Testing the ecological validity of the Trier Social Stress Test: Association with real-life exam stress

PSYCHONEUROENDOCRINOLOGY

卷:75

Article

Henze, Gina-Isabelle¹  Zaenkert, Sandra¹  Urschler, David F.¹  Hiltl, Tanja J.¹  Kudielka, Brigitte M.¹  Pruessner, Jens C.²  Wuest, Stefan¹ 

[1] Univ Regensburg, Inst Expt Psychol, Univ Str 31, D-93053 Regensburg, Germany

[2] McGill Univ, Dept Psychol, 845 Rue Sherbrooke O, Montreal, PQ H3A 0G4, Canada

关键词: Acute stress responses;    HPA axis;    Salivary cortisol;    Positive/negative affect;    Real-life stress;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.psyneuen.2016.10.002

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

The Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) is the most widely used laboratory stress protocol in psychoneuroendocrinology. Despite its popularity, surprisingly few attempts have been made to explore the ecological validity of the TSST. In the present study, 31 young healthy subjects (24 females) were exposed to the TSST about 4 weeks before completing an oral exam on a separate day. Salivary cortisol levels increased significantly in response to both stimuli (TSST: F(2.21, 66.33) =5.73, p =0.004; oral exam: F(1.98, 59.28)=4.38, p =0.017) with similar mean response curves and significant correlations between cortisol increases and areas under the response curves (increase: r=0.67; AUC: r =0.56; both p <= 0.01). Correspondingly, changes in positive and negative affect did also show significant correlations between conditions (increase: positive affect: r =0.36; negative affect: r=0.50; both: p <= 0.05; AUC: positive affect: r =0.81; negative affect: r =0.70; both p <= 0.01) while mean time course dynamics were significantly different (positive affect: F(2.55, 76.60)=10.15, p =0.001; negative affect: F(1.56, 46.82) =23.32, p =0.001), indicating that the oral exam had a more pronounced impact on affect than the TSST. Our findings provide new evidence for the view that cortisol as well as subjective stress responses to the TSST are indeed significantly associated with acute stress responses in real life. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

【 授权许可】

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