Dveirin Haley, Acuna Victoria, Tran Mai-Lan, Antici Elizabeth E, Kuhlman Kate Ryan
University of California, Irvine, Department of Psychological Science, Irvine, CA, USA.
University of California, Irvine, Department of Psychological Science, Irvine, CA, USA.
Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2025 Feb;172:107265. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2024.107265. Epub 2024 Dec 19.
Acute psychosocial stress activates the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and triggers the release of cortisol, a commonly used biomarker of stress reactivity. Yet only 25 % of studies have reported a correlation between cortisol and affective responses to stress. This study aimed to examine whether cortisol reactivity following an acute psychosocial stressor in the laboratory correlated with concurrent positive and negative affect in adolescents, and whether early life adversity (ELA) moderated this relationship.
The current study examined the salivary cortisol response of 89 adolescents (46.1 % female) following administration of the Trier Social Stress Test for Children (TSST-C). Using 7 simultaneous measurements, changes in cortisol were compared to changes in concurrent affect using the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS). Parents reported their child's exposure to ELA.
Within-person variability in cortisol was associated with higher negative affect at baseline, b = 1.43 (SE =.41), p < .001, as well as more rapid negative affective recovery following stress, b = -0.003 (SE =.002), p = .04. ELA-exposed participants were not more sensitive to this effect. Within-person variability in cortisol was not associated with positive affect at baseline or following the TSST-C on average, all ps > .27. However, within-person increases in cortisol were associated with decrements in positive affect among ELA-exposed individuals, all ps < .01, suggesting differential sensitivity to anhedonic effects of glucocorticoids.
Stress impacts affective states, in part through acute increases in HPA axis activity. The present data show that negative affect is more vulnerable to this than positive affect among adolescents. Further, adolescents with high ELA may be more vulnerable to decrements in positive affect in the acute aftermath of HPA axis activation. Whether this is a modifiable source of vulnerability to stress-related disease in this high-risk population remains to be understood.
急性心理社会应激会激活下丘脑-垂体-肾上腺（HPA）轴，并触发皮质醇的释放，皮质醇是应激反应常用的生物标志物。然而，只有25%的研究报告了皮质醇与应激情感反应之间的相关性。本研究旨在探讨实验室中急性心理社会应激源引发的皮质醇反应性是否与青少年同时出现的积极和消极情绪相关，以及早期生活逆境（ELA）是否会调节这种关系。
本研究检测了89名青少年（46.1%为女性）在接受儿童版特里尔社会应激测试（TSST-C）后唾液皮质醇的反应。通过7次同步测量，使用积极和消极情绪量表（PANAS）将皮质醇的变化与同时出现的情绪变化进行比较。父母报告其孩子暴露于ELA的情况。
皮质醇的个体内变异性与基线时较高的消极情绪相关，b = 1.43（标准误 = 0.41），p < 0.001，以及应激后消极情绪恢复更快相关，b = -0.003（标准误 = 0.002），p = 0.04。暴露于ELA的参与者对这种影响并不更敏感。皮质醇的个体内变异性与基线时或平均而言在TSST-C之后的积极情绪无关，所有p值均 > 0.27。然而，皮质醇的个体内增加与暴露于ELA个体的积极情绪减少相关，所有p值均 < 0.01，表明对糖皮质激素快感缺失效应的敏感性存在差异。
应激部分通过HPA轴活动的急性增加影响情感状态。目前的数据表明，在青少年中，消极情绪比积极情绪更容易受到这种影响。此外，有高ELA的青少年在HPA轴激活后的急性期可能更容易出现积极情绪减少。在这个高危人群中，这是否是应激相关疾病易感性的一个可改变来源仍有待了解。
