This paper describes the relationships between psychological assessments of emotionality and massfragmentographic measures of the dopamine metabolite homovanillic acid (HVA) in healthy boys and girls. Examination stress induced a significant rise in HVA excretion in both sexes. In girls, but not in boys, significant positive correlations were found between HVA excretion during stress and a set of measures of “negatively coloured” emotionality (distress, anxiety, lack of self-esteem, etc.) obtained at different points in time.
References
1.
FrankenhaeuserM.LundbergU.Rauste-von WrightM.von WrightJ.SedvallG. (1986) Urinary monoamine metabolites as indices of mental stress in healthy males and females. Pharmacology, Biochemistry, Behavior, 24, 1521–1525.
2.
FrankenhaeuserM.Rauste-von WrightM.CollinsA.von WrightJ.SedvallG.SwahnC-G. (1978) Sex differences in psychoneuroendocrine reactions to examination stress. Psychosomatic Medicine, 40, 334–343.
3.
Rauste-von WrightM. (1987) On the life-process among Finnish adolescents: summary report of a longitudinal study. Commentationes Scientiarum Socialium 35. Helsinki: Finnish Society of Sciences and Letters.
4.
Rauste-von WrightM.von WrightJ.FrankenhaeuserM. (1981) Relationships between sex-related psychological characteristics during adolescence and catecholamine excretion during achievement stress. Psychophysiology, 18, 362–370.
5.
SwahnC-G.SandgärdeB.WieselF. A.SedvallG. (1976) Simultaneous determination of the three major monoamine metabolites in brain tissue and body fluids by a massfragmentographic method. Pharmacologia, 48, 147–152.
