scholarly journals Worldview Under Stress: Preliminary Findings on Cardiovascular and Cortisol Stress Responses Predicted by Secularity, Religiosity, Spirituality, and Existential Search

2020 ◽  
Vol 59 (6) ◽  
pp. 2969-2989 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tatjana Schnell ◽  
Dietmar Fuchs ◽  
René Hefti
Keyword(s):  
Stress Responses ◽  
Social Stress ◽  
Physiological Stress ◽  
Stress Test ◽  
Recovery Period ◽  
Trier Social Stress Test ◽  
Stress Resilience ◽  
Cardiovascular Stress ◽  
Cortisol Responses ◽  
Positive Correlations

AbstractThis study reports preliminary findings on the hypothesis that worldview can predict cardiovascular and cortisol responses to social stress. Based on theory and previous findings, we assumed that worldview security would provide a basis for stress resilience. Accordingly, religious and atheist individuals were expected to show higher stress resilience than spiritual and agnostic participants. Likewise, dimensional measures of religiosity and atheism were hypothesized to predict decreased, and existential search—indicating worldview insecurity—was hypothesized to predict increased physiological stress responses. Subjects included 50 university students who completed online questionnaires and took part in a standardized social stress test (Trier Social Stress Test). Systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP/DBP), heart rate (HR), and salivary cortisol (SC) were assessed at baseline, immediately after stress testing, and during a forty-minute recovery period. Worldview comparisons revealed lower cardiovascular stress responses among religious than among atheist and spiritual participants and particularly high baseline SC among spiritual participants. Across the entire sample, existential search showed substantial positive correlations with SBP, HR, and SC stress parameters. The findings suggest that worldview security might partly explain the health benefits often associated with religion.

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

The Impact of Stress on Odor Perception

Perception ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 46 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 366-376 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthias Hoenen ◽  
Oliver T. Wolf ◽  
Bettina M. Pause
Keyword(s):  
Stress Responses ◽  
Social Stress ◽  
Physiological Stress ◽  
Stress Test ◽  
Odor Identification ◽  
Trier Social Stress Test ◽  
University Of Pennsylvania ◽  
Control Session ◽  
Identification Performance ◽  
The Impact

The olfactory system and emotional systems are highly intervened and share common neuronal structures. The current study investigates whether emotional (e.g., anger and fear) and physiological (saliva cortisol) stress responses are associated with odor identification ability and hedonic odor judgments (intensity, pleasantness, and unpleasantness). Nineteen men participated in the modified Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) and a control session (cycling on a stationary bike). The physiological arousal was similar in both sessions. In each session, participants’ odor identification score was assessed using the University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test, and their transient mood was recorded on the dimensions of valence, arousal, anger, and anxiety. Multivariate regression analyses show that an increase of cortisol in the TSST session (as compared with the control session) is associated with better odor identification performance (β = .491) and higher odor intensity ratings (β = .562). However, increased anger in the TSST session (as compared with the control session) is associated with lower odor identification performance (β = −.482). The study shows divergent effects of the emotional and the physiological stress responses, indicating that an increase of cortisol is associated with better odor identification performance, whereas increased anger is associated with poorer odor identification performance.

scholarly journals Gender Differences in Stress Responses during a Virtual Reality Trier Social Stress Test

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Santl ◽  
Youssef Shiban ◽  
Andreas Plab ◽  
Stefan Wüst ◽  
Brigitte M. Kudielka ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gender Differences ◽  
Heart Rate ◽  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Stress Responses ◽  
Social Stress ◽  
Electrodermal Activity ◽  
Stress Test ◽  
Trier Social Stress Test ◽  
Cortisol Responses ◽  
Electrodermal Reactivity

The Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) is commonly used to induce stress in laboratories by instructing participants to deliver a speech and to solve arithmetic tasks in front of a committee. Its implementation in virtual reality (VR) enables an investigation of stress responses under highly standardized controllable conditions. The aim of this study was to compare stress responses among men and women in a VR version of the TSST (VR-TSST). To this end, 16 women taking oral contraceptives and 16 men underwent the VR-TSST in a modified version including a competitor. Stress ratings, heart rate, electrodermal reactivity, and salivary cortisol responses were analyzed. The VR-TSST induced endocrine, peripher-physiological and self-reported stress responses, indicated by a significant increase in heart rate, electrodermal activity and stress ratings as well as a small but significant cortisol response. Significant gender differences were found only for stress ratings. In conclusion, these findings confirm earlier results that VR is suitable to induce social stress both in males and females.

scholarly journals Enduring effect of childhood maltreatment on cortisol and heart rate responses to stress: The moderating role of severity of experiences

2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (02) ◽  
pp. 497-508 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabelle Ouellet-Morin ◽  
Marie-Pier Robitaille ◽  
Stéphanie Langevin ◽  
Christina Cantave ◽  
Mara Brendgen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Heart Rate ◽  
Stress Responses ◽  
Childhood Maltreatment ◽  
Social Stress ◽  
Mental Health Problems ◽  
Stress Test ◽  
Sociodemographic Factors ◽  
Trier Social Stress Test ◽  
Related Factors ◽  
Cortisol Responses

