van Eck M, Berkhof H, Nicolson N, Sulon J
Department of Psychiatry, University of Limburg, The Netherlands.
Psychosom Med. 1996 Sep-Oct;58(5):447-58. doi: 10.1097/00006842-199609000-00007.
This study examined the effects of perceived stress and related individual characteristics, mood states, and stressful daily events on salivary cortisol levels. Forty-one "high stress" and 46 "low stress" subjects were selected on the basis of Perceived Stress Scale scores from a sample of male, white collar workers. Subjects completed Experience Sampling self-reports and collected saliva samples 10 times a day over 5 consecutive days. Multilevel analysis revealed that trait anxiety and depression, but not perceived stress, were associated with small but statistically significant cortisol elevation. No effects on cortisol were found for recent life events, chronic difficulties, trait anger, or psychosomatic symptoms. Distress, as reflected by the mood states Negative Affect and Agitation, was associated with higher cortisol levels, whereas Positive Affect had no statistically significant effect. Stressful daily events were associated with increased cortisol secretion, the magnitude of the effect depending on whether the event was still ongoing and on how frequently a similar kind of event had occurred previously. Although perceived stress, anxiety, and depression did not increase cortisol reactivity to daily events, we found evidence for reduced habituation to recurrent events in subjects scoring high on these traits. Mood appeared to play a mediating role in the relationship between stressful events and cortisol secretion. These results suggest that negative affectivity is not just a confounder but is related to elevated cortisol secretion during normal daily activities. The finding that even minor events and fluctuations in mood states were associated with increased adrenocortical activity points to a possible mechanism linking subjective experience to health outcomes.
本研究考察了感知压力及相关个体特征、情绪状态和日常应激事件对唾液皮质醇水平的影响。根据感知压力量表得分，从男性白领样本中选取了41名“高压力”受试者和46名“低压力”受试者。受试者完成经验抽样自我报告，并在连续5天内每天采集10次唾液样本。多层次分析显示，特质焦虑和抑郁与皮质醇水平小幅但具有统计学意义的升高有关，而感知压力则不然。近期生活事件、长期困难、特质愤怒或心身症状对皮质醇水平均无影响。由消极情绪和激动等情绪状态所反映的痛苦与较高的皮质醇水平相关，而积极情绪则无统计学意义上的影响。日常应激事件与皮质醇分泌增加有关，其影响程度取决于事件是否仍在持续以及此前类似事件发生的频率。尽管感知压力、焦虑和抑郁并未增加皮质醇对日常事件的反应性，但我们发现，在这些特质得分较高的受试者中，对重复性事件的习惯化有所减弱。情绪似乎在应激事件与皮质醇分泌之间的关系中起中介作用。这些结果表明，消极情感不只是一个混杂因素，还与正常日常活动期间皮质醇分泌升高有关。即使是轻微事件和情绪状态波动也与肾上腺皮质活动增加相关这一发现，指出了一种将主观体验与健康结果联系起来的可能机制。
