Validation of a Psychometric Measure of Behavioral Engagement in the Trier Social Stress Test and Relationship to Biomarker Reactivity

No measures of behavioral engagement (BE; correlate of depression-risk) are available to probe its associations with biomarker reactivity under stress. We validated a novel measure of BE during the Trier Social Stress Test, showing expected associations with self-reported positive affect, then used it to probe relationships with cortisol and alpha-amylase.