Allostatic load profiles, resilience, and psychosocial adaptation in young adults

Allostatic load (AL) reflects the cumulative physiological burden on the body, quantified using biomarkers across multiple systems. The current study identified latent AL profiles in young adults and examined whether resilience moderates associations between AL and depressive symptoms, social functioning, and role functioning.

A total of 165 nonclinical young adults (84 women; aged 19-30 years) provided data on 15 biomarkers spanning the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, oxidative stress, inflammatory-immune, lipid/glucose-metabolic, and renal systems, which were z-standardized. Latent profile analysis was conducted using the mclust package in R. Moderated regression models examined depressive symptoms, social functioning, and role functioning as outcomes of AL profile, resilience, and their interaction, adjusting for age, sex, and cognitive ability. Percentile bootstrap confidence intervals were estimated (R = 5,000).

A two-profile solution was retained based on classification quality and interpretability, yielding control and higher-dysregulation profiles (n = 132 and n = 33, respectively; entropy = 0.965; average posterior probability = 0.993). The higher-dysregulation profile showed relatively elevated dysregulation, particularly in inflammatory-immune and lipid/glucose-metabolic markers. Resilience was inversely associated with depressive symptoms [b = -0.138, p < 0.001, 95% CI (-0.199, -0.079)], and a significant AL profile × resilience interaction [b = -0.335, p < 0.001, 95% CI (-0.645, -0.055)] indicated that this association was stronger in the higher-dysregulation group. A similar interaction was observed for social functioning (b = 0.038, p < 0.001, 95% CI [0.003, 0.063]), whereas the interaction for role functioning was not significant.

These findings suggest that person-centered AL profiles capture heterogeneous physiological risk patterns. Resilience showed stronger associations with lower depressive symptoms and better social functioning among individuals with relatively greater physiological dysregulation, highlighting profile-dependent links between psychological resilience and psychosocial adaptation in young adulthood.