Relationship of Salivary Alpha Amylase and Cortisol to Social Anxiety in Healthy Children Undergoing Laboratory Pain Tasks.

Laura A Payne,Leah C Hibel

doi:10.4172/jcalb.1000129

Abstract

ObjectiveSalivary alpha amylase (sAA) has been shown to be a sensitive and reliable marker of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) response to stress. A link between sAA, cortisol, and social/evaluative stress has been established in youth, but little is known about these relationships in response to other stressors in children, and how social anxiety might moderate these relationships. The current study explored the associations among sAA and salivary cortisol responses to laboratory pain tasks and self-reported social anxiety symptoms in a sample of healthy children.MethodTwo hundred thirty-one children (114 girls; 49.4%) with a mean age 12.68 years (SD=3.0; range 7–18) participated in the study. Participants completed self-report questionnaires prior to undergoing a series of laboratory pain tasks involving cold, pressure, and heat pain. Saliva samples were collected upon arrival to the laboratory (pre-task), following the completion of the pain tasks (post-task1), and 20 minutes after the completion of the pain tasks (post-task2).ResultsDemographic factors (age, sex, pubertal stage) did not predict either sAA or cortisol levels. However, children reporting higher levels of social anxiety demonstrated significantly higher sAA but not cortisol levels across three salivary collection times, compared to children reporting lower levels of social anxiety. Further, it does not appear that reduced state levels of anxiety before or during the tasks buffer this relationship.ConclusionThese data highlight the possibility of identifying biomarkers of stress that are consistent across time and developmental stage. sAA appears to be a marker of stress response in children with self-reported social anxiety. There may also be a potentially unique relationship of sAA to stress in this population. In addition, sAA may reflect stable individual differences in levels of ANS arousal and may be a useful biomarker for identifying children at risk for stress.

Highlights

National estimates reveal that approximately 5.5% of children and adolescents suffer various degrees of social anxiety [1]
Theorists speculate that individual differences in physiological reactivity and regulation in these circumstances provide clues as to how everyday concerns and worries develop over time into patterns of symptoms with the potential to impact psychosocial adjustment
Anger, stress, worry) and high arousal positive emotions [11]. Together these results suggest that salivary alpha amylase (sAA) may share a unique relationship with emotional states that may be pronounced under general stress that do not include a social/ evaluative component

Summary

Introduction

National estimates reveal that approximately 5.5% of children and adolescents suffer various degrees of social anxiety [1]. Fear and avoidance of social situations in childhood is associated with negative developmental outcomes such as depression, anxiety and school refusal. Studies with adults suggest that individual differences in social anxiety may be accompanied by heightened physiological responses to social stress, threat, and challenge [2]. Theorists speculate that individual differences in physiological reactivity and regulation in these circumstances provide clues as to how everyday concerns and worries develop over time into patterns of symptoms with the potential to impact psychosocial adjustment. The depth of our knowledge about the association between social anxiety and physiological reactivity in youth is very shallow [3]. In this study we report a pattern of findings that begins to address this information gap

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Discussion

Conclusion