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The Use of Testosterone/Cortisol Ratio in Response to Acute Stress as an Indicator of Propensity to Anger in Informal Caregivers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 September 2016

Ángel Romero-Martínez  and
Luis Moya-Albiol
Ángel Romero-Martínez*
Affiliation:
Universidad de Valencia (Spain)
Luis Moya-Albiol
Affiliation:
Universidad de Valencia (Spain)
*
*Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Ángel Romero-Martínez. Universidad de Valencia (Spain). E-mail: Angel.Romero@uv.es
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Abstract

Caring for an offspring diagnosed with a psychological chronic disorder is used in research as a model of chronic stress. Indeed, it is usually associated with disturbances in the salivary cortisol (Csal) levels of the caregiver. An imbalance between salivary testosterone (Tsal) and Csal levels is a marker of proneness to social aggression. Given this, we aimed to establish whether the salivary testosterone/cortisol (Tsal/Csal) ratio response to acute stress could be employed as a marker of proneness to anger in informal caregivers of offspring with autism spectrum (ASD). Tsal/Csal ratio and anger responses to a set of different cognitive tasks as well as anger trait and expression were compared in these informal caregivers and controls. Caregivers, particularly those of offspring with ASD, had higher Tsal/Csal ratios than controls in response to acute stress, concretely after the stress in the case of fathers (p = .05) and before stress when analyzing mothers (p = .05). Moreover, ASD fathers and mothers obtained higher magnitude of the T/C ratio response to stress (p = .03 and p =.04, respectively), anger state (p = .02 and p = .02, respectively) and expression scores (p = .05 and p = .05, respectively) than controls. Finally, high Tsal/Csal ratio levels and response to stress were significantly associated with high anger feelings increases (p < .01 and p < .001, respectively), trait (p < .001 and p > .05, respectively) and expression (p < .05 and p > .05, respectively) in caregivers.

Keywords

acute stressangerautism spectrum disorderstestosterone/cortisol ratio
Type
Research Article
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 19 , 2016 , E48
Copyright
Copyright © Universidad Complutense de Madrid and Colegio Oficial de Psicólogos de Madrid 2016 

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