Salivary cortisol and affective responses to acute psychosocial stress among adolescents

Acute psychosocial stress activates the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and triggers the release of cortisol, a commonly used biomarker of stress reactivity. Yet only 25 % of studies have reported a correlation between cortisol and affective responses to stress. This study aimed to examine whether cortisol reactivity following an acute psychosocial stressor in the laboratory correlated with concurrent positive and negative affect in adolescents, and whether early life adversity (ELA) moderated this relationship. The current study examined the salivary cortisol response of 89 adolescents (46.1 % female) following administration of the Trier Social Stress Test for Children (TSST-C). Using 7 simultaneous measurements, changes in cortisol were compared to changes in concurrent affect using the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS). Parents reported their child’s exposure to ELA. Within-person variability in cortisol was associated with higher negative affect at baseline, b = 1.43 (SE =.41), p .27. However, within-person increases in cortisol were associated with decrements in positive affect among ELA-exposed individuals, all ps