Undergraduate participants were recruited from a required academic course in a Forensic Identification Program at a major land grant university. To this date, this academic program is the first of its kind to offer multi-disciplinary research and education collaboration in areas related to forensic sciences. Participants had to be majors in the Forensic Identification Program. No participant was eliminated from the study based on gender, race, or ethnicity. Out of possible 30 participants solicited for the study, all but one expressed an interest in completing the study. Twenty-nine participants completed the study. The sample consisted of 20 Caucasian participants and 9 African American participants. Nine males (31 %) participated in the study. The mean age of the male participants was 25.2 (SD = 7.6, range = 20 to 43 years). Twenty females (69 %), with a mean age of 21.8 (SD = 3.6, range = 20 to 36 years) participated in the study. Participants were at various levels of completing the program. The majority of the sample, 22 participants (75.9 %), were majors (juniors and seniors) in the program.

On average, males and females had completed the same number of college credits (103 hours and 102 hours, respectively). The mean grade point average (GPA) was similar for males (3.31) and females (3.39). Females completed 4.9 forensic identification core courses and males completed 2.8. Additionally, females indicated that they had been in the program 2.9 years and males to be in the program 2.0 years.

Demographic questionnaire

History of Psychosocial Stressors (HPS)

Sensation Seeking Scale (SSS-V)

Zuckerman-Kuhlman Personality Questionnaire (ZKPQ)

EIA salivary cortisol assay procedures

Subjective units of distress scale (SUDS)

Session 1: Administering surveys and questionnaires

Session 2: Acute psychological challenge

Participants were asked to provide information about their experience with various psychosocial stressors (Table 1). The majority of the sample indicated to have had experience (happened to or witnessed the psychosocial stressor) with more than five psychosocial stressors. Sixty two percent of the participants reported involvement in a transportation accident. Of those participants, 47.8 % were involved in that accident over a year ago. Additionally, participants indicated that it was not causing distress within the last week (M = 1.3; distress level ranged from 1 to 5; 1 = none and 5 = extreme). Fifty one percent of participants indicated that they had a death of someone close to them. For most of the participants, this event had occurred over a year ago (72.7 %), and was causing little distress within the last week (M = 1.5). Lastly, 41.4 % of the participants reported finding, seeing, or handling a dead body. This stressor was the only one that had occurred with 1 month to a year ago for the largest percent of participants. The average distress level ranging from 1 (none) to 5 (extreme) was low (M = 1.2).

Figure 1

Table 1: Percentage of Participants Exposed to Various Psychosocial Events or Stressors, When it Occurred, and Average Distress Level

Participants’ scores on SSS-V and ZKPQ were assessed for potential differences from published normative data (Table 2). A Fisher’s z test revealed that males scored significantly lower on the subscale of Disinhibition and Boredom Susceptibility, while females scored significantly lower on the subscale of Disinhibition when compared to published normative data. Differences between participants and published normative data also emerged on scores obtained from the ZKPQ. Male participants scored significantly lower than males in the normative sample on the subscales of Impulsive Sensation Seeking, Aggression-Hostility, and Sociability. Female participants also had lower scores on the subscale of Impulsive Sensation Seeking, and Sociability when compared to females in the normative sample. Furthermore, females had high scores on the subscale of Activity compared to the normative sample.

Figure 2

Table 2: Means and Standard Deviations: Males and Females in the Forensic Identification Program and Published Normative Data on the SSS-V and ZKPQ

Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was conducted to assess overall differences between male and female participants on the subscales of the SSS-V. An omnibus two group MANOVA with gender (male and female) as the between subjects factor and the four subscales from the SSS-V serving as the dependent variables was conducted. There was no difference between the males and females when compared on the four subscales of the SSS-V, Wilks’ Λ = .86, F (4, 24) = 1.0, p = .420. A multivariate effect size revealed a large effect size (η ² = .144) and low power (.182). An omnibus two group MANOVA with gender (male and female) as the between subjects factor and the four subscales from the ZKPQ serving as the dependent variables revealed no difference between the males and females on the four subscales of the ZKPQ, Wilks’ Λ = .72, F (5, 23) = 1.76, p = .162. A multivariate effect size revealed a large effect size, η ² = .276, power = .499. Because of the exploratory nature of this study, univariate tests were conducted despite the lack of a multivariate effect with no differences between males and females on the subscales of Impulsive-Sensation Seeking, Aggression-Hostility, Activity, and Sociability. Yet, females scored higher than males on the subscale of Neurotic-Anxiety, F (1, 27) = 5.60, p = .025.

To evaluate participants’ neuroendocrine responses to the acute psychological challenge, a three way repeated measures ANOVA with two between subjects factors (high/low sensation seekers and male/female) and one within subjects factor (Time) was conducted. The within subjects factor of Time had seven levels (-20, -10, 0, 10, 20, 30, and 40 minutes). Salivary cortisol measures served as the dependent variable. The sphericity assumption (sphericity requires that the variances of the differences for all pairs of repeated measures are equal) was evaluated and was not violated, Greenhouse-Geisser, g = .394; therefore, no adjustment to the degrees of freedom was necessary. The repeated measures ANOVA revealed a significant within subjects main effect for Time, F (6, 150) = 3.48, p < .003, a significant Time x Gender interaction, F (6, 150) = 2.38, p < .032, a non significant Time x Sensation Seeking interaction, and a non significant Time x Sensation Seeking x Gender interaction effect. Furthermore, between subjects analyses revealed a non-significant main effect for Gender, Sensation Seeking, and Gender x Sensation Seeking interaction.

Figure 1 illustrates the Time x Gender interaction effect. Following up the significant Time x Gender interaction effect, the simple main effects of Gender at each Time and Time for each Gender were examined with Duncan’s Multiple Range Test (p < .05) using the within subjects error term (mean square error = 0.004779, df = 150). The simple main effect of time for the female participants was non significant; none of the mean cortisol levels across the seven measurement points differed from each other. For the males, however, at -20 minutes they had a significantly higher cortisol level than all other measurement points except –10 minutes, and –10 minutes was higher than 20, 30, and 40 minutes; zero minutes through 40 minutes did not differ from each other. In looking at the simple main effects of gender for each measurement time, only two significant differences were revealed. Males had higher mean cortisol levels than females at both –20 minutes and –10 minutes; the genders did not differ at any other time points.

Figure 3

Figure 1: Salivary cortisol responses for males and females to an acute psychological challenge.

Consistent with the previous findings, additional analyses revealed males and females to a lesser degree had higher salivary cortisol responses during the pre-exposure measurements than during the exposure to the acute psychological challenge. For females, no significant difference was found, t (19) 1.47, p = .181, between the arithmetic mean of the three pre-exposure salivary cortisol measurements, M = .0774 ug/dL, SD = .1053, and the arithmetic mean of the four exposure cortisol measurements, M = .0667 ug/dL, SD = .0991. Males revealed a significant difference between the arithmetic mean of the three pre-exposure measurements, M = .1528 ug/dL, SD = .2829, and the arithmetic mean of the four exposure cortisol measurements, M = .0820 ug/dL, SD = .1482, t (8) 1.69, p = .008.

Figure 2 illustrates perceived distress levels for males and females at each collection time. A three way repeated measures ANOVA with two between subjects factors (high/low sensation seekers and male/female) and one within subjects factor (time) was conducted. The within subjects factor of time had seven levels (-20, -10, 0, 10, 20, 30, and 40 minutes). Distress level served as the dependent variable. The sphericity assumption was evaluated and was not violated, Greenhouse-Geisser, g = .378; therefore, no adjustment to the degrees of freedom was necessary. The repeated measures ANOVA revealed a significant within subjects main effect for Time, F (6, 150) = 7.40, p < .001, and non significant interaction effects for Time x Gender, Time x Sensation Seeking, and Time x Gender x Sensation Seeking. Furthermore, the repeated measures ANOVA revealed a non significant between subjects main effects for Gender, Sensation Seeking, and Gender x Sensation Seeking interaction effect. Analyses reveal that as time went on, distress levels increased for both males and females. Following up on the significant time main effect for reported distress levels, Duncan’s Multiple Range Test (p < .05) revealed that the distress levels were stable and did not significantly differ from each other for –20, -10, and 0 minutes (pre-exposure). Distress levels significantly increased following the beginning of the video at 10 and 20 minutes. These results indicated that males and females did not exhibit differences in perceived distress.

Figure 4

Figure 2: Self-reported anxiety level for males and females to an acute psychological challenge.

To explore if there was a relation between perceived distress and salivary cortisol measurements a Pearson product moment correlation matrix was created. No significant correlations between the seven salivary cortisol samples and the seven self-reported levels of distress were found. Lastly, for males only, the arithmetic mean of pre-exposure salivary cortisol measurements was associated with the SSS-V subscale of Experience Seeking, r (9) = .672, p < .05 and two associations were found between the exposure arithmetic mean and the SSS-V subscale of Experience Seeking, r (9) = .772, p < .01, and the ZKPQ subscale of Impulsive Sensation Seeking, r (9) = .724, p < .05. No significant associations for females were found on scores of the personality inventories and salivary cortisol.

This study identifies demographic characteristics, experience with psychosocial stressors, personality characteristics, and neuroendocrine responses to an acute psychological challenge of undergraduates enrolled in a forensic identification program. A large majority of the sample consisted of females. In the past, females interested in gender non-traditional careers that were novel, stimulating, and non-conventional had limited choices (Shukla & Chauhan, 1987). Best and Kilpatrick (1977) cite one example of a stimulating occupation for females as counseling rape victims. Yet, most stimulating and novel occupations in the past were generally limited to males (Zuckerman, 1994). Interests in stimulating vocations are seen as a reflection of personality and positive outcomes result when educational or occupational environments adequately allow for the expression of personality traits, resulting in maximum congruence (Holland, 1985) or correspondence (Dawis & Lofquist, 1984). As such, forensic identification may be an attractive vocational option for females with scores on personality inventories indicating mildly elevated thrill and adventure and low impulsive sensation seeking, aggression-hostility, and sociability.

Participants reported exposure to a moderate number of psychosocial stressors in the past, and the past stressors were currently non-distressing. The largest percent had direct exposure with a transportation accident, the death of someone close, and finding/seeing/handling a dead body. Finding, seeing, or handling a dead body is a common component of training in forensic identification. Various studies have investigated the relation between both handling psychosocial stressors with high and low sensation seekers. Zuckerman (1994) summarized mixed findings, indicating that high and low sensation seekers handle stressful situations with varying ability. Previous findings indicate that high sensation seekers do not perceive their interactions with psychosocial stressors as threatening and potentially leading to negative outcomes such as danger and fear (Franken et al., 1992). Additionally, the more experience that high sensation seekers have with a risky activity, the less they perceive the situation as risky and thus rate their ability to avoid negative outcomes as better (Horvath & Zuckerman, 1993). Having moderate exposure with certain psychosocial stressors may be a function of participants’ preference for thrill and adventure seeking activities.

Scores on the SSS-V and ZKPQ revealed that male participants scored significantly lower on the subscales of Disinhibition and Boredom Susceptibility and females scored significantly lower on the subscale of Disinhibition. This was consistent with scores on the ZKPQ, indicating significantly lower Impulsive Sensation Seeking than published normative data. As for the other subscales on the ZKPQ, males had low preference for Impulsive-Sensation Seeking, Aggression-Hostility, and Neurotic-Anxious behaviors. Participants also endorsed having a limited social network and preferring solitary activities. Similarly, females had lower scores on the subscale of Impulsive-Sensation Seeking, Aggression-Hostility, and Sociability. Females preferred activities that included challenging hard work and endorsed being impatient and restless when there is nothing to do.

Taken as a whole, these findings suggest that males and females in the Forensic Identification Program are very homogenous in preferences for sensation seeking activities and behaviors. With the exception of moderate interest in Thrill and Adventure Seeking, participants do not engage in a wide variety of sensation seeking behaviors and in most cases less so than normative findings. Based on scores obtained from the SSS-V and ZKPQ, participants have a strong sense of self, are not disinhibited, are self-reliant, plan before acting, do not have many interpersonal concerns, have limited social networks, are very active, and enjoy staying busy with challenges.

Various explanations are possible for the current finings regarding sensation seeking preferences. One possible explanation stems from Zuckerman’s (1994) Optimal Level Arousal (OLA) Theory. OLA proposes that individuals seek situations and circumstances that provide an optimal level of arousal. Low sensation seeking scores with the exception of thrill and adventure seeking could be attributed to the fact that arousal needs are being met and no additional forms of arousal are necessary. Interest in novel, challenging, and stimulating occupational demands provides a pro-social form of arousal. In addition, intensive academic endeavors to complete this program could be associated with the low scores on scales of boredom susceptibility and disinhibition. The fact that participants indicate low boredom may be related to the academic demands adequately preventing boredom. Further, future planning and knowledge that their professional endeavors will require high responsibility and conduct is reflected in their very low disinhibition scores. Disinhibited behaviors such as drinking, using recreational drugs, and criminal activity will limit their employment opportunities. Most participants will seek employment with state or federal agencies that require employees to take a polygraph examination, have no criminal background or record, and not use illicit substances.

Another possible explanation for low sensation seeking preferences is that additional attitudes, behaviors, and preferences may not be accounted for by scales on the SSS-V. For example, D’Silva, Harrington, Palmgreen, Donohew, and Lorch (2001) suggest that individuals with high sensation seeking engage in a broad range of activities. It could be that many of the stimulating activities that take place in this program, such as intellectual stimulation, tolerance for complexity and ambiguity, novel visual stimulation, and complex problem solving may not be represented on items of the SSS-V. The scores on the SSS-V may not have accurately reflected the participant's current interaction with varied, novel, complex, and intense experiences.

Assessing the neuroendocrine responses and perceived distress to an acute psychological challenge was an important aspect of this study. Results revealed there was an overall within effect for Time and a Time x Gender interaction effect. Although, non-significant, participants with high total sensation seeking scores had elevated anticipatory stress responses and quicker reduction of salivary cortisol after exposure to the challenge than those with lower scores on the total sensation seeking scale. No previous studies have been conducted investigating the relation between sensation seeking and neuroendocrine responses to a psychological challenge, making comparison with prior findings difficult. Current results may reflect that elevated cortisol responses in anticipation to the psychological challenge may represent a normal homeostatic response. Additionally, low cortisol responses during exposure and quick recovery illustrates excellent coping with the situation and normal functioning of the HPA axis (Cohen et al, 1995).

As for male and female participants, a Time x Gender interaction effect indicated that males had an overall higher anticipatory levels of salivary cortisol when compared to females. Salivary cortisol levels decreased 2-fold for males from the baseline level (-20 minutes) to 20 minutes after the initial exposure to the acute psychological stressor. Males exhibited a peak cortisol concentration during the baseline phase (-20 minutes), whereas females had a peak cortisol concentration at the start of the stressor (0 minutes). Elevated salivary cortisol for males in anticipation to a psychological challenge was consistent with findings by Kirschbaum, Wüst, et al (1992) and Smyth et al. (1998). Interestingly, Smyth et al (1988) found that affect mediates secretion of cortisol with exposure to stressors. In regards to the current findings, it may suggest that females are using coping strategies, which may have an affective component, to confront psychological challenges.

How undergraduates interested in this profession will handle repeated exposure to psychological stress is unknown. Yet, given the fact that the current sample had low salivary cortisol in response to this psychological challenge, may give some indication of future neuroendocrine responses to psychological challenges in the field. Past findings indicate that individuals in occupations with high psychological demands (e.g., ambulance drivers) had an upregulated HPA (stress) system (Sluiter, Frings-Dresen, van der Beek, Meijman, & Heisterkamp, 2000). Additionally, it has been found that males exhibit persistent cortisol responses to repeated psychological stress (Kirschbaum, Prüssner, et al., 1995). Additionally, factors such as momentary negative mood in various workers (Hanson, Maas, Meijman, & Godaert, 2000) and depressive and posttraumatic symptoms (Aardal-Eriksson, Eriksson, Holm, Lundin, 1999) in rescue workers are related with elevated cortisol responses. Individuals with low cortisol responses have higher self-concept, less depressed mood, and less health physical health concerns than high responders.

In addition to salivary cortisol responses, perceived distress level to the acute psychological challenge was assessed. Perceived distress did change as a function of time – it was lowest before exposure to the stressor and then increased significantly during exposure for the entire sample, peaking at 30 minutes post exposure. Furthermore, the greatest increase in perceived distress was from 10 minutes before the start of the video to 10 minutes during exposure. Lastly, results revealed no significant relation between perceived distress and salivary cortisol responses to the acute psychological challenge. Low perceived distress may suggest that participants have a strong internal locus of control. De Brabander, Hellemans, Boone, and Gerits (1996) found that internal locus of control and preference for thrill and adventure seeking was related to low responses to psychological and physical stress. Although locus of control was not assessed in the current study, participants did endorse a stronger preference for thrill and adventure seeking versus any other form of sensation seeking.

It is important to examine the relation between salivary cortisol responses and subscale scores on the SSS-V and ZKPQ. Only males had meaningful positive correlations between both pre-exposure and exposure measures of salivary cortisol and the SSS-V subscale of Experience Seeking and the ZKPQ Impulsive Sensation Seeking subscale. These findings are consistent with Dellu et al (1996) who found that rats that seek novelty, variety, and emotional stimulation in experimental situations had elevated stress hormones. Experience seeking rats exposed to a novel environment had a prolonged secretion of corticosterone. Because stress hormones are being released for an extended period in response to novel environments, it may suggest that stress hormones such as cortisol have reinforcing properties.

Current findings were inconsistent with Ballenger et al. (1983) who found that a non-stress induced single sample of CSF cortisol (and not serum and urinary cortisol samples) was negatively associated with disinhibition scores on the SSS-V. Rosenblitt, Soler, Johnson, and Quadagno (2001) found that subscales on the SSS-V correlated inversely with cortisol levels in males. Other findings indicate that sensation seeking traits are not correlated with stress induced (Kirschbaum, Bartussek, et al., 1992) or non-stress induced cortisol levels (Gerra et al., 1999). Inconsistent findings could be attributed to methodological differences in the limited number of samples obtained, utilization of non-stress inducted responses, or the existence of high variability in peripheral sources. Current findings utilizing a psychological challenge are opposite of those in which the stressor was a serotonergic challenge (5-HT receptor agonist). Netter et al (1996) found that individuals with elevated experience seeking scores had blunted cortisol responses to the serotonergic challenge. Furthermore, Ruegg et al (1997) found that those with high harm avoidance had elevated cortisol to a serotonergic challenge. Physiological challenges, unlike psychological and physical challenges, induce increased cortisol responses for those with high sensation seeking.

This study represents an initial attempt to examine undergraduates interested in forensic identification. Information was gathered from multiple modalities (e.g., questionnaires, self-report, and adrenocortical responses) regarding personality, experience with psychosocial stressors, perceived distress and neuroendocrine responses to an acute psychological challenge. In addition, the graphic and grotesque nature of the videocassette may be similar to what is encountered on a crime scene. Furthermore, participants viewed the videocassette when salivary cortisol was most stable, and by viewing the video on an individual basis potential distractions were eliminated.

On the other hand, several limitations must be kept in mind. The first being the relatively small sample, which was limited by the number of participants enrolled in the Forensic Identification Program. The small sample size may have reduced the possibility of finding significant results in the study, thus reducing the capability to reject false null hypotheses. This is especially the case with data obtained on the personality inventories and results related to the personality characteristics should be viewed as a primer for future research in relating personality to interest in novel, stimulating, and nonconventional careers. Because the power to detect differences was very low in many of the statistical procedures utilized, the certainty if a difference existed is narrow. Future studies that examine individuals interested in forensic identification should utilize larger samples with a control sample to further substantiate the current findings.

Although the sample size was small for examining differences obtained on the personality inventories, the sample size used to explore repeated sampling of salivary cortisol responses was within a typical range (Kirschbaum & Hellhammer, 1994). Additionally, all participants followed cortisol collection procedures correctly and samples were collected and analyzed following previously mentioned procedures. Therefore, results obtained about salivary cortisol differences should be reliable indicators of adrenocortical functioning.

The acute psychological challenge used in this study was similar but not exactly what might be encountered in the field. Because the stressor was used in a laboratory setting verses more naturalistic setting, salivary cortisol responses may be attenuated. Various extraneous variables were beyond the control of researcher. Self-selection of participants in the study, the potential for participants to not adhere to instructions for salivary cortisol obtainment (even though all self-reported to do so), and the lack of a comparison sample may be limitations in this study. Lastly, the reader should be reminded that these results were gathered with a sample of participants enrolled in a forensic identification program. These participants are still receiving training in and are not yet employed in the occupation of forensic identification. Caution is warranted when generalizing these results with individuals currently employed as forensic identifiers.

Because of the paucity of information known about undergraduates interested in forensic identification, several lines of future research exist. It may be helpful to explore characteristics such as self-concept, positive and negative emotionality, constrain, state/trait anxiety, and locus of control. Many of the previously mentioned characteristics are associated with safety conscious employees (Forcier, Walters, Brasher, & Jones, 2001). Individuals with characteristics such as extraversion, aggression, deviant socialization, impulsiveness, neuroticism, and external locus of control have a higher probability of being a work related accident (Hansen, 1991). Lastly, burnout is a major concern in the workplace. Forensic identifiers have multiple competing occupational demands that can lead to burnout: long work hours, exposure to graphic and grotesque stimuli, pressure to for total accuracy, and high concentration for detail. Individuals with similar duties and demands have been found to have high early morning cortisol after awakening in the morning, a precursor to burnout (Schulz et al., 1998). Because burnout and chronic work overload could be potential problems in this occupation, future research in this area is warranted. Additionally, neuroendocrine responses can be affected by social support (Kirschbaum, Klauer, et al., 1995) and self-esteem (Pruessner et al., 1999). Therefore, employers would benefit from studies focusing on these issues to assist in tailoring training programs that address appropriate management of work related stress, and monitor behavior and provide feedback.

Studying those who are currently employed in the field may lend itself to more complete analysis of both personality and stress responses to work demands. As was found in this study, anticipatory stress reactions were higher for males than actual exposure to the challenge. It would be beneficial to examine how individuals in the field handle anticipatory stress to actual crime scenes. Do they handle it with relative ease or do they have mental, emotional, and physical symptoms characteristic of low stress tolerance? Behavioral observation, self-report, and adrenocortical activation pre and post exposure to crime scenes may shed light on the employee’s ability to handle occupational demands. Sluiter et al. (2000) found that the nature of work (physical, mental, or a mixture) and work characteristics are related to neuroendocrine levels. That is, the higher the combination of mental and physical demands, the higher the cortisol of the worker. If the HPA axis is consistently being activated frequent exposure to stressors, it could result in higher circulating levels of cortisol and slower returns to normal after a stressor is absence. It may be advantageous to examine the stress responses of individuals in this occupation over time.

Previous findings have indicated that personality and job characteristics (e.g., dynamic vs. non-dynamic, autonomous vs. non-autonomous, external vs. internal, and structured vs. non-structure) have effects on job experiences (Van Den Berg & Feij, 1993). Van Den Berg and Feij (1993) found that sensation seeking and extraversion predicted job induced tension and a greater likelihood to quit employment in structured and non-autonomous jobs. Additionally, high sensation seeking and low emotional stability was related to more job-induced tension in dynamic jobs. Lastly, future research should include a measure of vocational interest, such as the Self Directed Search (SDS) or the Vocational Preference Inventory (VPI). This may be helpful in creating Holland typologies for individuals working in the career of forensic identification.