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Trait anxiety moderates the impact of performance pressure on salivary cortisol in everyday life.

Trait anxiety moderates the impact of performance pressure on salivary cortisol in everyday life.
Trait anxiety moderates the impact of performance pressure on salivary cortisol in everyday life.
Stress and negative affective states are associated with cortisol in everyday life. However, it remains unclear what types of stressors and which affective states yield these associations, and the effect of trait anxiety is unknown. This study investigates the associations of specific task-related stressors and negative affective states in everyday life with salivary cortisol, and explores the mediating and moderating role of state negative affect and trait anxiety, respectively.
Salivary cortisol, subjective stress, and state negative affect were measured three times a day on 2 days in 71 participants in everyday life, using a handheld computer to collect self-reports and time stamps and an electronic device to monitor saliva sampling compliance. Stress measures comprised the experience of performance pressure and failure during daily tasks; measures of negative affect comprised worn-out, tense, unhappy, and angry. Effects were tested using multilevel fixed-occasion models.
Momentary performance under pressure was related to higher momentary cortisol measures, while mean task failure was related to lower daily cortisol concentrations. The association of performance pressure with cortisol varied between subjects, and this variation was explained by trait anxiety, yielding stronger associations in participants scoring high on trait anxiety. No evidence was found for a mediating role of state negative affect.
These results describe the well-documented associations of everyday stressors and affect with salivary cortisol more precisely, suggesting that performance pressure is a significant condition related to short-term changes in cortisol. Subjects scoring high on trait anxiety seem to process stress-relevant information in a way that amplifies the association of performance pressure with reactions of the hypothalamus–pituitary–adrenal axis.
salivary cortisol, everyday life stress, personality, performance pressure, negative affect, trait anxiety, multilevel models
0306-4530
459-472
Schlotz, Wolff
49499d5e-4ff4-4ad3-b5f7-eec11b25b5db
Schulz, Peter
215dfa50-7034-453c-8f9b-f4bf76e0164c
Hellhammer, Juliane
3983f50f-3ab5-4a0d-8396-ecdb20fd0cd1
Stone, Arthur A.
e062923d-61b9-4b28-841c-33bffd7d7ed9
Hellhammer, Dirk H.
e4b56918-8a5e-4b0f-bd70-4cde7edc49c1
Schlotz, Wolff
49499d5e-4ff4-4ad3-b5f7-eec11b25b5db
Schulz, Peter
215dfa50-7034-453c-8f9b-f4bf76e0164c
Hellhammer, Juliane
3983f50f-3ab5-4a0d-8396-ecdb20fd0cd1
Stone, Arthur A.
e062923d-61b9-4b28-841c-33bffd7d7ed9
Hellhammer, Dirk H.
e4b56918-8a5e-4b0f-bd70-4cde7edc49c1

Schlotz, Wolff, Schulz, Peter, Hellhammer, Juliane, Stone, Arthur A. and Hellhammer, Dirk H. (2006) Trait anxiety moderates the impact of performance pressure on salivary cortisol in everyday life. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 31 (4), 459-472. (doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2005.11.003).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Stress and negative affective states are associated with cortisol in everyday life. However, it remains unclear what types of stressors and which affective states yield these associations, and the effect of trait anxiety is unknown. This study investigates the associations of specific task-related stressors and negative affective states in everyday life with salivary cortisol, and explores the mediating and moderating role of state negative affect and trait anxiety, respectively.
Salivary cortisol, subjective stress, and state negative affect were measured three times a day on 2 days in 71 participants in everyday life, using a handheld computer to collect self-reports and time stamps and an electronic device to monitor saliva sampling compliance. Stress measures comprised the experience of performance pressure and failure during daily tasks; measures of negative affect comprised worn-out, tense, unhappy, and angry. Effects were tested using multilevel fixed-occasion models.
Momentary performance under pressure was related to higher momentary cortisol measures, while mean task failure was related to lower daily cortisol concentrations. The association of performance pressure with cortisol varied between subjects, and this variation was explained by trait anxiety, yielding stronger associations in participants scoring high on trait anxiety. No evidence was found for a mediating role of state negative affect.
These results describe the well-documented associations of everyday stressors and affect with salivary cortisol more precisely, suggesting that performance pressure is a significant condition related to short-term changes in cortisol. Subjects scoring high on trait anxiety seem to process stress-relevant information in a way that amplifies the association of performance pressure with reactions of the hypothalamus–pituitary–adrenal axis.

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More information

Published date: 2006
Keywords: salivary cortisol, everyday life stress, personality, performance pressure, negative affect, trait anxiety, multilevel models

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 44792
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/44792
ISSN: 0306-4530
PURE UUID: 956a3510-3d6f-4e57-aeb7-5985e0f27f4b

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Date deposited: 15 Mar 2007
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 09:07

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Contributors

Author: Wolff Schlotz
Author: Peter Schulz
Author: Juliane Hellhammer
Author: Arthur A. Stone
Author: Dirk H. Hellhammer

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