Ceccato, Smarandita and Kudielka, Brigitte M. and Schwieren, Christiane (2016) Increased Risk Taking in Relation to Chronic Stress in Adults. FRONTIERS IN PSYCHOLOGY, 6: 2036. ISSN 1664-1078,
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Chronic stress is a public health problem that affects a significant part of the population. While the physiological damage it causes is under ongoing scrutiny, its behavioral effects have been overlooked. This is one of the first studies to examine the relation between chronic stress and decision-making, using a standard lottery paradigm. We measured risk taking in the gain domain through binary choices between financially incentivized lotteries. We then measured self-reported chronic stress with the Trier Inventory for the Assessment of Chronic Stress (TICS). We additionally collected hair samples in a subsample of volunteers, in order to quantify accumulation of the stress hormone cortisol. We discovered a significant positive, though modest, correlation between self-reported chronic stress and risk taking that is stronger for women than for men. This confirms part of the findings in acute stress research that show a connection between higher stress and increased risk taking. However, unlike the biologically-based results from acute stress research, we did not identify a significant relation between hair cortisol and behavior. In line with previous literature, we found a clear gender difference in risk taking and self-reports: women generally take less risk and report slightly higher stress levels than men. We conclude that perceived chronic stress can impact behavior in risky situations.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | ; chronic stress; gender differences; risk; self-reported measures; hair cortisol |
| Subjects: | 100 Philosophy & psychology > 150 Psychology |
| Divisions: | Psychology and Pedagogy > Institut für Psychologie > Lehrstuhl für Psychologie VII (Medizinische Psychologie, Psychologische Diagnostik und Methodenlehre) - Prof. Dr. Brigitte Kudielka |
| Depositing User: | Dr. Gernot Deinzer |
| Date Deposited: | 15 Mar 2019 07:27 |
| Last Modified: | 15 Mar 2019 07:27 |
| URI: | https://pred.uni-regensburg.de/id/eprint/2523 |
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