiology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USADepartment of Anthropology, University at Albany – State University of New York, Albany, New York, USABrown School, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, USAZRT Laboratory, Beaverton, Oregon, USAAnthropology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USAPATH Integrated Maternal and Child Health and Development & the DHS Program, Washington, DC, USABackground and aim We provide ethnographic, photovoice, and psychosocial stress data (food and water insecurity, potentially traumatic events, stress biomarkers) documenting the joys, hazards, and stressors of adolescents engaging in climate-sensitive pastoralist livelihoods in a global climate change hot spot. We aim to holistically capture socio-environmental relationships characterised by climate sensitive livelihoods and forms of precarity exacerbated by climate change.Subjects and methods Qualitative and quantitative methods were integrated to understand the embodied toll of hazards that Samburu pastoralists faced based on a sample of 161 young people. Quantitatively, we tested for associations of psychosocial stressors with both psychological distress and cell-mediated immune function (assessed through differences in IgG antibodies to Epstein-Barr virus).Results Qualitatively, young Samburu reported drought, food and water insecurity, wildlife encounters, and war exposure. Girls overall endorsed more posttraumatic stress symptoms, although boys reported relatively more stressors; girls overall and young people in the hotter subregion manifested more immune dysregulation.Conclusion In spite of important differences between climate subregions, the common elements throughout the Samburu pastoralist leanscape include food and water insecurity and overall precarity exacerbated by drought and climate change. Community-driven interventions are needed to reduce precarity for young people pursuing pastoralist livelihoods.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/03014460.2025.2455698Adolescentsclimate stressEpstein-Barr virus (EBV) antibodiesKenya |
| spellingShingle | Bilinda Straight Charles E. Hilton Charles Owuor Olungah Belinda L. Needham Erica Tyler Lora Iannotti Theodore Zava Melanie A. Martin Eleanor Brindle Drought-compounded stress and immune function in Kenyan pastoralist boys and girls occupying contrasting climate zones Annals of Human Biology Adolescents climate stress Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) antibodies Kenya |
| title | Drought-compounded stress and immune function in Kenyan pastoralist boys and girls occupying contrasting climate zones |
| title_full | Drought-compounded stress and immune function in Kenyan pastoralist boys and girls occupying contrasting climate zones |
| title_fullStr | Drought-compounded stress and immune function in Kenyan pastoralist boys and girls occupying contrasting climate zones |
| title_full_unstemmed | Drought-compounded stress and immune function in Kenyan pastoralist boys and girls occupying contrasting climate zones |
| title_short | Drought-compounded stress and immune function in Kenyan pastoralist boys and girls occupying contrasting climate zones |
| title_sort | drought compounded stress and immune function in kenyan pastoralist boys and girls occupying contrasting climate zones |
| topic | Adolescents climate stress Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) antibodies Kenya |
| url | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/03014460.2025.2455698 |
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