Stress response patterns of healthy participants
Conditions
Interventions
Group 1: Condition 1 will encompass a rumination intervention, in which participants will be instructed to engage in ruminative thinking and write down their thoughts following the initial stress expo
Sponsors
FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg, Lehrstuhl für Gesundheitspsychologie
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Inclusion criteria
Inclusion criteria: 1) 18 years or older 2) living in the greater area of Nuremberg (Germany) 3) female participants: luteal phase of their menstrual cycle 4) willingness to participate in the study and to provide biological samples
Exclusion criteria
Exclusion criteria: 1) younger than 18 years of age 2) presence of depressive or social anxiety symptomatology 3) presence of acute and/or chronic somatic diseases 4) medication intake (e.g., beta blocker, glucocorticoids, anti-depressants), with the exception of hormonal contraceptives in women 5) Body Mass Index (BMI) below 18 or above 30 kg/m2 6) smoking (> 10 cigarettes/week) 7) receiving psychotherapeutic treatment at study entry 8) previous experience with the stress protocol 9) being an employee of Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU)
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| Before and after the first and second stress exposures, as well as before and after the intervention, self-reported measures will be assessed: affect (Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, PANAS), task-related stress (Short Stress State Questionnaire, SSSQ), trait and state rumination (Response Style Questionnaire, RSQ; Brief State Rumination Inventory, BSRI), and trait and state self-compassion (Self Compassion Scale, SCS; State Self-Compassion Scale Short Form, SSCS-S). During the first and second stress exposures, biological stress and inflammatory responses will be assessed. To measure stress-induced activation of the HPA axis (cortisol), as well as autonomic (heart rate, heart rate variability, alpha amylase) and inflammatory (plasma IL-6, gene expression rates of pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines) stress responses, repeated saliva (baseline, -1, +1, +10, +20, +30, +45 minutes relative to TSST) and blood samples (-1, +30, +120 minutes relative to TSST) will be collected, along with continuous heart rate monitoring. To obtain response indices, delta scores will be computed for the initial and repeated exposure to stress using peak values relative to baseline (e.g., peak cortisol values at +1, +10, or +20 minutes post-TSST minus cortisol values at -1 minutes pre-TSST). To obtain habituation indices of biological stress measures, values of the second stress response will be subtracted from the first stress response values. | — |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| Secondary outcomes will be psychological (e.g., emotion regulation, coping), demographic (e.g., age, gender, sex), and anthropometric (e.g., BMI) variables. Associations between primary and secondary outcomes will be analyzed in an exploratory fashion. | — |
Countries
Germany
Contacts
Public ContactJohanna Janson-Schmitt
FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg, Lehrstuhl für Gesundheitspsychologie
Outcome results
None listed