Perceived stress and reference ranges of hair cortisol in healthy adolescents

Abstract

This research provides cortisol reference values for adolescents that will allow the early detection of chronic stress. Such detection methods make it possible to prevent problems arising from stress because we can act more quickly and the treatments will be more effective. The study suggests that there is no relationship between perceived and objective stress; while perceived stress remained stable, the levels of hair cortisol were increased at 6 months. Despite the interesting findings of the study, there are some limitations: the sample was not obtained through probabilistic sampling, the age range was narrow, and some demographic, anthropomorphic and clinical factors are missing, which make the generalization of results difficult.