scholarly journals Gay men’s stress response to a general and a specific social stressor

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank A. Sattler ◽  
Urs M. Nater ◽  
Ricarda Mewes
Keyword(s):  
Gay Men ◽  
Perceived Stress ◽  
Stress Responses ◽  
Stress Test ◽  
Emotional Dysregulation ◽  
Trier Social Stress Test ◽  
Time Points ◽  
Mindfulness Skills ◽  
General Stress ◽  
Social Stressor

AbstractGay men show altered psychobiological stress responses and exhibit a higher prevalence of mental disorders than their heterosexual counterparts. Both of these findings are likely due to gay-specific discrimination. Since it has not yet been determined whether gay-specific stress is more noxious than general stress, we tested whether gay men react more strongly to gay-specific socially stressful stimuli than to general socially stressful stimuli. N = 33 self-identified gay men (mean = 26.12 years of age, SD = 5.89), 63.6% of whom were in a relationship with a man, participated in an experimental within-group study, in which they were exposed to the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) as well as a gay-specific TSST in a randomized order. Salivary cortisol and testosterone were assessed at five time points during the laboratory tests and perceived stress was assessed at four time points. According to psychobiological and perceived stress indices, the participants reacted similarly to a gay-specific and general social stressor. There were no significant differences in the outcomes, either when looking at pre–post-test differences or when comparing the overall stress responses. Given that the response to a gay-specific social stressor was equally pronounced as the one to a general social stressor, programs aiming to decrease minority stress but overlooking general stress are likely to yield only partial improvements in gay men’s mental health. Instead, we suggest helping gay men cope with both forms of stress through building social support, assertiveness, and mindfulness skills, as well as decreasing emotional dysregulation.

scholarly journals Olfactory Cues from Romantic Partners and Strangers Moderate Stress Responses

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marlise Hofer ◽  
Hanne K. Collins ◽  
Ashley Whillans ◽  
Frances Chen
Keyword(s):  
Perceived Stress ◽  
Stress Responses ◽  
Social Stress ◽  
Stress Test ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Romantic Partners ◽  
Trier Social Stress Test ◽  
Olfactory Cues ◽  
Romantic Attraction ◽  
Mediation Analyses

The scent of another person can activate memories, trigger emotions, and spark romantic attraction; however, almost nothing is known about whether and how human scents influence responses to stress. In the current study, ninety-six participants were randomly assigned to smell one of three scents (their romantic partner’s, a stranger’s, or a clean scent) and were exposed to an acute stressor (Trier Social Stress Test). Perceived stress was lowest for participants who were exposed to their partner’s shirt. Cortisol levels were highest for participants who were exposed to a stranger’s shirt. Mediation analyses indicated that the initial elevated perceived stress experienced by people exposed to a stranger’s scent (versus their partner’s scent) explained differences in the cortisol responses between the two groups. The current work speaks to the critical role of human olfactory cues in social communication and reveals that the scent of other people impacts both psychological and physiological reactions to stress.

Meta-analysis of the effectiveness of the Trier Social Stress Test in eliciting physiological stress responses in children and adolescents

2020 ◽  
Vol 116 ◽  
pp. 104582 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica A. Seddon ◽  
Violeta J. Rodriguez ◽  
Yannick Provencher ◽  
Jacquelyn Raftery-Helmer ◽  
Jacqueline Hersh ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Children And Adolescents ◽  
Stress Responses ◽  
Social Stress ◽  
Physiological Stress ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Stress Test ◽  
Trier Social Stress Test

scholarly journals Sex Differences in Endocrine and Psychological Responses to Psychosocial Stress in Healthy Elderly Subjects and the Impact of a 2-Week Dehydroepiandrosterone Treatment1

1998 ◽  
Vol 83 (5) ◽  
pp. 1756-1761 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brigitte M. Kudielka ◽  
Juliane Hellhammer ◽  
Dirk H. Hellhammer ◽  
Oliver T. Wolf ◽  
Karl-Martin Pirke ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sex Differences ◽  
Stress Responses ◽  
Psychosocial Stress ◽  
Stress Test ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Trier Social Stress Test ◽  
Elderly Subjects ◽  
Healthy Elderly ◽  
Free Cortisol ◽  
The Impact

