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Updated: Jun 12, 2026

A Modified Trier Social Stress Test for Vulnerable Mexican American Adolescents
Published on: July 10, 2017
Evidence for a familial correlation between increased reactivity to stress and positive psychotic symptoms
T Lataster1, D Collip, M Lardinois
1Department of Psychiatry and Neuropsychology, South Limburg Mental Health Research and Teaching Network, Euron, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands.
Objective:
This study tested the hypothesis that stress-reactivity may represent an intermediary phenotype underlying positive psychotic symptoms. It was examined whether: (i) stress-reactivity clusters within families of psychotic patients and (ii) stress-reactivity in relatives cosegregates with positive symptoms in patients.
Method:
The sample consisted of 40 patients and 47 siblings of these patients. The Experience Sampling Method (ESM - a structured diary technique) was used to measure stress-reactivity. Positive symptoms in patients were measured with the Comprehensive Assessment of Symptoms and History.
Results:
Within-trait, cross-sib associations showed a significant association between stress-reactivity in the patient and stress-reactivity in their siblings. Significant cross-trait, cross-sib associations were established showing a significant association between positive psychotic symptoms in the patient and stress-reactivity in the sibling.
Conclusion:
The findings show familial clustering of increased stress-reactivity, suggesting common aetiological influences, probably both genetic and environmental, underlying stress-reactivity in the siblings and patients. In addition, the results underscore the hypothesis that increased stress-reactivity is an unconfounded mechanism of risk underlying the positive symptoms of psychotic disorders.
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