The cortisol awakening response as a function of PTSD severity and abuse chronicity in sheltered battered women

Although intimate partner violence (IPV) is a significant social problem associated with severe psychiatric problems, most notably PTSD, only a handful of studies has examined PTSD and associated physiological factors in battered women. Further, no research to date has investigated impact of abuse chronicity on HPA functioning. The present study examined the impact of PTSD severity and abuse chronicity on the cortisol awakening response in a sample of 52 sheltered battered women. Results suggest that IPV-related PTSD and abuse chronicity have opposite effects on waking salivary cortisol curves in battered women. PTSD severity was associated with significantly greater cortisol output the first hour after awakening, while more chronic abuse was associated with lower total cortisol output in the first hour after awakening. Implications of findings and suggestions for future research are discussed.