Evidence from animal as well as human studies has suggested that significant sex differences exist in hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) activity. As gonadal steroids could be important modulators of HPA sex differences, stress responses were investigated in subjects of advanced age after dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) or placebo treatment. After a 2-week treatment with 50 mg DHEA daily or placebo, 75 men and women (mean age, 67.6 yr) were exposed to the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST). The TSST is a brief psychosocial stress that consists of a free speech and mental arithmetic task in front of an audience. The results show that the TSST induced significant increases in ACTH, salivary free cortisol, total plasma cortisol, norepinephrine, and heart rates (all P < 0.0001) as well as decreased positive affect in the elderly (P = 0.0009). Men showed larger stress responses in ACTH (P = 0.004), salivary free cortisol (P = 0.044), and plasma total cortisol (P = 0.076) compared to women. No sex differences were observed in norepinephrine, epinephrine, or heart rate responses. In contrast to ACTH and cortisol response differences, women reported that they were significantly more stressed by the TSST than men (P = 0.0051). Women treated with DHEA showed ACTH stress responses similar to those of men, but significantly enhanced compared to those of women taking placebos (P < 0.009). No other stress response differences emerged between DHEA and placebo groups. Finally, DHEA treatment did not result in an improvement of subjective well-being. We conclude that elderly men show larger HPA responses than women to psychosocial stress, as studied in the TSST. Estrogen effects on hypothalamic CRF-producing neurons might be responsible for these sex differences.

Effects of d-amphetamine upon psychosocial stress responses

2016 ◽  
Vol 30 (7) ◽  
pp. 608-615 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emma Childs ◽  
Anya K Bershad ◽  
Harriet de Wit
Keyword(s):  
Stress Responses ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Psychosocial Stress ◽  
Social Stress ◽  
Stress Test ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Cognitive Appraisals ◽  
Trier Social Stress Test ◽  
Laboratory Animals ◽  
Double Blind

Psychostimulant drugs alter the salience of stimuli in both laboratory animals and humans. In animals, stimulants increase rates of responding to conditioned incentive stimuli, and in humans, amphetamine increases positive ratings of emotional images. However, the effects of stimulants on real-life emotional events have not been studied in humans. In this study, we examined the effect of d-amphetamine on responses to acute psychosocial stress using a public speaking task. Healthy volunteers ( N=56) participated in two experimental sessions, one with a psychosocial stressor (the Trier Social Stress Test) and one with a non-stressful control task. They were randomly assigned to receive d-amphetamine (5 mg n=18, 10 mg n=20) or placebo ( n=18) on both sessions under double blind conditions. Salivary cortisol, subjective mood, and vital signs were measured at regular intervals during the session. Subjects also provided cognitive appraisals of the tasks before and after their performances. Amphetamine produced its expected mood and physiological effects, and the Trier Social Stress Test produced its expected effects on cortisol and mood. Although neither dose of amphetamine altered cardiovascular or hormonal responses to stress, amphetamine (10 mg) increased participants’ pre-task appraisals of how challenging the task would be, and it increased post-task ratings of self-efficacy. Paradoxically, it also increased ratings of how stressful the task was, and prolonged aversive emotional responses. These findings suggest that amphetamine differentially affects stress response components: it may increase participants’ appraisals of self-efficacy without dampening the direct emotional or physiological responses to the stress.

scholarly journals Working Memory Performance Under Stress

2020 ◽  
Vol 67 (2) ◽  
pp. 132-139
Author(s):  
Petra Luers ◽  
Malgorzata Schloeffel ◽  
Jens C. Prüssner
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Stress Responses ◽  
Social Stress ◽  
Acute Stress ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Stress Test ◽  
Trier Social Stress Test ◽  
Before And After ◽  
The Individual ◽  
And Function

