Generalized anxiety disorder symptoms and daily social behavior predict hair cortisol concentration

Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) symptoms are trait-like and associated with negative emotions and stress biomarkers like cortisol. Both GAD symptoms and cortisol have been linked to interpersonal dominance and affiliation. However, most studies on GAD symptoms and interpersonal processes remain cross-sectional, disconnected from daily stressors, or measure brief cortisol fluctuations. In contrast, hair cortisol concentration (HCC) assesses cortisol over longer periods.

This study examined direct and interacting effects of GAD symptoms and interpersonal processes predicting emotional distress and HCC.

Participants (N = 152; 116 women; ages 18-31) including those with anxiety and/or depressive diagnoses (n = 56) reported baseline GAD symptoms then ratings of dominance, affiliation, and emotional distress during social stressors for five weeks (1,885 records). Afterward, 91 participants provided hair samples to estimate HCC over the past two months. We hypothesized that higher baseline GAD symptoms, and lower dominance and affiliation, would predict higher distress and HCC.

As hypothesized, GAD symptoms prospectively predicted higher emotional distress and higher HCC. Unexpectedly, dominance strengthened the relationship of GAD symptoms to HCC and predicted higher distress levels.

Overall, findings add to the literature on both GAD symptoms and interpersonal processes as risks for chronic stress.