University of Twente Student Theses
Resilience to stress: stressful life events and their influence on recovering from stress through negative affect and self-confidence.
Walenzik, M. (2022) Resilience to stress: stressful life events and their influence on recovering from stress through negative affect and self-confidence.
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| Abstract: | Background: Experiencing stressful life events (SLEs) showed to alter affective stress reactivity to future stressors which leaves individuals with faster and higher levels of psychological distress to future smaller stressors. Aim: The goal was to investigate if SLEs not only alter stress reactivity but also influence the affective recovery in which changes in functioning and positive adaptions in psychological states take place. The affective recovery was operationalized in terms of negative affective stress recovery (NA stress recovery) and recovery of self-confidence. Methods: In a laboratory session, stress was induced with the Montreal Imaging Stress Test (rMIST), an experimental stress test that evokes a psychosocial stress response by giving negative feedback on the performance of arithmetic tasks. 53 participants between the age of 18 to 35, with sufficient skills in Dutch, no history of endocrine/cardiovascular diseases, and no use of medications/illicit drugs participated. Self-reported questionnaires about NA and self-confidence were conducted throughout the session to be able to measure NA stress recovery and self-confidence recovery. In order to test the influence of SLEs on NA stress recovery and self-confidence recovery, two independent linear regression analyses were executed. Results: SLEs showed no association with NA stress recovery. However, it was found that SLEs influence self-confidence recovery. The more SLEs an individual experiences, the slower the self-confidence increases after being exposed to a stressor. Conclusion: It gets apparent that healthy individuals who experienced multiple SLEs should be recognised as being at risk for negative psychological consequences when already facing minor stressors. Longer periods of low self-confidence leave individuals with an increased risk of lower general well-being. |
| Item Type: | Essay (Master) |
| Faculty: | BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences |
| Subject: | 77 psychology |
| Programme: | Psychology MSc (66604) |
| Link to this item: | https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/93156 |
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