The Association between Endogenous Hair Steroid Hormones and Social Environmental Factors in a Group of Conscripts during Basic Military Training

Asta Mažeikienė, Svajone Bekesiene, Dovilė Karčiauskaitė, Eglė Mazgelytė, Gerry Larsson, Tomas Petrėnas, Andrius Kaminskas, Jurgita Songailienė, Algirdas Utkus, Ramutė Vaičaitienė and Rasa Smaliukienė
Additional contact information
Asta Mažeikienė: Department of Physiology, Biochemistry, Microbiology and Laboratory Medicine, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, LT-03101 Vilnius, Lithuania
Svajone Bekesiene: General Jonas Zemaitis Military Academy of Lithuania, LT-10322 Vilnius, Lithuania
Dovilė Karčiauskaitė: Department of Physiology, Biochemistry, Microbiology and Laboratory Medicine, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, LT-03101 Vilnius, Lithuania
Eglė Mazgelytė: Department of Physiology, Biochemistry, Microbiology and Laboratory Medicine, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, LT-03101 Vilnius, Lithuania
Gerry Larsson: Department of Physiology, Biochemistry, Microbiology and Laboratory Medicine, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, LT-03101 Vilnius, Lithuania
Tomas Petrėnas: Department of Human and Medical Genetics, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, LT-03101 Vilnius, Lithuania
Andrius Kaminskas: Department of Human and Medical Genetics, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, LT-03101 Vilnius, Lithuania
Jurgita Songailienė: Department of Human and Medical Genetics, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, LT-03101 Vilnius, Lithuania
Algirdas Utkus: Department of Human and Medical Genetics, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, LT-03101 Vilnius, Lithuania
Ramutė Vaičaitienė: General Jonas Zemaitis Military Academy of Lithuania, LT-10322 Vilnius, Lithuania
Rasa Smaliukienė: General Jonas Zemaitis Military Academy of Lithuania, LT-10322 Vilnius, Lithuania

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 22, 1-18

Abstract: This study aimed to analyse the association between endogenous hair steroid hormones as reliable biological indicators of an individual’s stress level and the social environmental factors experienced during military training that are manifested at the beginning of compulsory military service. Hair steroid hormone concentrations—cortisol, cortisone, dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), and testosterone—in a group of 185 conscripts were measured using the ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method. Six subjective social environmental factors in the military—attitude towards the military and military service, adaptation to the military environment, team, task, and norm cohesion, as well as psychological (un)safety in the group—were evaluated using military-specific research questionnaires. Weak but significant negative correlations were identified between cortisol and adaptation (r = −0.176, p < 0.05), attitude (r = −0.147, p < 0.05) as well as between testosterone and task cohesion (r = −0.230, p < 0.01) levels. Additionally, a multiple forward stepwise regression analysis highlighted that cortisone variation might be partially explained by task cohesion; the DHEA—determined by psychological (un)safety in the group, attitude towards the military and military service, and norm cohesion; and the testosterone—determined by task cohesion and adaptation to the new military environment. The results of this study suggest that subjective measures of social factors can be used to predict hair steroid hormone levels as objective measures of the chronic stress perceived by conscripts during their basic military training.

Keywords: hair steroid hormones; cortisol; cortisone; dehydroepiandrosterone; testosterone; military conscripts; military training social environmental factors; chronic stress biomarkers (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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