| 1. |
- Carlsson, Frida, et al.
(författare)
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Salivary cortisol and self-reported stress among persons with environmental annoyance
- 2006
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Ingår i: Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment and Health. - 0355-3140. ; 32:2, s. 20-109
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- OBJECTIVES: Increased vulnerability to stress has been suggested as a possible mechanism behind medically unexplained conditions such as sensitivity to electricity and common smells. This study examined whether subjective environmental annoyance among the general population is associated with increased physiological reactivity or subjective stress scores.METHODS: Four groups were studied (N=141): an electrically annoyed (N=17), a smell-annoyed (N=29), and a generally annoyed group (N=39) and a reference group matched for age, gender, and socioeconomic status (N=56). Over 5 days, the participants collected saliva for cortisol determination at awakening, 30 minutes after awakening, 8 hours after awakening, and at 9 o'clock in the evening. On the evening preceding the fifth day, the participants ingested a 0.5-mg dexamethasone tablet so that possible differential suppression of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis could be assessed. Each day, the participants also rated their subjective stress and health complaints.RESULTS: No significant differences were found between the groups regarding cortisol secretion over 5 days. The dexamethasone suppression test showed inhibited cortisol secretion in all four groups. No associations were found between the cortisol concentrations and the self-reported stress scores or subjective health complaints.CONCLUSIONS: Although the environmentally annoyed groups showed no signs of increased HPA-axis activation, being annoyed by both electrical devices and smells seems to be related to increased psychological activation in terms of self-reported stress. Because the participants were otherwise healthy and recruited from the general population, the results imply that subtle psychological stress processes may be important in the early development of environmental annoyance.
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| 2. |
- Persson, Roger, et al.
(författare)
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Personality trait scores among occupationally active bullied persons and witnesses to bullying
- 2009
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Ingår i: Motivation and Emotion. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1573-6644 .- 0146-7239. ; 33:4, s. 387-399
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- There is little research on the personalities and emotional stability of persons who report being bullied or witnessing bullying at work. Men and women (N = 247) from 19 to 64 years of age and in manual labour completed a questionnaire concerning the psychosocial work climate, bullying and personality. Three groups were defined: bullied (N = 14), witnesses (N = 31) and non-bullied respondents (N = 202). The Swedish universities Scale of Personality was used to assess personality traits related to the three major dimensions of neuroticism, extraversion, and aggressiveness. Bullied persons had higher scores on all six scales within the neuroticism dimension as well as higher irritability (aggressiveness dimension) and impulsiveness scores (extraversion dimension), when compared with their non-bullied work colleagues. To conclude, bullied persons display a self-image that is dominated by mistrust and embitterment as well as irritability and impulsiveness. Accordingly, when dealing with bullying at work, the need for ego-supportive actions should be considered in conjunction with more organisational, collective oriented action.
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| 3. |
- Persson, Roger, et al.
(författare)
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Seasonal Variation in Human Salivary Cortisol Concentration
- 2008
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Ingår i: Chronobiology International. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0742-0528 .- 1525-6073. ; 25:6, s. 923-937
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Measurement of cortisol concentration can contribute important information about an individuals ability to adjust to various environmental demands of both physical and psychosocial origin. However, one uncertainty that affects the possibilities of correctly interpreting and designing field studies is the lack of observations of the impact of seasonal changes on cortisol excretion. For this reason, the month-to-month changes in diurnal cortisol concentration, the awakening cortisol response (ACR), maximum morning concentration, and fall during the day were studied in a group of 24 healthy men and women 32 to 61 yrs of age engaged in active work. On one workday for 12 consecutive months, participants collected saliva at four time points for determination of cortisol: at awakening, +30min, +8h, and at 21:00h. Data were analyzed by a repeated measures design with month (12 levels) and time-of-day (4 levels) as categorical predictors. Cortisol concentrations were analyzed on a log scale. The diurnal pattern of cortisol was similar across months (interaction between month and time of day: p0.4). The main effects of month and time-of-day were statistically significant (p0.001). Highest concentrations were observed in February, March, and April, and lowest concentrations were observed in July and August. There were no statistically significant effects in any of the other measures, or between men and women. In conclusion, a seasonal variation in salivary cortisol concentrations was detected in an occupationally active population. Thus, seasonal variation needs to be taken into account when designing and evaluating field studies and interventions and when making comparisons across studies.
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| 4. |
- Persson, Roger, et al.
(författare)
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Seasonal variation in self-reported arousal and subjective health complaints
- 2010
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Ingår i: Psychology, Health & Medicine. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1465-3966 .- 1354-8506. ; 15:4, s. 434-444
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Many aspects of human physiology and behavior are seasonally related. Although there are many studies using self-ratings of, for example, subjective health and stress, few involve adjusting effects for seasonal differences. To estimate the need of adjusting for season in field studies, 24 healthy men and women were studied in a design that required them to fill in questionnaires on one workday every month, for 12 consecutive months. The results showed that ratings of stress were higher during winter and early spring, but only in the early afternoon and not in the morning or the evening. While some subjective health complaints were rated higher during winter, the ratings of energy and self-rated health did not vary throughout seasons. This concludes that seasonal variations may be a source of bias in questionnaire studies. Yet, further studies are needed to more definitely sort out which phenomena and self-rating measures that co-vary with season.
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