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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| Response variability of salivary cortisol among older adults under psychological stress | | Author(s) | Michel Préville, Steve Zarit, E Susman |
| Journal title | Aging & Mental Health, vol 12, no 2, March 2008 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis, March 2008 |
| Pages | pp 249-257 |
| Source | http://www.tandfonline.com |
| Keywords | Stress ; Anxiety ; Endocrine systems ; Evaluation. |
| Annotation | In this study, a quasi-experimental design with repeated measures was used to compare 129 anxious and 186 non-anxious older people on the cortisol secretion rate attributable to an experimental stressor. Results support the hypothesis that a first-order longitudinal factor model appropriately describes the cortoid concentration in three saliva samples collected at two experimental times. The model tested explained between 82.6% and 98% of the variance in the cortisol concentration of the respondent's saliva sample at T1. and between 55.% and 78.4% at T2. In the non-anxious group (State Trait Anxiety Inventory, STAI <41), the magnitude of the experiment-related cortisol reactivity was respectively 51% and 13% higher than the respondent's baseline reactivity level at both T1 and T2. By contrast, the anxious group (STAI >42), results showed no significant gradient in the magnitude of the cortisol reactivity at either time. This result is interpreted to be in agreement with the helplessness reaction hypothesis. These results suggest that salivary cortisol is a valid measure that is sensitive to experimental stress, and may, therefore, be useful in examining physiological response to stress. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-080512211 A |
| Classmark | QNH: ENP: BKH: 4C |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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