July 2024 in “Occupational Medicine” This study found that among Japanese full-time employees, cortisol levels in hair were negatively associated with aversive coping and emotional support-seeking tendencies, while dehydroepiandrosterone levels were linked to job confidence.
11 citations
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February 2005 in “Clinical pharmacology and therapeutics/Clinical pharmacology & therapeutics” This study found that depression and chronic stress are highly correlated in pregnant women, suggesting different stress mechanisms modulate hair cortisol levels in depressed versus non-depressed individuals.
July 2026 in “Psychoneuroendocrinology” In this study, hair glucocorticoid levels, including cortisol and cortisone, showed varied associations with psychosocial stress factors, influenced by covariates like sex, age, and individual behaviors.
In this study, researchers found that gender-diverse individuals experience higher depression and anxiety levels than cis-gender heterosexuals and exhibit lower hair cortisol levels, suggesting a potential link to health disparities possibly driven by trauma-, fatigue-, and pain-related conditions.
4 citations
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June 2025 in “JMIR Formative Research” In this study, researchers reported no statistically significant association between hair cortisol levels and either perceived stress or objective neuroendocrine stress measures in a predominantly male participant group.