Further comparisons of cortisol secretion related to the period of the experiment
As reported in Table 2, cortisol secretion significantly decreased in healthy controls from the adaptation phase to the start of the separation paradigm (comparison of areas 1 and 2; see also Fig. 1). The significant Time by Gender interaction among children with SAD showed that cortisol secretion decreased in male, and increased in female participants (post-hoc analyses: F(1, 52) ¼ 8.40, p .003).
Cortisol secretion decreased significantly in both groups during the recovery phase (comparison of areas 4 and 5), though the decrease was more pronounced in children with SAD (post-hoc analyses: F(1, 52) ¼ 6.39, p ¼ .001).