Department of Psychology of Health, Area of Psychobiology, University Miguel Hernández, Avda. de la Universidad, s/n. Edif. Altamira, 03202 Elche, Alicante, Spain.
Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2012 Nov;37(11):1780-90. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2012.03.012. Epub 2012 Apr 10.
Within an evolutionary framework, in recent years some questions have been raised about whether women have a pattern of psychobiological response to social stress similar to that described in men. The main objective of this study was to analyze women's patterns of neuroendocrine, cardiovascular and mood responses to an individual competitive task, taking into account the outcome obtained. For this purpose, we measured salivary testosterone (T) and cortisol (C) levels, heart rate (HR) and blood pressure (BP), in addition to mood changes, in 40 healthy young women before, during and after a face-to-face laboratory competition. We also assessed some relevant psychological traits. Our results indicate that women who became winners presented greater T and positive mood increases, together with higher cardiovascular (CV) responses, than those who lost and did not show significant changes during the period studied. These results suggest a biological and psychological pattern of response to a laboratory competition differentially associated with outcome. Furthermore, these findings suggest that women who are involved in competitive situations, use both passive and active coping strategies, which can be explained by integrating the existing hypotheses.
在进化框架内，近年来有人提出，女性是否具有与男性相似的社会应激的心理生物学反应模式。本研究的主要目的是分析女性对个体竞争任务的神经内分泌、心血管和情绪反应模式，同时考虑到所获得的结果。为此，我们在面对面的实验室竞争之前、期间和之后，测量了 40 名健康年轻女性的唾液睾酮（T）和皮质醇（C）水平、心率（HR）和血压（BP），以及情绪变化。我们还评估了一些相关的心理特征。我们的结果表明，与失败且在研究期间没有显示出显著变化的女性相比，成为赢家的女性 T 增加和积极情绪增加更大，同时心血管（CV）反应更高。这些结果表明，对实验室竞争的生物学和心理反应模式与结果有差异。此外，这些发现表明，参与竞争情况的女性会使用被动和主动应对策略，这可以通过整合现有假设来解释。
