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Updated: Jul 14, 2026

A Modified Trier Social Stress Test for Vulnerable Mexican American Adolescents
Published on: July 10, 2017
Psychoneuroendocrine effects of resource-activating stress management training
Maja Storch1, Jens Gaab, Yvonne Küttel
1Department of Educational Psychology, Institute of Education Sciences, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland. storch@paed.unizh.ch
Objective:
The stress-induced release of cortisol has been linked to detrimental health outcomes. Therefore, strategies to attenuate cortisol stress responses are of interest for prevention and treatment of stress-related symptoms and problems. Previous studies have found protective effects of cognitive-behavioral stress management training--which focuses on the modification of stress-inducing cognitions--on cortisol stress responses; however, the effects of resource-oriented interventions on cortisol stress responses are unknown.
Design:
The longitudinal effects of resource-oriented stress management training (Zurich resource model training) on cortisol stress responses and cognitive appraisal of a standardized psychosocial stress test were evaluated in 54 healthy male participants assigned randomly to treatment and control groups. The Trier Social Stress Test (TSST; C. Kirschbaum, Wust, & Strasburger, 1992) was administered to all participants 3 months after the treatment group underwent stress management training.
Main Outcome Measures:
Saliva cortisol samples were taken before, during, and after the TSST, and cognitive stress appraisal was assessed before the test.
Results:
The treatment group had significantly attenuated cortisol responses and stress appraisals in comparison to the control group. The endocrine differences were mediated by differences in cognitive appraisals.
Discussion:
These results indicate that resource-oriented stress management training effectively reduces endocrine stress responses to stress in healthy adults.
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