Abstract
Stress response can be considered a consequence of psychological or physiological threats to the human organism. Elevated cortisol secretion represents a biological indicator of subjective stress. The extent of subjectively experienced stress depends on individual coping strategies or self-regulation skills. Because of their experience with competitive pressure, athletes might show less pronounced biological stress responses during stressful events compared to non-athletes. In the present study, the short version of the Berlin Intelligence Structure Test, a paper-pencil intelligence test, was used as an experimental stressor. Cortisol responses of 26 female Swiss elite athletes and 26 female non-athlete controls were compared. Salivary free cortisol responses were measured 15 minutes prior to, as well as immediately before and after psychometric testing. In both groups, a significant effect of time was found: High cortisol levels prior to testing decreased significantly during the testing session. Furthermore, athletes exhibited reliably lower cortisol levels than non-athlete controls. No significant interaction effects could be observed. The overall pattern of results supports the idea that elite athletes show a less pronounced cortisol-related stress response due to more efficient coping strategies.
Highlights
Stress response can be considered a consequence of psychological or physiological threats to the human organism
The analyses show ed differences in saliv ary cortisol lev els ov er time
Throughout the three time points of cortisol measurement the athletes show ed low er cortisol lev els compared to non-athletes
Summary
Elite athletes are often confronted w ith highly stressful ev ents during contests. because the participation in important competitions can lead to nerv ousness, and due to critical situations during a contest. Athlete samples may hav e differed in the absolute lev el of physical fitness as much as in the efficiency of cognitiv e strategies for coping w ith stressful situations Another possible reason that could account for div ergent results in the studies by Rimmele et al (2007, 2009) and Synior et al (1983) may be the fact, that different psychological stressors w ere applied in the tw o studies. Sev eral studies analyzed endocrine effects w hile performing different cognitiv e tasks (Dickerson & Kemeny, 2004), to our know ledge, the effect of standardized psychometric intelligence tests on cortisol lev els in athletes compared to non-athletes has not been inv estigated yet. A female sample may be of particular interest because prev ious studies on endocrine responses in athletes and non-athletes during psychologically stressful situations primarily inv estigated men
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