SynthesisBiological psychology2017
Psychosocial functioning and the cortisol awakening response: Meta-analysis, P-curve analysis, and evaluation of the evidential value in existing studies.
Synthesis in Biological psychology, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 42 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
42 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Mortality, Morbidity and Health-Related Outcomes in Informal Caregivers Compared to Non-Caregivers: A Systematic Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Nocturnal Gamma-Hydroxybutyrate Reduces Cortisol-Awakening Response and Morning Kynurenine Pathway Metabolites in Healthy Volunteers.The international journal of neuropsychopharmacology · 2019Trial
- The effects of six-day SSRI administration on diurnal cortisol secretion in healthy volunteers.Psychopharmacology · 2018Trial
- Childhood maltreatment patterns are prospectively linked to adolescent nonsuicidal self-injury behaviors via diurnal cortisol.Development and psychopathology · 2025Article
- Effects of Exposure to Life Stressors, Perceived Stress, and Psychopathological Symptoms on Cortisol Awakening Response: Individual Differences in Resilience.Stress and health : journal of the International Society for the Investigation of Stress · 2025Article
- Pilot study of an ecological momentary music intervention for stress reduction in Turkish immigrant women perceiving chronic ethnic discrimination.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Gratitude and sleep disturbance in primary care patients: the mediating roles of health self-efficacy, health behaviors, and psychological distress.Frontiers in sleep · 2025Article
- How mindfulness-based training improves stress-related health: a selective review of randomized clinical trials comparing psychological mechanisms of action.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2025Review
- Blunted anticipatory stress responses on competition day in team sports athletes compared to individual sports athletes.Comprehensive psychoneuroendocrinology · 2024Article
- Interplay of Adolescents' and Parents' Mindsets of Socioeconomic Status on Adolescents' Stress-Related Outcomes.Journal of youth and adolescence · 2024Article
- [Depression in the field of tension of gender roles].Der Nervenarzt · 2024Review
- The inconsistency of p-curve: Testing its reliability using the power pose and HPA debates.PloS one · 2024Article
- Reliability of diurnal salivary cortisol metrics: A meta-analysis and investigation in two independent samples.Comprehensive psychoneuroendocrinology · 2023Article
- Short-term cortisol adaption to discrimination and Mexican-origin adolescents' mental and sleep health.Development and psychopathology · 2023Article
- Parent-Child Separation and Diurnal Cortisol Rhythms Among Left-Behind Adolescents: The Moderating Role of Sex.Journal of youth and adolescence · 2023Article
- Childhood adversity and the cortisol awakening response in depression: A meta-analysis.Journal of mood and anxiety disorders · 2023Article
- Lifetime discrimination, habitual and daily everyday discrimination, and diurnal cortisol among older African Americans adults.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2023Article
- Dietary Intake, Serum Hormone Concentrations, Amenorrhea and Bone Mineral Density of Physique Athletes and Active Gym Enthusiasts.Nutrients · 2023Article
- Open and reproducible science practices in psychoneuroendocrinology: Opportunities to foster scientific progress.Comprehensive psychoneuroendocrinology · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Cortisol levels rise immediately after awakening and peak approximately 30-45min thereafter. Psychosocial functioning influences this cortisol awakening response (CAR), but there is considerable heterogeneity in the literature. The current study used p-curve and meta-analysis on 709 findings from 212 studies to test the evidential value and estimate effect sizes of four sets of findings: those associating worse psychosocial functioning with higher or lower cortisol increase relative to the waking period (CARi) and to the output of the waking period (AUCw). All four sets of findings demonstrated evidential value. Psychosocial predictors explained 1%-3.6% of variance in CARi and AUCw responses. Based on these effect sizes, cross-sectional studies assessing CAR would need a minimum sample size of 617-783 to detect true effects with 80% power. Depression was linked to higher AUCw and posttraumatic stress to lower AUCw, whereas inconclusive results were obtained for predictor-specific effects on CARi. Suggestions for future CAR research are discussed.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.