ArticlePloS one2019
Relative sensitivity of cortisol indices to psychosocial and physical health factors.
Article in PloS one, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 11 citations in OpenAlex.
- Prenatal stress, intimate partner violence and maternal cortisol trajectories: insights from a prospective birth cohort from São Paulo, Brazil.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Effects of psychophysiological stress on perceptual responses during low-volume high intensity interval exercise: insights from ACTH and cortisol in overweight-to-obese adults.Frontiers in physiology · 2026Article
- Sex Differences in the Relationship Between Child Maltreatment, Recent Bereavement, and Average Heart Rate.Omega · 2021Article
- Stress and genetics influence hair cortisol in FMR1 premutation carrier mothers of children with fragile X syndrome.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2021Article
- Challenges to Identity Integration Indirectly Link Experiences of Heterosexist and Racist Discrimination to Lower Waking Salivary Cortisol in Sexually Diverse Latinx Emerging Adults.Frontiers in psychology · 2020Article
- Psychological well-being as part of the public health debate? Insight into dimensions, interventions, and policy.BMC public health · 2019Review
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveRegulation of cortisol under resting conditions is widely used to assess physical and psychological status, but due to the diversity of possible assessments (e.g., cumulative levels; diurnal patterns), considering one or a few at a time hampers understanding and interpretation. Moreover, most studies of cortisol regulation focus on negatively-valanced experiences. This study examined the inter-correlations among cortisol indices and their relative contribution to the explained variance in diverse psychosocial and health factors, including positive functioning.
methodsData are from midlife and older adults (N = 513; 47.2% male). Cortisol was assessed in urine (overnight) and saliva (at rest and over 4 consecutive days). Positive and negative psychosocial and health factors were assessed by self-report. In addition to examining associations among cortisol indices, relative weight analysis was used to determine which indices were most robustly linked to specific psychosocial factors.
resultsInter-correlations among indices were weak-to-moderate, suggesting that they measure different aspects of hypothalamic-pituitary-axis activity. Overall variance in psychosocial and health factors (R2) explained by the cortisol indices ranged from 0.01 to 0.07. Of this explained variance, relative weight analysis showed that waking cortisol contributed most to the variance in hedonic well-being (32.1%-38.2%), bedtime cortisol to depression-related factors (32.1%-46.9%), the cortisol awakening response to eudaimonic well-being (35.8%-50.5%), cortisol slope to perceived stress (29.2%), and urinary cortisol to physical factors (38.5% and 62.7%).
conclusionsPositive and negative factors were related to largely non-overlapping cortisol indices. This study illuminates nuanced associations among cortisol indices and diverse aspects of mental and physical health, facilitating thoughtful examination of the complex role of hypothalamic-pituitary-axis activity in health.
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