In women, plasma OT signals relationship stress and is associated with elevated cortisol; it does not appear to significantly affect cortisol or blood pressure responses to acute stress.

BackgroundSuboptimal health status (SHS) is characterized by ambiguous health complaints, general weakness, and lack of vitality, and has become a new public health challenge in China. It is believed to be a subclinical, reversible stage of chronic disease. Studies of intervention and prognosis for SHS are expected to become increasingly important. Consequently, a reliable and valid instrument to assess SHS is essential. We developed and evaluated a questionnaire for measuring SHS in urban Chinese.MethodsFocus group discussions and a literature review provided the basis for the development of the questionnaire. Questionnaire validity and reliability were evaluated in a small pilot study and in a larger cross-sectional study of 3000 individuals. Analyses included tests for reliability and internal consistency, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, and tests for discriminative ability and convergent validity.ResultsThe final questionnaire included 25 items on SHS (SHSQ-25), and encompassed 5 subscales: fatigue, the cardiovascular system, the digestive tract, the immune system, and mental status. Overall, 2799 of 3000 participants completed the questionnaire (93.3%). Test-retest reliability coefficients of individual items ranged from 0.89 to 0.98. Item-subscale correlations ranged from 0.51 to 0.72, and Cronbach’s α was 0.70 or higher for all subscales. Factor analysis established 5 distinct domains, as conceptualized in our model. One-way ANOVA showed statistically significant differences in scale scores between 3 occupation groups; these included total scores and subscores (P < 0.01). The correlation between the SHS scores and experienced stress was statistically significant (r = 0.57, P < 0.001).ConclusionsThe SHSQ-25 is a reliable and valid instrument for measuring sub-health status in urban Chinese.

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A simple subjective assessment of one's ranking on the social hierarchy was associated with self-rated health and physical functional status in an older ethnic Chinese population. The associations were independent of the effects of traditional objective measures of SES, such as education, income, and occupation.