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Mechanisms underlying cortisol reactivity to stress in low and high socioeconomic status individuals : role of naturally-occurring attentional biases

This Master's dissertation explored whether a rapid orienting of attention toward or away from social stress information during a restful state, relates to the magnitude of glucocorticoids (GC) released in response to a stressor, the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST). It also assessed whether childhood rearing in a low socioeconomic status (SES) context mediates this relationship. Subjects rested for 45 minutes during which time they completed a modified version of Posner's attention paradigm, comprising social stress words. Immediately following, participants were exposed to the stressor. Results indicated that a rapid attentional engagement toward social stress words associated with pronounced GC responses to the TSST. Fast engagers displayed lower self-esteem and did not differ in terms of their past SES. These findings demonstrate that attentional biases for social stress information at rest combine with diminished self-esteem to predict the magnitude of GC released during psychological stress irrespective of early SES conditions.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.116040
Date January 2008
CreatorsPilgrim, Kamala.
PublisherMcGill University
Source SetsLibrary and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation
Formatapplication/pdf
CoverageMaster of Science (Division of Neuroscience.)
RightsAll items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated.
Relationalephsysno: 002826835, proquestno: AAIMR66977, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest.

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