Hair Cortisol, Perceived Stress, and the Effect of Group Dynamics: A Longitudinal Study of Young Men during Compulsory Military Training in Lithuania

Rasa Smaliukienė, Svajone Bekesiene, Asta Mažeikienė, Gerry Larsson, Dovilė Karčiauskaitė, Eglė Mazgelytė and Ramutė Vaičaitienė
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Rasa Smaliukienė: General Jonas Zemaitis Military Academy of Lithuania, Silo 5a, LT-10322 Vilnius, Lithuania
Svajone Bekesiene: General Jonas Zemaitis Military Academy of Lithuania, Silo 5a, LT-10322 Vilnius, Lithuania
Asta Mažeikienė: Microbiology and Laboratory Medicine, Department of Physiology, Biochemistry, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, M. K. Čiurlionio st. 21, LT-03101 Vilnius, Lithuania
Gerry Larsson: Microbiology and Laboratory Medicine, Department of Physiology, Biochemistry, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, M. K. Čiurlionio st. 21, LT-03101 Vilnius, Lithuania
Dovilė Karčiauskaitė: Microbiology and Laboratory Medicine, Department of Physiology, Biochemistry, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, M. K. Čiurlionio st. 21, LT-03101 Vilnius, Lithuania
Eglė Mazgelytė: Microbiology and Laboratory Medicine, Department of Physiology, Biochemistry, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, M. K. Čiurlionio st. 21, LT-03101 Vilnius, Lithuania
Ramutė Vaičaitienė: General Jonas Zemaitis Military Academy of Lithuania, Silo 5a, LT-10322 Vilnius, Lithuania

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 3, 1-15

Abstract: Previous research shows a nonlinear dependency between hair cortisol concentrations and perceived stress levels. This may be due to stress being targeted at the individual level despite it also being a social phenomenon which is often affected by group dynamics. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine the influence of perceived stress on the hair cortisol level, considering the impact of the variables of group dynamics (interpersonal, task, and norm cohesion). Information was collected on 11 groups of, in total, 112 young men in three phases of time during their compulsory military training (covering nine months in total). The classification and regression tree (C&RT) method was used to predict hair cortisol concentrations in groups. The results show that the variability of the hair cortisol level in young men groups can be explained by perceived stress only when the groups were in formation process (47.7% normalised importance in Model 1) and when the groups were working on their final tasks (37.80% normalised importance in Model 3); meanwhile, the importance of perceived stress in explaining hair cortisol concentrations is low when the group is in a routine period of a group life-span (28.9% normalised importance in Model 2). Interpersonal cohesion (normalised importance 100% in Model 1 and 80.0% in Model 3) and task cohesion (normalised importance 78.6% in Model 2) were the most important predictors in the study area. These results point to the importance of the elements of group dynamics when it comes to explaining the nature of hair cortisol as accumulated stress biomarkers in young men.

Keywords: hair cortisol; perceived stress; accumulated stress; group dynamics; interpersonal cohesion; norm cohesion; task cohesion; military; decision tree; classification and regression tree (C&RT) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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