Vanessa Villon, Audrianna Vito, Orianna Duncan Emily C. Cook, PhD Rhode Island College Laura Stroud, PhD Alpert Medical School Brown University
Differential Responses in Stress Response to a Performance Based and Interpersonal Stressor
Results Figure 3.
Methods Participants
Background During adolescence, youth experience transitions and challenges in salient contexts (e.g. peer groups and school) that may evoke stress. How youth handle this stress may have repercussions for future mental health problems. Thus, it is important to assess how adolescents respond to this stress by examining physiological and affective stress response. Prior research conducted in laboratory settings has compared the effects of varying stressful experiences on adolescents’ response to that stress. Performance based tasks that mirror what one might encounter in school, such as the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST), and interpersonal stressors similar to the Yale Interpersonal Stressor (YIPS) have both been found to induce stress in adolescents (Cameron et al, 2017; Laurent, Vergara-Lopez, & Stroud, 2016). Across studies, findings suggest that alpha amylase may be more sensitive to interpersonal stressors (van Stegeren, Wolf, & Kindt, 2008) and cortisol may be more sensitive to performance based stressors (Dickerson & Kemeny, 2004). However, studies have rarely compared within one study if youth have differential responses to these stressors as evidenced by cortisol, alpha amylase, and heart rate (Granger et al., 2009; Allwood, Handwerger, Kivlighan, Granger, & Stroud, 2011). In addition to studying differential responses to various stressors, it is also important to examine if there are gender differences in individuals’ responses to stressors given past research suggesting that females are more reactive to social stressors (Stroud, Salovey, & Epel, 2003; Stroud et al., 2017) and that males’ stress response relates to achievement stressors (Stroud, Papandonatos, D'Angelo, Brush, & Lloyd-Richardson, 2017; Van den Bos, Rooij, Miers, Bokhorst, & Westenberg, 2013). Given the limited research on whether adolescents differ in their stress response to different stressful experiences and if this process is gendered, we propose to examine if adolescents respond differentially to a peer rejection stressor when compared to a performance-based stressor and if girls and boys differ in these responses.
60 adolescent participants between the ages of 14-16 in 9th-11th grade • Mean age=14.92 (SD= .743) • 55% female, 45% male • 63.3% Caucasian, 16.7% Spanish/Hispanic/Latino, 5% Asians/Pacific Islander, 3.3% African American, 1.7% Native American/Native Alaskan, and 10% mixed race
Procedure: Participants participated in one of two tasks Trier Social Stress Test (TSST):(Kirschbaum, Pirke, & Hellhammer, 1993) in which they were given a brief period of time to prepare a 5-minute speech, then deliver the speech in front of judges followed by a 5-minute arithmetic task Yale Interpersonal Stressor (YIPS): (Stroud, Tanofsky-Kraff, Wilfley, & Salovey, 2000) in which participant interacts with two confederates, believing that they are the same age as the participant, and experiences social rejection
Measures 4 saliva samples to asses cortisol and alpha amylase Heart rate taken at 4 points throughout the data collection Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) (Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988) obtained at 4 points throughout data collection (Positive Affect 𝜶=.695-.914, Negative Affect 𝜶=. -638.904)
Results Figure 1-4. Repeated measures ANOVAs were conducted to examine how type of task and gender affect adolescents’ stress response as measured by four different indicators.
Research Questions 1. How do interpersonal stressors (YIPS) and performance based stressors (TSST) affect adolescents’ stress response? 2. Do gender differences emerge in response to interpersonal stressors (YIPS) versus performance based stressors (TSST)?
Figure 3. Girls show a significant decrease in positive affect (PA) for the TSST when compared to boys. Girls also showed a delayed decrease in PA to the YIPS when compared to boys. Figure 4.
Figure 1. Cortisol response. Adolescents exposed to the YIPS had a heightened cortisol response at baseline, but adolescents post-TSST increased in cortisol levels.
Figure 2. Heart rate across Time 1, Time 2, and peak measurements. Adolescents’ heart rate increased more to the TSST then YIPS, but rapidly decreased following the TSST where those participating in the YIPS became more elevated.
Figure 4. Results show a significant decrease in negative affect in response to the TSST compared to the YIPS .
Conclusions • Task had a significant effect on cortisol, heart rate, and affect such that the TSST induced more of a stress response. This is consistent with past research, specifically for cortisol (Dickerson & Kemeny, 2004). • Gender differences were not found for physiological response to the different stressors. Past research has been inconsistent on gender differences and these findings are similar to research that has indicated a lack of gender differences in response to evaluative stress (Kelly, Tyrka, Anderson, Price, & Carpenter, 2008). • While both genders showed a decrease in positive affect in response to the TSST, boys showed less of a response to the YIPS. Girls show a sharper decrease in positive affect, as well as further decline in positive affect after discussing the YIPS with a friend which supports research suggesting that girls are more likely to engage in rumination with friends (Jose & Brown, 2008) • Future research should further examine responses to different types of stressors (e.g., family) to further explore differences in stress response.
This research was supported by grants P20GM103430 from NIH. Please contact Emily Cook at
[email protected] if you have any questions.
