Cortisol Stress Response Variability in Early Adolescence: Attachment, Affect and Sex.

Attachment, affect, and sex shape responsivity to psychosocial stress. Concurrent social contexts influence cortisol secretion, a stress hormone and biological marker of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activity. Patterns of attachment, emotion status, and sex were hypothesized to relate to bifurcated, that is, accentuated and attenuated, cortisol reactivity. The theoretical framework for this study posits that multiple individual differences mediate a cortisol stress response. The effects of two psychosocial stress interventions, a modified Trier Social Stress Test for Teens and the Frustration Social Stressor for Adolescents were developed and investigated with early adolescents. Both of these protocols induced a significant stress reaction and evoked predicted bifurcation in cortisol responses; an increase or decrease from baseline to reactivity. In Study I, 120 predominantly middle-class, Euro-Canadian early adolescents with a mean age of 13.43 years were studied. The girls' attenuated cortisol reactivity to the public performance stressor related significantly to their self-reported lower maternal-attachment and higher trait-anger. In Study II, a community sample of 146 predominantly Euro-Canadian middle-class youth, with an average age of 14.5 years participated. Their self-reports of higher trait-anger and trait-anxiety, and lower parental attachment by both sexes related differentially to accentuated and attenuated cortisol reactivity to the frustration stressor. Thus, attachment, affect, sex, and the stressor contextual factors were associated with the adrenal-cortical responses of these adolescents through complex interactions. Further studies of individual differences in physiological responses to stress are called for in order to clarify the identities of concurrent protective and risk factors in the psychosocial stress and physiological stress responses of early adolescents.

The Frustration Social Stressor for Adolescents (FSS-A): A newly adapted psychosocial stressor.

The role of stress on adolescents and its impact on development and mental health is of significant psychological concern. Previous research has investigated physiological changes, stressor characteristics and individual differences in stress responding. Experimental procedures that closely simulate naturally occurring psychosocial stressors have primarily been achievement-related (e.g., test taking, competitive tasks and psychomotor performance) and anxiety-provoking tasks (e.g., public speaking, improvisation and invasive medical-procedures) but few seek to elicit frustration. To address this gap, a new experimental procedure was developed and validated against the Trier Social Stress Test for Teens, with a Low Stress condition as a control. Conflict-related stressors, such as parent- and peer-related debates, have been found to be effective in provoking frustration in adolescents. The Frustration Social Stressor for Adolescents (FSS-A), a moderate frustration-provoking stressor involves a peer debate on a 'hot' topic, followed by a serial subtraction task with still-faced judges. The FSS-A procedure effectively elicited reliable and valid physiological (cortisol, heart rate) stress responses and was an effective stressor for both sexes. This new, stress protocol mirrors frustrating- and anxiety-provoking stressful situations that adolescents commonly encounter and affords a more detailed study of differential stress response patterns, increased understanding of adolescent stress, and potential for psychoeducational programming, such as directions for education and therapeutic intervention.

Current attitudes toward, and incidence of, sterilization of cats and dogs by caregivers (owners) in Auckland, New Zealand.

This study distributed a questionnaire to cat or dog caregivers (owners) throughout Auckland, New Zealand, to investigate the attitudes of human companions toward the sterilization of their cats and dogs and the degree to which this occurs relative to demographic information gathered. A total of 276 recipients returned questionnaires with data pertinent to 477 cats and dogs. Female owners were more likely than were males to sterilize cats or dogs: 90.2% sterilization rate compared with 80%. Statistical trends also suggested that owners with a postschool education had a higher percentage of sterilized nonhuman animals than owners with no postschool or only school-age education. Cats were more likely than dogs to be neutered: 91.7% versus 78.5%. Companion animals not annually vaccinated were more likely to be sterilized than animals who were vaccinated annually: 93.6% and 85.4%. The study also showed gender bias and age differences in owner attitudes toward a number of the statements regarding sterilization, with male owners more likely to be concerned about the effect of neutering or spaying on the sexuality or masculinity of the animal.