Physiological and psychological responses to acute stress: A meta-analysis of the 171 studies of Trier Social Stress Test including 8452 healthy adults
Gu H, Lei Y, Yao Y, Chen C, Liu C
Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2025
What the research tells us
Reported stress-reactivity estimates were g=1.25 (95% CI 1.13–1.38) for physiology and 0.93 (0.79–1.09) for psychology. Autonomic and HPA domains were 1.38 (1.23–1.54) and 1.04 (0.86–1.21).
Scope & interpretation
These are reactivity effects, not recovery speeds. Autonomic and HPA domains sit within physiology and cannot be counted as additional independent samples. Full pooling methods were not assessed for this note.
Study at a glance
- POPULATION & SAMPLE
- 171 TSST articles; 8,452 healthy adults.
- EXPOSURE / INTERVENTION / SUBJECT
- Acute psychosocial stress induced with the TSST.
- OUTCOMES
- Standardized physiological and psychological stress responses.
- TIME FRAME
- Acute task comparisons; published in 2025.
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Editorial & review record
Record for v1.0 · Updated
Editorial responsibility: TAP Editorial Team
Editorial note
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How responsibilities and review are recorded ↗Scope of this reading note
PubMed bibliographic record and abstract. This note covers the question and reported findings; detailed methods, supplements and complete declarations were not assessed.
- Study funding
- Not yet verified against the full text.
- Competing interests
- The declaration indexed in PubMed states no competing interests; full-text funding details have not been verified.
Project support
Founded and supported by Resilio.
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