Abstract
There is growing evidence that individuals with social anxiety show impaired cortisol recovery after experiencing social evaluative stressors. Yet, little is known regarding the cognitive processes underlying such impaired cortisol recovery. The present study examined the effect of post-event processing (PEP), referred to as repetitive thinking about social situations, on cortisol recovery following a social stressor. Forty-two non-clinical university students (23 women, 19 men, mean age = 22.0 ± 2.0 years) completed the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST), followed by a thought sampling procedure which assessed the frequency of PEP reflecting the TSST. A growth curve model showed PEP and social anxiety interactively predicted cortisol recovery. In particular, PEP predicted impaired cortisol recovery in those with low levels of social anxiety but not in those with high levels of social anxiety, which contradicted the initial hypothesis. These findings suggest that PEP is differentially associated with cortisol recovery depending on levels of social anxiety. The possible mechanisms underlying these findings were discussed in terms of protective inhibition framework.
Highlights
Social anxiety is characterized by marked fear of being scrutinized during social interactions (American Psychiatric Association, 2013)
We examined the impact of post-event processing (PEP) and social anxiety on cortisol recovery using a two-piece multilevel growth-curve model with landmark registration (GCM-LR; Lopez-Duran et al, 2014)
The present study investigated the effect of PEP on impaired cortisol recovery following social evaluative stressors
Summary
Social anxiety is characterized by marked fear of being scrutinized during social interactions (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Altered hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis responses to psychological stressors have been implicated in social anxiety (e.g., Furlan et al, 2001; Condren et al, 2002; Shirotsuki et al, 2009; Elzinga et al, 2010). Previous findings suggest that cortisol responses can facilitate the avoidance of socially threatening stimuli among individuals with SAD (Roelofs et al, 2009; van Peer et al, 2009). Such avoidance behaviors can prevent individuals from habituation to socially threatening situations, which lead to persistent fear responses. Impaired cortisol recovery following social evaluative stressors likely has a crucial role in the psychopathology of social anxiety
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