State anxiety and cortisol reactivity to skydiving in novice versus experienced skydivers

Hare, Olivia, Wetherell, Mark and Smith, Michael (2013) State anxiety and cortisol reactivity to skydiving in novice versus experienced skydivers. Physiology & Behavior, 118. pp. 40-44. ISSN 0031-9384

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.physbeh.2013.05.011

Abstract

Previous studies have suggested that skydiving, a naturalistic stressor, is associated with increases in self-reported stress, anxiety and cortisol levels. However, it has not been established whether this stress reactivity is altered as a function of repeated exposure to skydiving. This is of interest due to previous observations that cortisol reactivity becomes habituated with repeated exposure to laboratory stressors, however, few studies have investigated such habituation to naturalistic stressors. State anxiety and cortisol reactivity to skydiving were measured in 11 first-time skydivers and 13 experienced skydivers (≥ 30 jumps, mean jumps = 397.6), who were to complete a solo skydive. The novice skydivers reported significantly greater levels of state anxiety prior to the jump; however, there were no differences in pre-jump levels of salivary cortisol. Both groups exhibited significantly elevated salivary cortisol levels immediately post-jump, relative to i) pre-jump and ii) recovery. However, the two groups were indistinguishable with regard to their cortisol reactivity to the skydive. These findings support previous research demonstrating that skydiving elicits acute cortisol activation. Further, they suggest that i) cortisol reactivity does not habituate in experienced jumpers, and ii) that there is lack of concordance between self-reported levels of anxiety and biological stress reactivity in experienced skydivers.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: Published online first.
Uncontrolled Keywords: Skydiving, stress reactivity, state anxiety, HPA axis, cortisol, habituation
Subjects: C800 Psychology
Department: Faculties > Health and Life Sciences > Psychology
Depositing User: Ay Okpokam
Date Deposited: 03 Jul 2013 15:43
Last Modified: 17 Dec 2023 16:16
URI: https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/13166

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