The relationship between emotional rumination and cortisol secretion under stress

This study investigated the relationship between emotional rumination and cortisol secretion during stress. Subjects were 51 student nurses undergoing a written examination as part of their training and urinary-free cortisol was assayed from samples taken immediately after the examination and again three weeks later. Cortisol difference scores were obtained, expressed as a function of creatinine, assayed simultaneously, and baseline cortisol levels. Subjects completed the Eysenck Personality Inventory (EPI) and the Emotion Control Questionnaire (ECQ) and results showed that cortisol differences were associated with the rehearsal (or rumination) scale from the ECQ and to a lesser extent ECQ emotional inhibition and EPI neuroticism.