Centre for Studies on Human Stress, Research Center of the Mental Health Institute, Louis-H. Lafontaine Hospital, Canada.
Neuroscience. 2013 Sep 26;249:74-87. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2013.01.057. Epub 2013 Feb 9.
Various studies have shown that increased activity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis can predict the onset of adolescent depressive symptomatology. We have previously shown that adolescents making the transition to high school present a significant increase in cortisol levels, the main product of HPA axis activation. In the present study, we evaluated whether a school-based education program developed according to the current state of knowledge on stress in psychoneuroendocrinology decreases cortisol levels and/or depressive symptoms in adolescents making the transition to high school. Participants were 504 Year 7 high school students from two private schools in the Montreal area. Adolescents of one school were exposed to the DeStress for Success Program while adolescents from the other school served as controls. Salivary cortisol levels and depressive symptomatology were measured before, immediately after as well as 3 months after exposure to the program. Measures of negative mood were obtained at baseline in order to determine whether adolescents starting high school with specific negative moods were differentially responsive to the program. The results show that only adolescents starting high school with high levels of anger responded to the intervention with a significant decrease in cortisol levels. Moreover, we found that adolescents who took part in the intervention and showed decreasing cortisol levels following the intervention (responders) were 2.45 times less at risk to suffer from clinical and subclinical depressive states three months post-intervention in comparison to adolescents who showed increasing cortisol levels following the intervention (nonresponders). This study provides the first evidence that a school-based program on stress is effective at decreasing cortisol levels and depressive symptomatology in adolescents making the transition to high school and it helps explain which adolescents are sensitive to the program and what are some of the characteristics of these individuals.
多项研究表明，下丘脑-垂体-肾上腺 (HPA) 轴活性增加可预测青少年抑郁症状的发作。我们之前已经表明，过渡到高中的青少年的皮质醇水平会显著升高，这是 HPA 轴激活的主要产物。在本研究中，我们评估了根据心理神经内分泌学中应激的最新知识制定的基于学校的教育计划是否可以降低过渡到高中的青少年的皮质醇水平和/或抑郁症状。参与者是来自蒙特利尔地区两所私立学校的 504 名 7 年级高中生。一所学校的青少年接触了 DeStress for Success 计划，而另一所学校的青少年则作为对照组。在接触该计划之前、之后立即以及 3 个月后测量唾液皮质醇水平和抑郁症状。在基线时测量负面情绪的措施，以确定开始高中生活时具有特定负面情绪的青少年是否对该计划有不同的反应。结果表明，只有开始高中生活时愤怒水平较高的青少年对干预有反应，皮质醇水平显著下降。此外，我们发现，参与干预并在干预后皮质醇水平下降（应答者）的青少年在干预后三个月患临床和亚临床抑郁状态的风险比干预后皮质醇水平升高的青少年（无应答者）低 2.45 倍。这项研究首次提供了证据表明，针对压力的基于学校的计划可以有效降低过渡到高中的青少年的皮质醇水平和抑郁症状，并有助于解释哪些青少年对该计划敏感，以及这些个体的一些特征。
