Lindfors Petra, Folkesson Hellstadius Lisa, Östberg Viveca
Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden.
Stockholm University/Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
Scand J Psychol. 2017 Feb;58(1):36-42. doi: 10.1111/sjop.12347.
Measures of perceived stress have been criticized for theoretical inconsistency. However, the validated pressure activation stress scale has been suggested as a theoretically sound alternative. But it is unclear how pressure and activation stress relate to objective and subjective measures including commonly used aggregate cortisol measures and health complaints respectively. Specifically, this study aimed at investigating how pressure and activation stress were related to aggregate salivary cortisol measures and recurrent pain in mid-adolescent girls and boys. Mid-adolescents (119 girls and 56 boys) provided self-reports in questionnaires on activation and pressure stress and recurrent pain (headache, stomach ache, neck/shoulder and back pain). Additionally, adolescents sampled saliva during an ordinary school day: (1) immediately at awakening; (2) 30 minutes after waking up; (3) 60 minutes after waking up, and (4) at 8 p.m. These samples were analyzed for cortisol. Hierarchical regressions showed no statistically significant associations between activation and pressure stress and cortisol, neither for girls nor for boys. However, activation and pressure stress were significantly associated with recurrent pain but only for girls. The findings may relate to subjective and objective measures reflecting distinct aspects of stress-related functioning. However, the study participants included mid-adolescents whose bodily systems are flexible and still relatively unaffected by the strain of their daily stress perceptions. To conclude, the non-significant relationships between activation and pressure stress and commonly used aggregate measures of cortisol adds to the understanding of how perceived stress may relate to physiological functioning in the daily life of adolescents when using such aggregate measures.
感知压力的测量方法因理论不一致而受到批评。然而，经过验证的压力激活应激量表被认为是一种理论上合理的替代方法。但尚不清楚压力和激活应激如何分别与客观和主观测量指标相关，这些指标包括常用的综合皮质醇测量指标和健康投诉。具体而言，本研究旨在调查压力和激活应激如何与青少年中期女孩和男孩的唾液皮质醇综合测量指标及反复疼痛相关。青少年中期（119名女孩和56名男孩）在问卷中提供了关于激活和压力应激以及反复疼痛（头痛、胃痛、颈部/肩部和背部疼痛）的自我报告。此外，青少年在平常的上学日采集唾液样本：（1）醒来后立即采集；（2）醒来后30分钟采集；（3）醒来后60分钟采集；（4）晚上8点采集。对这些样本进行皮质醇分析。分层回归显示，激活和压力应激与皮质醇之间没有统计学上的显著关联，女孩和男孩均如此。然而，激活和压力应激与反复疼痛显著相关，但仅在女孩中如此。这些发现可能与反映应激相关功能不同方面的主观和客观测量指标有关。然而，研究参与者包括青少年中期的个体，他们的身体系统具有灵活性，且仍相对未受日常压力感知所带来的压力影响。总之，激活和压力应激与常用的皮质醇综合测量指标之间的不显著关系，有助于理解在使用此类综合测量指标时，感知压力如何与青少年日常生活中的生理功能相关。
