title: The Use of Testosterone/Cortisol Ratio in Response to Acute Stress as an Indicator of Propensity to Anger in Informal Caregivers.
abstract: Caring for an offspring diagnosed with a psychological chronic disorder is used in research as a model of chronic stress. Indeed, it is usually associated with disturbances in the salivary cortisol (Csal) levels of the caregiver. An imbalance between salivary testosterone (Tsal) and Csal levels is a marker of proneness to social aggression. Given this, we aimed to establish whether the salivary testosterone/cortisol (Tsal/Csal) ratio response to acute stress could be employed as a marker of proneness to anger in informal caregivers of offspring with autism spectrum (ASD). Tsal/Csal ratio and anger responses to a set of different cognitive tasks as well as anger trait and expression were compared in these informal caregivers and controls. Caregivers, particularly those of offspring with ASD, had higher Tsal/Csal ratios than controls in response to acute stress, concretely after the stress in the case of fathers (p = .05) and before stress when analyzing mothers (p = .05). Moreover, ASD fathers and mothers obtained higher magnitude of the T/C ratio response to stress (p = .03 and p =.04, respectively), anger state (p = .02 and p = .02, respectively) and expression scores (p = .05 and p = .05, respectively) than controls. Finally, high Tsal/Csal ratio levels and response to stress were significantly associated with high anger feelings increases (p .05, respectively) and expression (p .05, respectively) in caregivers.
authors.affiliation: Universidad de Valencia(Spain).
authors.forename: Ángel
authors.initials: Á
authors.lastname: Romero-Martínez
authors.affiliation: Universidad de Valencia(Spain).
authors.forename: Luis
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Moya-Albiol
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000786:Anger / Q000502:physiology*; D000067877:Autism Spectrum Disorder / Q000451:nursing*; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D012463:Saliva; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000378:metabolism*; D013739:Testosterone / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D013739:Testosterone; D006854:Hydrocortisone
keywords: acute stress; anger; autism spectrum disorders; testosterone/cortisol ratio