AbstractThere is a relative consensus about the detrimental impact of childhood maltreatment on later mental health problems and behavioral difficulties. Prior research suggests that neurophysiological stress mechanisms may partly mediate this association. However, inconsistent findings regarding hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and sympathetic responses to stress complicate this investigation. Furthermore, the concordance in these two stress systems is not well understood. We tested whether the severity of maltreatment affected the association between maltreatment and cortisol and heart rate (HR) stress responses and the symmetry of these responses. Participants were 155 males (56 maltreated and 99 controls) aged 18 to 35 years. Cortisol and HR were measured in response to the Trier Social Stress Test. Childhood maltreatment, sociodemographic factors, and health-related factors were measured using self-reported questionnaires. Maltreated participants had higher cortisol responses to stress in comparison to controls. However, a shift from moderate to lower to higher cortisol responses was noted as the severity of the experiences increased. Participants exposed to more experiences of maltreatment also showed a greater symmetry between cortisol and HR stress responses. Our findings provide further support for persistent dysregulation of the HPA axis following childhood maltreatment, of which the expression and symmetry with the sympathetic system may change according to the severity of experiences.

scholarly journals Childhood Adversities and Salivary Cortisol Responses to the Trier Social Stress Test: A Systematic Review of Studies Using the Children Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ)

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 29
Author(s):  
Chuk Ling Julian Lai ◽  
Daryl Yu Heng Lee ◽  
Monique On Yee Leung
Keyword(s):  
Salivary Cortisol ◽  
Social Stress ◽  
Stress Test ◽  
Trier Social Stress Test ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Cortisol Response ◽  
Childhood Adversities ◽  
Social Stressors ◽  
Childhood Trauma Questionnaire ◽  
Cortisol Responses

Alteration in cortisol response to acute social stressors has been hypothesized to mediate childhood adversities (CA) and increased morbidity in adulthood. However, the evidence supporting an association between CA and cortisol response to social stressors is inconclusive. The present review addressed this issue by reviewing the literature on CA and cortisol response to acute social stressors, with a focus on studies with adolescents or adults, using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) to assess CA, and examining salivary cortisol response to the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST). Systematic searches of relevant articles in PsycINFO, PubMed, Web of Science and ScienceDirect in February and March 2020 identified 12 articles including 1196 participants with mean ages ranging from 15.3 to 52.3 yrs. across studies. CTQ scores were significantly associated with cortisol response in 2 studies. In addition, the physical abuse and emotional neglect subscales were associated with cortisol response respectively in 2 separate studies. The lack of association between CA and cortisol response calls for more longitudinal studies, and the use of formal records of maltreatment or informant reports in future research to complement information collected by retrospective measures. In addition, increased attention to biological mechanisms other than that associated with the regulation of cortisol in explaining the connection between CA and psychiatry morbidity is warranted.

The ‘Trier Social Stress Test’ – A Tool for Investigating Psychobiological Stress Responses in a Laboratory Setting

1993 ◽  
Vol 28 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 76-81 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clemens Kirschbaum ◽  
Karl-Martin Pirke ◽  
Dirk H. Hellhammer
Keyword(s):  
Stress Responses ◽  
Social Stress ◽  
Stress Test ◽  
Trier Social Stress Test ◽  
Laboratory Setting

scholarly journals Brief cognitive intervention can modulate neuroendocrine stress responses to the Trier Social Stress Test: Buffering effects of a compassionate goal orientation

2014 ◽  
Vol 44 ◽  
pp. 60-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
James L. Abelson ◽  
Thane M. Erickson ◽  
Stefanie E. Mayer ◽  
Jennifer Crocker ◽  
Hedieh Briggs ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Goal Orientation ◽  
Stress Responses ◽  
Social Stress ◽  
Stress Test ◽  
Cognitive Intervention ◽  
Trier Social Stress Test ◽  
Buffering Effects

scholarly journals Validation of an Electrochemical Sensor to Detect Cortisol Responses to the Trier Social Stress Test

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 100263
Author(s):  
Guido G. Urizar ◽  
Hugo Sanchez Hernandez ◽  
Jessica Rayo ◽  
Shekhar Bhansali
Keyword(s):  
Electrochemical Sensor ◽  
Social Stress ◽  
Stress Test ◽  
Trier Social Stress Test ◽  
Cortisol Responses

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.

Effects of Cable News Watching on Older Adults’ Physiological and Self-Reported Stress and Cognitive Function

2017 ◽  
Vol 87 (2) ◽  
pp. 111-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroline Deal ◽  
Ryan Bogdan ◽  
J. Phil Miller ◽  
Tom Rodebaugh ◽  
Charlene Caburnay ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Cognitive Function ◽  
Social Stress ◽  
Physiological Stress ◽  
Stress Test ◽  
Trier Social Stress Test ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Healthy Older Adults ◽  
Cable News ◽  
Fox News

Older adults are the largest consumer of cable news, which includes negative and politicized content and may constitute a daily stressor. As older adults are also vulnerable to the negative consequences of stress, we hypothesized that cable news watching could induce a stress reaction and impair cognitive function. We tested exposures to cable news (i.e., Fox News and MSNBC) in a within-subject randomized controlled design in 34 healthy older adults. We also included negative (Public Broadcasting Station) and positive (trier social stress test) controls. Cable news watching had no effect on psychological stress, physiological stress, or cognitive function. This remained true even if the news exposures were discordant with participants’ political affiliation. We conclude that brief cable news watching does not induce a physiological or subjective stress response or cognitive impairment among healthy older adults.

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