Abstract. Acute stress and chronic stress change the physiology and function of the individual. As one facet, stress and its neuroendocrine correlates – with glucocorticoids in particular – modulate memory in a concerted action. With respect to working memory, impairing effects of acute stress and increased levels of glucocorticoids could be expected, but empirical evidence on moderating effects of cortisol on working memory is ambiguous in human studies. In the current study, we thus aimed to investigate cortisol stress responses and memory performance. Older men and women (32 men, 43 women, aged 61–67 years) underwent the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) and performed the 2-back task before and after exposure to acute stress. In line with theoretical assumptions, we found that higher cortisol stress responses led to a decline of working memory performance in men. However, the opposite was evident for women, who appeared to benefit from higher stress responses. This effect was evident for accuracy, but not for reaction time. In conclusion, cortisol might mediate working memory alterations with stress in a sex-specific manner in older people. Possible mechanisms and causes for these sex differences put a focus on endocrine changes in the aging population that might lead to differential effects across the lifespan.

Endocrinological and subjective stress responses in children with depressive, anxiety, or externalizing disorders

2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 605-622 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie Stadelmann ◽  
Sonia Jaeger ◽  
Tina Matuschek ◽  
Yoon Ju Bae ◽  
Kai von Klitzing ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Psychiatric Disorders ◽  
Stress Responses ◽  
Stress Test ◽  
Externalizing Disorders ◽  
Trier Social Stress Test ◽  
Stressful Event ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Subjective Stress ◽  
Negative Thoughts ◽  
Before And After

AbstractIn this study, we used a stress test to investigate endocrinological and subjective stress responses of 8- to 14-year-old children with internalizing or externalizing disorders and healthy controls. The sample (N = 170) consisted of clinical and community children. Parents were given a diagnostic interview to diagnose their children's psychiatric condition. We measured saliva cortisol and subjectively experienced arousal in children before and after the Trier Social Stress Test for Children. Children also rated their performance immediately after the stress test, and 1 hr later they rated their positive and negative thoughts about this stressful event. Children with internalizing or externalizing disorders exhibited a blunted cortisol response compared to healthy controls. Depressed children rated their test performance lower and reported more negative thoughts after the test in comparison to healthy controls, anxious children reported more arousal before and after the task, and children with externalizing disorders reported more positive thoughts. In regression analyses, cortisol and subjective stress responses were both predictive of psychiatric disorders. The study extends previous work on the relation between psychiatric disorders and children's stress responses to an experimentally induced stress task by including a broad range of psychiatric disorders and by integrating endocrinological and subjective stress responses.

Adolescent girls’ stress responses as prospective predictors of self-injurious thoughts and behaviors: A person-centered, multilevel study

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Jason José Bendezú ◽  
Casey D. Calhoun ◽  
Megan W. Patterson ◽  
Abigail Findley ◽  
Karen D. Rudolph ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Adolescent Girls ◽  
Stress Responses ◽  
Social Stress ◽  
Stress Test ◽  
Trier Social Stress Test ◽  
Affective Valence ◽  
Multiple Systems ◽  
Adolescent Risk ◽  
And Behaviors

Abstract Adolescent risk for self-injurious thoughts and behaviors (STBs) involves disturbance across multiple systems (e.g., affective valence, arousal regulatory, cognitive and social processes). However, research integrating information across these systems is lacking. Utilizing a multiple-levels-of-analysis approach, this person-centered study identified psychobiological stress response profiles and linked them to cognitive processes, interpersonal behaviors, and STBs. At baseline, adolescent girls (N = 241, Mage = 14.68 years, Range = 12–17) at risk for STBs completed the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST), questionnaires, and STB interviews. Positive affect (PA), negative affect (NA), and salivary cortisol (SC) were assessed before and after the TSST. STBs were assessed again during 3, 6, and 9 month follow-up interviews. Multitrajectory modeling of girls’ PA, NA, and SC revealed four profiles, which were compared on cognitive and behavioral correlates as well as STB outcomes. Relative to normative, girls in the affective distress, hyperresponsive, and hyporesponsive subgroups were more likely to report negative cognitive style (all three groups) and excessive reassurance seeking (hyporesponsive only) at baseline, as well as nonsuicidal self-injury (all three groups) and suicidal ideation and attempt (hyporesponsive only) at follow-up. Girls’ close friendship characteristics moderated several profile–STB links. A synthesis of the findings is presented alongside implications for person-centered tailoring of intervention efforts.

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