Inverse association between stress induced cortisol elevations and negative emotional reactivity to stress in humans

Figures & data

Figure 1. Schematic of TSST and measures. The TSST (Kirschbaum et al., 1993) consisted of 5 min of anticipation, 5 min speech, and 5 min mental math periods. The current report addresses salivary cortisol taken at baseline, immediately post-TSST, and 10 min post-TSST. The PANAS-now (Watson et al., 1988) was administered immediately pre-TSST and immediately post-TSST. The question “How stressed are you now?” was assessed at baseline and immediately post-TSST. No self-report measures were administered at 10 min post-TSST. Mean cortisol levels at each time point are depicted.

Concise listing of experimental procedures with a line graph showing the increase in cortisol levels from baseline to after the stressor task.

Table 1. Cortisol levels, affect, and self-reported stress with respect to the TSST.

Variable	Baseline	Post-TSST	10 min post-TSST	Statistic	p-Value
Salivary cortisol	8.34 (3.33)	13.14 (6.2)	14.0 (6.9)	39.24	.0001
Negative affect	14.9 (4.9)	18.3 (7.2)	n/a	5.39	.0001
Positive affect	30.2 (8.0)	29.6 (8.6)	n/a	0.89	n.s.
Self-reported stress	2.5 (1.5)	5.4 (2.8)	n/a	7.63	.0001

Note. Values are presented as mean (standard deviation). Units for cortisol are nmol/L. Affect was assessed with the PANAS-now, which provides indices of positive and negative affect that range from 10 to 50 (Watson et al., 1988). Self-reported stress was measured with the question “How stressed are you right now?” rated on a 10-point scale. Self-report measures were not administered at 10 min post-TSST. For cortisol, the F statistic is presented for a one-way ANOVA including the three time points: baseline, immediately after the TSST (post-TSST), and ten minutes after the TSST (10 min post-TSST). For self-report measures, t-value statistics are presented for analysis of change from prior to the TSST to immediately post-TSST. As shown in the table, cortisol levels, negative affect, and self-reported stress increased with respect to the TSST, but there was no change in positive affect.

Figure 2. Greater stress-induced cortisol increases are associated with smaller increases in negative affect during stress. Specifically, increase in cortisol (AUCi; original units in nmol/L) is inversely correlated with increase in negative affect assessed using the PANAS immediately after the TSST with respect to baseline, r(67) = −0.24, p < 0.049.

Scatter plot of the inverse relationship between the increase in cortisol and the increase in negative affect.

Table 2. Multiple regression predicting increase in negative affect (NA) in response to the TSST.

Variable	Parameter estimate	Increment in R^2	t-Value	p-Value
Baseline cortisol	0.07	0.01	0.34	n.s.
Post-TSST cortisol	−0.70	0.11	−2.88	0.005
10 min Post-TSST cortisol	0.42	0.06	2.13	0.037

Note. This follow-up multiple regression analysis shows that salivary cortisol measured immediately after the TSST (“post-TSST cortisol”) was inversely associated with and accounted for 11% of the variance in the increase in negative affect, even with baseline cortisol and 10 min post-TSST cortisol included in the model. The relation between salivary cortisol measured 10 min after the TSST (10 min post-TSST) and increase in negative affect is positive, but not significant after correction for multiple comparisons.

Kirschbaum, C., Pirke, K. M., & Hellhammer, D. H. (1993). The ‘Trier Social Stress Test’–a tool for investigating psychobiological stress responses in a laboratory setting. Neuropsychobiology, 28(1–2), 76–81. https://doi.org/10.1159/000119004

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Watson, D., Clark, L. A., & Tellegen, A. (1988). Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: The PANAS scales. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54(6), 1063–1070. [Database] https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.54.6.1063

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Data availability statement

Data are shared and available through the National Institute of Mental Health Data Archive.