Browsing by Subject "cortisol"

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    Gender Differences in Buffering Stress Responses in Same-Sex Friend Dyads
    (2015-12-14) Pauling, Sydney N.; Doom, Jenalee R.; Gunnar, Megan R.
    Social buffering is the ability of an individual to lower or block a close social partner’s physiological response to stress. It is unknown whether friends can buffer children and adolescents’ responses to stress both before and after puberty, and whether buffering by friends differs in boys and girls. The current study will examine these questions using a study of 30 9-10 year old boys and girls and 30 15-16 year old boys and girls asked to prepare for a stressful task with a friend. This task, called the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) involves a public speaking task and a math task conducted in front of judges, which consistently provokes increases in levels of the stress hormone cortisol (Yim, Quas, Cahill & Hayakawa, 2010). Friends assist the participant with speech preparation immediately before the speech, and a variety of behaviors were coded, including: validation, humor, distraction, and sensitivity. In addition, participants provided saliva samples for cortisol assay before speech preparation and every 10 minutes thereafter. After analyses were conducted, this study presented both age and sex differences in a variety of friendship behaviors: positive support, peer/participant anxiety, and humor/distraction. Statistically marginal effects indicate that larger samples were needed in each age/sex group to adequately test our predictions. In addition, peer support did not correlate with cortisol responses; although peer/participant anxiety did. Other measures of stress might have been more sensitive to peer support and should be examined. Considering the pivotal role that peers play in development, especially during the stressful period of adolescence, this is an essential area of future developmental research. Furthermore, taking age and gender into account will deepen the understanding of peer relationships across development.
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    Social Stress Buffering by Friends in Childhood and Adolescence: Effects on HPA and Oxytocin Activity
    (2016-05) Doom, Jenalee
    Previous research has demonstrated that before puberty, parents are able to buffer, and often completely block, cortisol responses to social evaluative stressors (e.g., Trier Social Stress Test; TSST). However, after puberty, parents no longer provide a powerful buffer of the HPA axis from a social-evaluative stressor. The current study investigates whether friends can buffer the HPA axis in both children and adolescents compared to parents and whether similar stress-ameliorating patterns can also be observed in oxytocin activity. A total of 109 participants (54 children ages 9-10 and 55 adolescents ages 15-16; approximately half of each sex) completed the TSST and were randomly assigned to prepare for their speech with their parent or friend for 5 minutes beforehand. Salivary cortisol and urinary oxytocin were measured before and after the TSST. For children, cortisol responses were comparable regardless of who helped the child prepare the speech. For adolescents, however, friends actually amplified the cortisol response compared to parents. In addition, adolescents produced less oxytocin than children, as did males compared to females. Notably, for boys, oxytocin levels decreased across the session if participants prepared with a friend rather than their parent. The mean change was in the same direction but not significant for girls. These results indicate that friends do not take over the social buffering role by age 15-16, which may inform interventions in at-risk children and adolescents.
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    Substance Use and Retrospective Adverse Childhood Experiences: An Ambulatory Assessment of Cortisol Awakening Response
    (2022-06) Ravet, Mariah K
    Although support for the relationship between early life stress and substance use in adulthood is well documented, there is a paucity of research examining the relationship between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), substance use, and cortisol awakening response (CAR) in college-aged adults. Thus, the current studies were designed to address this gap in the literature. The specific aims of this project included determining the relationship between ACE exposure and risky substance use, whether perceived stress mediates the relationship between ACEs and substance use, whether the diurnal cortisol rhythm varies by substance use status and sex, and whether CAR varies by ACE exposure. In Study One, 265 college students completed measures of ACEs, substance use, perceived stress, and mental health. In Study Two, 55 participants self-administered salivary cortisol samples within their place of residence and completed inventories for ACEs, substance use, and mental health. For Study One, perceived stress levels were higher among those with high risk of hazardous drinking, high e-cigarette use, and daily THC/marijuana use. Results also revealed a significant positive relationship between ACEs and drinking consequences and e-cigarette use as well as a mediating role of perceived stress in the relationship between ACEs and drinking consequences. In Study Two, results revealed a medium effect of cortisol collection time point by sex and by risky substance use status. Further, results indicated that those with high ACEs exhibited blunted cortisol levels immediately upon waking compared to those with low ACE exposure. This study contributes to the growing literature base by using a well-established cortisol collection method that has been previously unexplored in the context of ACEs and substance use. The use of self-collected cortisol samples to identify students at risk for hazardous substance use and other health-compromising behaviors has important implications for tailored prevention efforts for those with a history of ACEs.