Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2011 Mar;30(2):220-7.
doi: 10.1037/a0022262.

Spousal loss predicts alterations in diurnal cortisol activity through prospective changes in positive emotion

Anthony D Ong  1 , Thomas E Fuller-Rowell, George A Bonanno, David M Almeida
Affiliations

Spousal loss predicts alterations in diurnal cortisol activity through prospective changes in positive emotion

Anthony D Ong et al. Health Psychol. 2011 Mar.

Abstract

Objective: The objective of this study was to examine the role of spousal bereavement and positive emotion in naturally occurring levels of daily cortisol.

Methods: Analyses were conducted using data from the Midlife in the United States survey and the National Study of Daily Experiences. Baseline assessments of extraversion, neuroticism, trait positive emotion, and trait negative emotion were obtained, as were reports of demographic and health behavior covariates. Salivary cortisol levels were measured at wakeup, 30 min after awakening, before lunch, and at bedtime on each of 4 successive days.

Results: Multilevel growth curve analyses indicated that independent of age, gender, education, extraversion, neuroticism, negative emotion, medication use, and smoking, spousal bereavement was associated with lower levels of cortisol at wakeup and a flattening of the diurnal cortisol rhythm. Mediation analyses revealed that prospective changes in positive emotion accounted for the impact of bereavement on diurnal cortisol slopes.

Conclusion: The current prospective study is among the first to provide evidence for a role for positive emotion as a mechanism by which bereavement influences hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis dysregulation in older adults.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Average cortisol rhythms across the waking day by bereavement status.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Adam EK. Transactions among adolescent trait and state emotion and diurnal and momentary cortisol activity in natural settings. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2006;31:664–679. - PubMed
    1. Adam EK, Gunnar MR. Relationship functioning and home and work demands predict individual differences in diurnal cortisol patterns in women. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2001;26:189–208. - PubMed
    1. Adam EK, Hawkley LC, Kudielka BM, Cacioppo JT. Day-to-day dynamics of experience-cortisol associations in a population-based sample of older adults. The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 2006;103:17058–17063. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Adam EK, Kumari M. Assessing salivary cortisol in large-scale, epidemiological research. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2009;34:1423–1436. - PubMed
    1. Almeida DM, McGonagle KA, King H. Assessing daily stress processes in social surveys by combining stressor exposure and salivary cortisol. Biodemography and Social Biology. 2009;55:220–238. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types