A meta-analysis of salivary cortisol responses in the Trier Social Stress Test to evaluate the effects of speech topics, sex, and sample size.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) is one of the most widely used laboratory-based psychological stress paradigms. Previous studies have shown that males have a more robust cortisol response than females in the TSST. However, the effects of sample size, speech topic, and interaction between sex and speech topic on cortisol responses in TSST remain elusive. Our goal was to evaluate these influencing factors in the TSST using salivary cortisol reactivity as an objective measure.

Methods

We collected TSST research articles in Web of Science, PubMed, PsycNet, and CNKI. We only included TSST studies that had measures of salivary cortisol both before and after task completion. A total of 65 articles involving 76 sub-studies met our inclusion criteria, with a total of 5

SUBMITTER: Gu H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9216334 | biostudies-literature | 2022 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature