Measures of variability in cortisol compared between groups*
| Source of variation | Standard deviation | Ratio autism:typical | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Autism | Typical | ||
| Between-child | |||
| Morning | 0.33 | 0.42 | 0.78 |
| Afternoon | 0.21 | 0.14 | 1.48 |
| Evening | 0.37 | 0.15 | 2.48 |
| Within-child | |||
| Residual† | 0.55 | 0.37 | 1.49 |
↵* Standard deviations for morning, afternoon and evening represent the degree to which the children within a group differ from each other at each time of day.
↵† Represents the magnitude of unexplained variability: the degree to which the log cortisol measurements vary in each group beyond what is captured by the model.