Table 3.
Study variability when examining human oxytocin reactivity in the Trier Social Stress Task.
| Ref. | N | % F | Type | Extract/Assay | B | T1 | T2 | T3 | T4 | SigΔ | Sample |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studies using the TSST with healthy, non-pregnant or breastfeeding participants | |||||||||||
| [43] | 63 | 100 | S | Yes/EIA | −1 | +1 | +12 | +27 | Yes | Healthy adults | |
| [42] | 57 | 53 | S | No/RIA | −1 | +1 | +10 | +25 | +55 | Yes | Healthy adolescents |
| [23] | 30 | 50 | S | No/RIA | −2 | +1 | +20 | +50 | Yes | Healthy adults | |
| [41] | 114 | 57 | P | Yes/RIA | −50 | +5 | +50 | Yes | Healthy adults | ||
| [149] | 101 | 60 | P | Yes/RIA | −1 | +1 | +4 | +10 | +30 | Yes | Healthy adults |
| Studies using the TSST with modifications, interventions, or specific samples | |||||||||||
| [150] | 51 | 100 | P | Yes/RIA | −10 | +1 | No | Lactating women, postpartum non-lactating, healthy controls | |||
| [151] | 47 | 100 | P | Yes/EIA | −1 | +10 | +17 | +10 | N/A | Breastfeeding before TSST, history of depression or anxiety, current postpartum depression, healthy controls; some samples taken during task | |
| [152] | 61 | 100 | P | Yes/RIA | −10 | +1 | No | All had significant other for at least 12 months; three conditions with partner, social interaction, verbal social support, neck and shoulder massage | |||
| [153] | 43 | 100 | P | Yes/RIA | −1 | +1 | +30 | No | Lactating women, one group holding baby and other breastfeeding before TSST | ||
| [154] | 67 | 100 | P | Yes/EIA | −15; −1 | +5 | +15 | +30 | No | One group had a social support intervention before the TSST, one completed a standard TSST, and a control group didn’t do the TSST | |
| [155] | 172 | 60 | P | No/EIA | −1 | +15 | No | Healthy sample; several aspects of TSST were altered | |||
| [156] | 80 | 69 | P | Yes/RIA | −1 | +1 | +20 | Yes | History of sexual abuse in childhood; survivors of cancer during childhood, healthy controls. Across all participants, significant change during recovery only | ||
| [157] | 39 | 53 | P | No/EIA | −60 | +1 | No | Allergies, healthy controls | |||
| [158] | 73 | 100 | P | No/EIA | −15 | +1 | +60 | No | Post-menopausal women on hormone therapy | ||
Pierrehumbert et al. [160] also included the TSST, but it used the same sample as Pierrehumbert et al. [156], so it was not included in the table. McQuaid et al. [154] included one group of healthy adults that completed the TSST (n = 23) but was not listed in the first part of the table to avoid redundancy.
S saliva, P plasma, B baseline: minutes before TSST onset, T1 Time 1 in minutes post-TSST completion, T2 Time 2 in minutes post-TSST completion, etc., TSST Trier Social Stress Test, EIA enzyme immunoassay, RIA radioimmunoassay.