Salivary Cortisol Levels and Depressive Symptomatology in Consumers and Nonconsumers of Self-Help Books: A Pilot Study
Joint Authors
Raymond, Catherine
Marin, Marie-France
Hand, Anne
Sindi, Shireen
Juster, Robert-Paul
Lupien, Sonia
Source
Issue
Vol. 2016, Issue 2016 (31 Dec. 2016), pp.1-12, 12 p.
Publisher
Hindawi Publishing Corporation
Publication Date
2015-12-29
Country of Publication
Egypt
No. of Pages
12
Main Subjects
Abstract EN
The self-help industry generates billions of dollars yearly in North America.
Despite the popularity of this movement, there has been surprisingly little research assessing the characteristics of self-help books consumers, and whether this consumption is associated with physiological and/or psychological markers of stress.
The goal of this pilot study was to perform the first psychoneuroendocrine analysis of consumers of self-help books in comparison to nonconsumers.
We tested diurnal and reactive salivary cortisol levels, personality, and depressive symptoms in 32 consumers and nonconsumers of self-help books.
In an explorative secondary analysis, we also split consumers of self-help books as a function of their preference for problem-focused versus growth-oriented self-help books.
The results showed that while consumers of growth-oriented self-help books presented increased cortisol reactivity to a psychosocial stressor compared to other groups, consumers of problem-focused self-help books presented higher depressive symptomatology.
The results of this pilot study show that consumers with preference for either problem-focused or growth-oriented self-help books present different physiological and psychological markers of stress when compared to nonconsumers of self-help books.
This preliminary study underlines the need for additional research on this issue in order to determine the impact the self-help book industry may have on consumers’ stress.
American Psychological Association (APA)
Raymond, Catherine& Marin, Marie-France& Hand, Anne& Sindi, Shireen& Juster, Robert-Paul& Lupien, Sonia. 2015. Salivary Cortisol Levels and Depressive Symptomatology in Consumers and Nonconsumers of Self-Help Books: A Pilot Study. Neural Plasticity،Vol. 2016, no. 2016, pp.1-12.
https://search.emarefa.net/detail/BIM-1113064
Modern Language Association (MLA)
Raymond, Catherine…[et al.]. Salivary Cortisol Levels and Depressive Symptomatology in Consumers and Nonconsumers of Self-Help Books: A Pilot Study. Neural Plasticity No. 2016 (2016), pp.1-12.
https://search.emarefa.net/detail/BIM-1113064
American Medical Association (AMA)
Raymond, Catherine& Marin, Marie-France& Hand, Anne& Sindi, Shireen& Juster, Robert-Paul& Lupien, Sonia. Salivary Cortisol Levels and Depressive Symptomatology in Consumers and Nonconsumers of Self-Help Books: A Pilot Study. Neural Plasticity. 2015. Vol. 2016, no. 2016, pp.1-12.
https://search.emarefa.net/detail/BIM-1113064
Data Type
Journal Articles
Language
English
Notes
Includes bibliographical references
Record ID
BIM-1113064