Procedure
BROCK, RECRUITMENT
Upon receiving ethics clearance from Brock University’s research ethics board
(REB# 17-083), participants were recruited via classroom and sport team meeting
announcements, and through a participant recruitment site run by the
university’s psychology department. Prospective participants were told the study
investigated mental health, hormones, and physical characteristics in university
male athletes and non-athletes to obtain authentic responses, obscured from the
anticipation of the SET (All testing took place between 2 and 7 pm, when circulating cortisol is at its
lowest and most stable for the day (At the second session, participants underwent either the high or low SET
condition. Upon arrival, participants were asked to change into their shorts
using the private washrooms around the corner from the lab. Upon returning,
participants were seated and provided a baseline saliva sample. Next,
participants completed a baseline measure of state body shame. This took
approximately 5 min to complete. Once completed, participants provided a second
saliva sample (pre-threat). Following, participants were briefed on the series
of physical measurements (chest, waist, and flexed biceps circumference, height,
weight, percent body fat via skinfold measurements) and test of strength
(handgrip) they would be undergoing. They then underwent their condition
consistent with their group assignment (see below for descriptions). Immediately
following the anthropometric and strength measures, a third saliva sample
(post-threat), followed by the third state body shame questionnaire, was
completed. Following a 10-min wait period, where the participants were
instructed not to talk, sleep, or use any electronics, participants provided a
fourth saliva sample (intermediate timepoint) followed by the state body shame
questionnaire. This saliva sample was approximately 30-min post-stressor onset,
which has been identified as the optimal time to capture peak cortisol responses
to psychosocial stressors (