DeSoto M Catherine, Salinas Manuel
University of Northern Iowa Bartlett Hall Cedar Falls, IA 50614 -0505, United States.
University of Northern Iowa Bartlett Hall Cedar Falls, IA 50614 -0505, United States.
Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2015 Dec;62:174-9. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2015.07.608. Epub 2015 Jul 31.
Existent research documents an unclear and contradictory pattern between cortisol and personality variables, especially neuroticism. Specifically, no effect, positive correlations and negative correlations have all been reported to exist between cortisol and neuroticism. The current study tested whether males and females have a fundamentally different relationship between HPA activation and neuroticism and if this might partially account for some of the discrepancy in findings. Saliva samples (n=183) for cortisol were collected three times across a 90min period. Neuroticism was measured via the NEO-FFI. For men, neuroticism was positively correlated with cortisol level (r=.29). For women it was negatively correlated. The negative correlation between neuroticism and cortisol level remained when oral contraceptive use was statistically controlled, and the statistical significance actually increased (partial r=-.20). This suggests a slight suppressor effect, explainable by prior research on correlates of oral contraceptive use. Overall, these findings may offer some explanation for the discrepant results that have been reported in the existing literature regarding neuroticism and cortisol measures.
现有研究表明，皮质醇与人格变量之间的关系不明确且相互矛盾，尤其是与神经质的关系。具体而言，关于皮质醇与神经质之间，无影响、正相关和负相关的情况均有报道。本研究检验了男性和女性在 HPA 轴激活与神经质之间是否存在根本不同的关系，以及这是否可能部分解释了研究结果中的一些差异。在 90 分钟内分三次采集了唾液样本（n = 183）用于检测皮质醇。通过 NEO-FFI 测量神经质。对于男性，神经质与皮质醇水平呈正相关（r = 0.29）。对于女性，则呈负相关。在对口服避孕药的使用进行统计学控制后，神经质与皮质醇水平之间的负相关依然存在，且统计学显著性实际上有所增加（偏相关系数 r = -0.20）。这表明存在轻微的抑制效应，这可以通过先前关于口服避孕药使用相关因素的研究来解释。总体而言，这些发现可能为现有文献中关于神经质和皮质醇测量结果不一致的情况提供一些解释。
