SITUATIONAL DETERMINANTS OF CORRELATIONS BETWEEN SERUM CORTISOL AND SELF-REPORTED STRESS MEASURES

This study examined the relationship between two self-report measures of stress and cortisol levels under different conditions of academic s tress. Subjects were 41 first year medical students attending classes who volunteered for the study. Analysis failed to indicate a statistic ally significant difference in serum cortisol levels or self-report me asures of stress obtained at the two sample periods. A correlational a nalysis showed no significant correlation between cortisol levels and reported stress levels at the first data collection point. At the seco nd data collection time however, significant correlations with serum c ortisol were found for both self-report stress measures. These results suggest the accuracy of self-report, as measured by a physiological i ndicator, may be highly contingent on situational factors.