Examining Biomarkers of Anxiety in a Healthy Sample of Youth and Adults
Examining Biomarkers of Anxiety in a Healthy Sample of Youth and Adults
The purpose of this study is to investigate how healthy youth and adults' cortisol levels and other hormone levels relate to anxiety levels while they participate in a behavioral task called the Trier Social Stress Task.
Data from these healthy participants will also be compared to those of anxious youth and adults collected as part of the in the Principal Investigator's ongoing study titled, "Child/Adolescent Anxiety Multimodal Extended Long-term Study (NA00035687)."
The aim of this study is to investigate the independent and interactive associations linking salivary cortisol (a marker of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal activity or HPA activity) and alpha amylase (a marker of autonomic nervous system activity or ANS activity) in a sample of healthy controls. Data from these healthy controls will be compared in the future to clinically anxious youth. In this study, participants are asked to complete a one-time assessment consisting of interviews, questionnaires, and a behavioral task (called the Trier Social Stress Task) involving a short public speaking task and an arithmetic task in front of study staff. Throughout the behavioral task, study staff will collect four, small saliva samples using a straw-like tube from each participant. The assessment will take approximately 3 hours. Participants will be fully debriefed regarding the purposes of the stress procedure and assessed for any signs of residual distress. Since there is no treatment or randomization, blinding of study staff is not applicable. Participation in this study will not affect any current or future medical or psychiatric treatment.
AIMS: To examine whether a) salivary cortisol and alpha amylase response and recovery to the Trier Social Stress Task is associated with anxiety in non-psychiatrically ill participants.
Inclusion Criteria:
Exclusion Criteria: