Effects of psychosocial stress on the hormonal and affective response in children with dyslexia

Abstract Introduction Research on stress and dyslexia has mainly focused on chronic and contextual stress caused by the school environment. Our goal was to test individual differences in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis reactivity of dyslexic and non-dyslexic children and the related emotional manifestations associated with exposure to a psychosocial stressor. Methods Eighty-one children (11–14 years old; 38 dyslexic) were exposed to the Trier Social Stress Test adapted to children or to a control condition. The salivary cortisol response, anxiety, and mood were measured before and after the stress. Results Dyslexic children did not show the expected cortisol response, as the h…