Does childhood adversity influence cortisol response to a social stressor: Evaluating participant sex as a moderator
Open Access
- Author:
- Jaquette, Nicole
- Area of Honors:
- Biobehavioral Health
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Science
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Kyle Wayne Murdock, Thesis Supervisor
Helen Marie Kamens, Thesis Honors Advisor - Keywords:
- cortisol
biological sex
childhood adversity
sexual abuse
social stress - Abstract:
- The ways in which individuals respond to stressors can impact their health and well-being, both in positive and negative ways. Childhood adversity is thought to negatively influence the stress response in adults and affect cortisol levels such that total cortisol output and cortisol sensitivity (i.e., degree of increase/decrease) are both lower in response to certain stressors (Merkulov et al., 2017; Khoury et al., 2019). Importantly, biological sex is related to differences in cortisol responses to stressors and may explain differential long-term consequences of stress in males and females. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of childhood adversity on the cortisol response to a social stressor and determine whether or not the association differed in males and females. Data regarding childhood adversity and biological sex was collected through self-report questionaries. Cortisol was collected via salivary samples collected before and after the Trier Social Stress Test, a laboratory induced social stressor that requires participants to give a 5-minute speech about how well the individual would fit into a hypothetical position of employment, followed by a 5-minute mental arithmetic task. Saliva was collected once before the stressor, as soon as the stressor ended, and every 10 minutes for 40 minutes after that. A significant bivariate correlation was observed between childhood adversity and total cortisol output (r = - .266, p = .029). However, this association was attenuated when including participant age, sex, and body mass index in the model. Additionally, females demonstrated lower total cortisol output (r =-.449, p < .001) and lower cortisol sensitivity (i.e., the degree of increase/decrease in cortisol over time) (r = -.533, p < .001) in response to the stressor than males. Support was not identified for the hypothesis that childhood adversity and cortisol in response to a stressor would be more strongly associated in females as compared to males. Data from the present study provide further support for sex differences in cortisol responses to stressors and highlight that further research is needed to develop a further understanding of the impact of childhood adversity on stress and health.