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Anxiety Sensitivity Index and Appraisal of Social Concerns as Predictors of TSST-Evoked Cortisol
by Yuxuan Zhuang
Faculty Advisor: Robert A. Josephs, PhD
Self-report assessments are measures that enable researchers to directly obtain authentic subjective responses from participants by asking various well-designed questions. In clinical psychology, diverse self-report measures have been invented to facilitate the diagnosis of psychopathology. Cognition plays an important role in the development and maintenance of social anxiety disorder. However, little research to date has examined whether results of self-report cognitive assessments on social anxiety could be reliable predictors of the actual fluctuation of cortisol, the stress hormone, in the real-life scenario. This study examined whether Anxiety Sensitivity Index-3 (ASI-3) and Appraisal of Social Concerns (ASC) could be used to infer the potential variations in cortisol evoked by the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST). I hypothesized (1) there was a positive correlation between the scores of self-reports, ASI-3 and ASC, and the changes in TSST-evoked cortisol, and (2) ASI-3 and ASC were positively correlated with each other. 60 female college participants who completed ASI-3, ASC and three TSST-evoked cortisol collections were included in the study. Multiple linear regression and correlation test were performed to test the hypotheses. The results shown there was no significant correlation between ASI-3, ASC, and TSST-evoked cortisol. However, there was a positive correlation between ASI-3 and ASC. The study suggested that there was a gap between the self-report cognitive measures of social anxiety and the actual stress response.