Zoccola Peggy M, Dickerson Sally S
Department of Psychology, Ohio University, 200 Porter Hall, Athens, OH 45701, USA.
Department of Psychology and Social Behavior, University of California, Irvine, 4201 Social & Behavioral Sciences Gateway, Irvine, CA 92697, USA.
Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2015 Aug;58:67-78. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2015.04.014. Epub 2015 Apr 28.
Mental rehearsal of past stressors through rumination may extend the physiological stress response and exposure to stress-related physiological mediators, such as cortisol. If repeated over time, this prolonged activation may contribute to a number of chronic health conditions. Findings from the emerging literature on the tendency to ruminate and its association with cortisol have been somewhat mixed. In the present study, we tested whether trait rumination predicted elevated cortisol concentrations in response to a performance stressor, and whether this association varied by the social-evaluative context of the stressor and gender. We also examined whether associations persisted into the evening of the stressor. Participants (50% female; mean age=19.83, SD=1.62) were randomly assigned to complete a laboratory speech stressor either in a social-evaluative (SET; n=86) or non-evaluative context (non-SET; n=58). Salivary cortisol concentrations were measured throughout the laboratory visit and later that evening. There was a main effect of trait rumination on greater total cortisol exposure into the evening of the stressor. In addition, trait rumination interacted with stressor context to predict cortisol declines: on the night of the SET stressor, high trait ruminators did not exhibit typical declines in cortisol. Different cortisol patterns emerged for men and women with tendencies to ruminate: women with higher rumination scores had flatter cortisol slopes with greater evening cortisol, whereas men with higher trait rumination scores had greater initial cortisol reactivity to the stressor. Together, these findings suggest that the relationship between the tendency to ruminate and cortisol concentrations is qualified by individual differences (gender) and stressor characteristics (social-evaluative threat).
通过反复思考对过去的压力源进行心理预演，可能会延长生理应激反应，并使机体暴露于与压力相关的生理介质（如皮质醇）之中。如果这种情况随着时间反复出现，这种长期的激活状态可能会导致多种慢性健康问题。关于反复思考的倾向及其与皮质醇的关联，新兴文献中的研究结果有些参差不齐。在本研究中，我们测试了特质性反复思考是否能预测在面对表现压力源时皮质醇浓度升高，以及这种关联是否会因压力源的社会评价背景和性别而有所不同。我们还研究了这种关联在压力源发生后的晚上是否依然存在。参与者（50%为女性；平均年龄 = 19.83，标准差 = 1.62）被随机分配在社会评价（SET；n = 86）或非评价背景（非SET；n = 58）下完成一项实验室演讲压力源任务。在整个实验室访问期间以及当晚晚些时候测量唾液皮质醇浓度。特质性反复思考对压力源发生后晚上皮质醇总暴露量增加有主效应。此外，特质性反复思考与压力源背景相互作用，以预测皮质醇的下降：在SET压力源任务当晚，高特质性反复思考者的皮质醇并未出现典型的下降。有反复思考倾向的男性和女性出现了不同的皮质醇模式：反复思考得分较高的女性皮质醇斜率较平缓，晚上皮质醇水平较高，而特质性反复思考得分较高的男性对压力源的初始皮质醇反应性更强。总之，这些发现表明，反复思考倾向与皮质醇浓度之间的关系受到个体差异（性别）和压力源特征（社会评价威胁）的影响。
