Cortisol response to various stressful situations: relationship to personality variables and coping styles

Studies on personality traits and coping styles as determinants of interindividual differences in neuroendocrine responses to stress have not yet yielded conclusive results. In a previous investigation, strong hints to distinct interindividual differences in the susceptibility of the HPA axis of 12 male volunteers aged 27 +/- 5 years exposed to five different stress situations were found. In the present report, psychometric variables (personality traits and coping styles) assessed in the same subjects before the study were analyzed to test whether specific psychometric variables were related to the interindividual differences in the susceptibility of the HPA axis. The results revealed that interindividual differences in the frequency of cortisol responses to stress situations could not be predicted by any of the psychometric variables investigated. The question if psychological factors contribute to neuroendocrine stress response and to what degree warrants further interest. These preliminary findings suggest, however, that nonpsychological factors should be considered more seriously as determinants of interindividual differences in neuroendocrine stress responses in healthy subjects as well as in psychiatric patients.