title: Dreading the boards: stress response to a competitive audition characterized by social-evaluative threat.
abstract: The capacity of psychosocial stressors to provoke the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis has been demonstrated to vary depending upon a number of psychological factors. Laboratory stressors characterized by social-evaluative threat are proposed to be the most efficacious in the elicitation of a cortisol stress response. Salivary cortisol, cardiovascular, and subjective responses of 16 healthy adults facing a naturalistic stressor characterized by social-evaluative threat (competitive performance auditions) were examined. Audition exposure was sufficient to provoke significant cortisol, arterial blood pressure (systolic and diastolic), and subjective stress responses. Cortisol response reactivity (area under the curve with respect to increase [AUCi]) also correlated with participants' subjective rating of social-evaluative threat. The competitive performance audition context is therefore considered a promising context in which to further explore cortisol responsivity to social-evaluative threat.
authors: a Institute of Psychological Sciences , University of Leeds , Leeds , UK.
authors: Neil Bernard
authors: NB
authors: Boyle
authors: Clare
authors: C
authors: Lawton
authors: Karin
authors: K
authors: Arkbage
authors: Lars
authors: L
authors: Thorell
authors: Louise
authors: L
authors: Dye
mesh_terms: D000124:Achievement; D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000097:blood* / Q000523:psychology*; D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology*; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology; D003163:Competitive Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D004324:Drama; D005239:Fear / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000097:blood*; D007600:Judgment; D008297:Male; D009146:Music; D012463:Saliva / Q000737:chemistry; D012649:Self Concept; D012928:Social Desirability; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications* / Q000503:physiopathology*
chemical_list: D006854:Hydrocortisone