The physiological response to Trier Social Stress Test relates to subjective measures of stress during but not before or after the test
Abstract
The Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) is an effective psychosocial laboratory protocol for inducing stress in humans and has been used in numerous research studies. The stressor leads to a physiological response of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPAA) and the autonomous nervous system (ANS). Common biomarkers are cortisol levels and heart rate. In addition to the physiological stress response, the TSST also triggers a psychological response such as an increase in perceived stress, anxiety and emotional insecurity. Whereas HPA and ANS measures can easily be obtained for the TSST period itself, psychological measures are usually determined prior to (baseline) and after the TSST. This may exclude information of the stressful event itself. In the present study, we assessed perceived stress, anxiety and emotional insecurity before, during and after the TSST using visual analogue scales. In addition, cortisol levels and heart rates were assessed. Data of 260 healthy non-smoking males aged 16-60 yrs were used for analyses. Our results show that stress perception, anxiety and emotional insecurity were significantly higher during the TSST as compared to post-TSST ratings. Furthermore, our results suggest a covariance of the psychological stress response during the TSST and the physiological stress responses (cortisol and heart rate) for stress perception though the explained variance was small. This observation was not found for pre- and post-TSST ratings suggesting that assessing psychological stress measures during the stressor itself present a more informative measure of the stress response.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Self-report measures alone cannot verify the effectiveness of a stressor, and they do not always correspond with physiological stress responses.
“However, self-report measures alone cannot verify the e ff ectiveness of a stressor, and, more importantly, they do not always correspond with physiological stress responses (Hellhammer & Schubert, 2012).”
From The effects of acute stress on eyewitness memory: An integrative review for eyewitness researchers (2021) · cites this paper as Hellhammer & Schubert, 2012
Exclusive reliance on self-reports or other reports as a manipulation check is problematic because subjective measures of stress rarely correspond to objective physiological responses that modulate memory performance.
“The exclusive reliance on self‐reports or other reports as a manipulation check is problematic because subjective measures of stress rarely correspond to objective, physiological responses that modulate memory performance (e.g., Hellhammer & Schubert, 2012).”
From Stress, stress-induced cortisol responses, and eyewitness identification performance (2016) · cites this paper as Hellhammer & Schubert, 2012
Cites
Sapolsky, R. M., Romero, L. M., & Munck, A. U. (2000) · Endocrine Reviews · doi:10.1210/edrv.21.1.0389 · Cited by 7,541 · see citing works
Dickerson, S. S., & Kemeny, M. E. (2004) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.130.3.355 · Cited by 5,881 · see citing works
Age-predicted maximal heart rate revisited
Tanaka, H., Monahan, K. D., & Seals, D. R. (2001) · Journal of the American College of Cardiology · doi:10.1016/s0735-1097(00)01054-8 · Cited by 3,775 · see citing works
Coping theory and research: past, present, and future
Lazarus, R. S. (1993) · Psychosomatic Medicine · doi:10.1097/00006842-199305000-00002 · Cited by 3,253 · see citing works
The use of analogue scales in rating subjective feelings
BOND, A., & LADER, M. (1974) · British Journal of Medical Psychology · doi:10.1111/j.2044-8341.1974.tb02285.x · Cited by 1,972 · see citing works
Kirschbaum, C., Kudielka, B. M., Gaab, J., Schommer, N. C., & Hellhammer, D. H. (1999) · Psychosomatic Medicine · doi:10.1097/00006842-199903000-00006 · Cited by 1,890 · cited 2× · see citing works
“…several emotional states on VAS such as stress perception, anxiety, calmness, controllability and predictability of the stressor as well as the anticipation of negative consequences (Kirschbaum et al., 1999; Kudielka et al., 2004; Childs et al., 2006; Kelly et al., 2008; Oldehinkel et al., 2010).”
