title: Self-compassionate young adults show lower salivary alpha-amylase responses to repeated psychosocial stress.
abstract: In this study we tested the hypothesis that participants higher in dispositional self-compassion would show lower stress-induced reactivity of salivary alpha-amylase (sAA), a marker of sympathetic nervous system activation. Thirty-three healthy participants (18-34 years old) were exposed to a standardized laboratory stressor on two consecutive days. Self-compassion, self-esteem, and demographic factors were assessed by questionnaire and sAA was assessed at baseline and at 1, 10, 30, and 60 minutes following each stressor. Self-compassion was a significant negative predictor of sAA responses on both days. This relationship remained significant when controlling for self-esteem, subjective distress, age, gender, ethnicity, and Body Mass Index (BMI). These results suggest that self-compassion may serve as a protective factor against stress-induced physiological changes that have implications for health.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Volen National Center for Complex Systems, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA, United States.
authors.forename: Juliana G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Breines
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Volen National Center for Complex Systems, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA, United States.
authors.forename: Christine M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: McInnis
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Volen National Center for Complex Systems, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA, United States.
authors.forename: Yuliya I
authors.initials: YI
authors.lastname: Kuras
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Volen National Center for Complex Systems, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA, United States.
authors.forename: Myriam V
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Thoma
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Volen National Center for Complex Systems, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA, United States.
authors.forename: Danielle
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gianferante
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Volen National Center for Complex Systems, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA, United States.
authors.forename: Luke
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hanlin
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Volen National Center for Complex Systems, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA, United States.
authors.forename: Xuejie
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Volen National Center for Complex Systems, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA, United States.
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Rohleder
keywords: Trier Social Stress Test; psychosocial stress; salivary alpha-amylase; self-compassion; self-esteem