BackgroundSelf-citationStress and the General Adaptation Syndrome
Selye, H. (1950) · BMJ · doi:10.1136/bmj.1.4667.1383 · Cited by 1,481 · see citing works
Schlotz, W., Kumsta, R., Layes, I., Entringer, S., Jones, A., & Wüst, S. (2008) · Psychosomatic Medicine · doi:10.1097/psy.0b013e3181810658 · Cited by 237 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Biological and psychological markers of stress in humans: Focus on the Trier Social Stress Test
Allen, A. P., Kennedy, P. J., Cryan, J. F., Dinan, T. G., & Clarke, G. (2014) · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2013.11.005 · Cited by 734 · see citing works
Campbell, J., & Ehlert, U. (2012) · Psychoneuroendocrinology · doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2011.12.010 · Cited by 683 · see citing works
Creswell, J. D., Pacilio, L. E., Lindsay, E. K., & Brown, K. W. (2014) · Psychoneuroendocrinology · doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2014.02.007 · Cited by 376 · see citing works
Basso, J. C., McHale, A., Ende, V., Oberlin, D. J., & Suzuki, W. A. (2019) · Behavioural Brain Research · doi:10.1016/j.bbr.2018.08.023 · Cited by 255 · see citing works
Lindsay, E. K., Young, S., Smyth, J. M., Brown, K. W., & Creswell, J. D. (2018) · Psychoneuroendocrinology · doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2017.09.015 · Cited by 226 · see citing works
Lindsay, E. K., Young, S., Smyth, J. M., Brown, K. W., & Creswell, J. D. (2017) · doi:10.31219/osf.io/4se5m · Cited by 226 · see citing works
Li, K., Cardoso, C., Moctezuma-Ramirez, A., Elgalad, A., & Perin, E. (2023) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph20247146 · Cited by 160 · see citing works
Arza, A., Garzón-Rey, J. M., Lázaro, J., Gil, E., Lopez-Anton, R., de la Camara, C., Laguna, P., Bailon, R., & Aguiló, J. (2019) · Medical & Biological Engineering & Computing · doi:10.1007/s11517-018-1879-z · Cited by 148 · see citing works
Emotional reactivity and internalizing symptoms: Moderating role of emotion regulation
Shapero, B. G., Abramson, L. Y., & Alloy, L. B. (2016) · Cognitive Therapy and Research · doi:10.1007/s10608-015-9722-4 · Cited by 114 · see citing works
Shilton, A. L., Laycock, R., & Crewther, S. G. (2017) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00567 · Cited by 76 · see citing works
“Hellhammer and Schubert (2012) have recently shown subjective ratings of distress were lower immediately after the stress compared to during the stress.”
BackgroundChen, I. Y., Jarrin, D. C., Ivers, H., & Morin, C. M. (2017) · Sleep Medicine · doi:10.1016/j.sleep.2017.09.011 · Cited by 56 · see citing works
Wiegand, C., Heusser, P., Klinger, C., Cysarz, D., Büssing, A., Ostermann, T., & Savelsbergh, A. (2018) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-018-25554-x · Cited by 46 · see citing works
Stress, stress-induced cortisol responses, and eyewitness identification performance
Sauerland, M., Raymaekers, L. H. C., Otgaar, H., Memon, A., Waltjen, T. T., Nivo, M., Slegers, C., Broers, N. J., & Smeets, T. (2016) · Behavioral Sciences & the Law · doi:10.1002/bsl.2249 · Cited by 37 · see citing works
Liu, Q., & Zhang, W. (2020) · Psychology Research and Behavior Management · doi:10.2147/prbm.s268039 · Cited by 32 · see citing works
The effects of acute stress on eyewitness memory: An integrative review for eyewitness researchers
Marr, C., Sauerland, M., Otgaar, H., Quaedflieg, C. W. E. M., & Hope, L. (2021) · Memory · doi:10.1080/09658211.2021.1955935 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
“However, self-report measures alone cannot verify the effectiveness of a stressor, and, more importantly, they do not always correspond with physiological stress responses (Hellhammer & Schubert, 2012).”
BackgroundNegative urgency moderates reactivity to laboratory stress inductions.
Owens, M. M., Amlung, M. T., Stojek, M., & MacKillop, J. (2018) · Journal of Abnormal Psychology · doi:10.1037/abn0000350 · Cited by 29 · see citing works
Optimizing expectations and distraction leads to lower cortisol levels after acute stress
Salzmann, S., Euteneuer, F., Strahler, J., Laferton, J. A. C., Nater, U. M., & Rief, W. (2018) · Psychoneuroendocrinology · doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2017.12.011 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
- Authors
- Hellhammer, J., & Schubert, M.
- Affiliations
- Daacro (Germany) (DE)
- ORCID
- Schubert, Melanie
- Venue
- Psychoneuroendocrinology
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2012-01
- Volume
- 37
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 119-124
- ISSN
- 0306-4530 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2104598765
- Cited by
- 304
- References
- 8
- Citations by year
- 2026: 20 · 2025: 13 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 26 · 2022: 21 · 2021: 27 · 2020: 27 · 2019: 23 · 2018: 23 · 2017: 22 · 2016: 22 · 2015: 22 · 2014: 26 · 2013: 13 · 2012: 8
- FWCI
- 5.84
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Psychoneuroendocrinology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Behavioral Neuroscience › Stress Responses and Cortisol
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine › Heart Rate Variability and Autonomic Control
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism › Adrenal Hormones and Disorders
- Keywords
- Trier Social Stress Test, perceived stress, anxiety, emotional insecurity, cortisol, heart rate, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, autonomic nervous system, physiological stress response
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Anxiety, Emotions, Heart Rate, Humans, Hydrocortisone, Male, Middle Aged, Psychological Tests, Self Concept, Stress, Psychological, Time Factors, Biomarkers
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
