Benefit of social support for resilience-building is contingent on social context: examining cardiovascular adaptation to recurrent stress in women

Physiological reactivity and habituation to acute psychological stress: The influence of trait extraversion

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

Adaptive physiological responses to stress have been suggested as a potential mechanism facilitating the association between extraversion and positive health outcomes. The present study examined the influence of extraversion on physiological reactivity and habituation to a standardized psychological stress task presented as two separate laboratory sessions approximately 48 days apart.

METHODS

The present study utilized data from the Pittsburgh Cold Study 3. Participants in the study (N = 213, mean age = 30.13, SD = 10.85 years; female = 42.3 %) completed a standardized stress testing protocol twice, at two separate laboratory sessions. The stress protocol consisted of a speech preparation period (5-minutes), a public specking task (5-minutes), and a mental arithmetic task with observation (5-minutes). Trait extraversion was assessed using 10-items from the international personality item pool (IPIP). Systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), mean arterial pressure (MAP), heart rate (HR) and salivary cortisol (SC) were assessed throughout a baseline phase and the stress task phase.

RESULTS

Extraversion was statistically significantly associated with larger DBP and HR reactivity in response to the initial stress exposure, as well as greater habituation of DBP, MAP and HR on repeated stress exposure. No statistically significant associations emerged between extraversion and SBP responses, SC responses or self-reported state affective responses.

CONCLUSION

Extraversion is associated with greater cardiovascular reactivity, as well as pronounced cardiovascular habituation to acute social stress. These findings may indicate an adaptive response pattern amongst highly extraverted individuals and a potential mechanism leading to positive health outcomes.

Extraversion is associated with lower cardiovascular reactivity to acute psychological stress

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

Extraversion has been associated with positive physical health outcomes, with adaptive cardiovascular responses to stress being one potential physiological mechanism. The present study examined the influence of extraversion on both cardiovascular reactivity and cardiovascular habituation to an acute psychological stress task (Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test (PASAT)) in a sample of healthy undergraduate students.

METHODS

A sample of 467 undergraduate students completed the Big Five Inventory (BFI) to assess trait extraversion and attended a single stress testing session. The testing session included two identical stress-testing protocols, each consisting of a 10-minute baseline and 4-minute PASAT. Cardiovascular parameters including heart rate (HR), systolic/diastolic blood pressure (S/DBP) and mean arterial pressure (MAP) were recorded throughout the testing session. State measures of positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA), as well as post task measures of self-reported stress were used to assess psychological experiences of the stress task.

RESULTS

Extraversion was significantly associated with lower self-reported stress in response to the initial stress exposure, but not the second stress exposure. Higher levels of extraversion were associated with lower SBP, DBP, MAP and HR reactivity in responses to both exposures to the stressor. However, no significant associations were observed between extraversion and cardiovascular habituation to recurring psychological stress.

CONCLUSION

Extraversion is associated with lower cardiovascular reactivity to acute psychological stress and this relationship persists upon repeated exposures to the same stressor. Cardiovascular responses to stress may indicate a potential mechanism facilitating the association between extraversion and positive physical health outcomes.

Disordered eating is associated with blunted blood pressure reactivity and poorer habituation to acute psychological stress

Psychological stress has been shown to influence the development and progression of disordered eating. Psychophysiological studies have reported that individuals with disordered eating behavior exhibit atypical cardiovascular reactions to acute psychological stress. However, prior studies have been limited by small sample sizes and have examined cardiovascular responses to a singular stress exposure. The current study examined the association between disordered eating and cardiovascular reactivity, as well as cardiovascular habituation to acute psychological stress. A mixed-sex sample (N = 450) of undergraduate students were categorized into a disordered eating or non-disordered eating group using a validated disordered eating screening questionnaire and attended a laboratory stress testing session. The testing session included two identical stress-testing protocols, each consisting of a 10-minute baseline and 4-minute stress task. Cardiovascular parameters including heart rate, systolic/diastolic blood pressure and mean arterial pressure (MAP) were recorded throughout the testing session. Post task measures of self-reported stress, as well as positive affect and negative affect (NA) reactivity were used to assess psychological reactions to stress. The disordered eating group exhibited greater increases in NA reactivity in response to both stress exposures. Additionally, in comparison to the control group, those in the disordered eating group exhibited blunted MAP reactivity to the initial stress exposure and less MAP habituation across both stress exposures. These findings indicate that disordered eating is characterized by dysregulated hemodynamic stress responsivity, which may constitute a physiological mechanism leading to poor physical health outcomes.

The Relationship between Perceived Social Support and Life Satisfaction: The Chain Mediating Effect of Resilience and Depression among Chinese Medical Staff

Medical staff are direct providers of medical services and a key element in the development of health services, and their life satisfaction is important to both their work satisfaction and their patients' satisfaction, subsequently influencing the quality of medical care in general. This cross-sectional study aimed to explore the mechanisms underlying the influence of perceived social support on medical staff's life satisfaction. Convenience sampling was used to recruit participants from two non-tertiary hospitals in Shaoguan City, Guandong Province, China. A total of 533 medical staff completed the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, the Satisfaction with Life Scale, the Connor and Davidson Resilience Scale, and the depression subscale of the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scales (DASS-21). The results showed that perceived social support could influence medical staff's life satisfaction not only through the separate effects of resilience and depression, but also through the chain mediation effect of resilience and depression. This study suggests that reducing the depressive symptoms of medical staff and improving their perceived social support as well as resilience could help to enhance their life satisfaction.

Lifetime Stressor Exposure and Psychophysiological Reactivity and Habituation to Repeated Acute Social Stressors

This study addressed whether lifetime stressor exposure was associated with psychophysiological reactivity and habituation to a novel laboratory-based stressor. Eighty-six participants (Mage = 23.31 years, SD = 4.94) reported their exposure to lifetime non-sport and sport-specific stressors before completing two consecutive trials of the Trier Social Stress Test, while cardiovascular (i.e., heart rate) and endocrine (i.e., salivary cortisol) data were recorded. Exposure to a moderate number of lifetime non-sport and sport-specific stressors was associated with adaptive cardiovascular reactivity, whereas very low or very high stressor exposure was related to maladaptive reactivity. Moreover, experiencing a very low number of lifetime non-sport (but not sport-specific) stressors was associated with poorer habituation. In contrast, lifetime stressor severity was unrelated to cardiovascular reactivity. Finally, greater lifetime non-sport and sport-specific stressor counts were associated with blunted cortisol reactivity and poorer habituation. These results suggest that lifetime stressor exposure may influence sport performers' acute stress responses.

OLD IDEAS, NEW DIRECTIONS: RE-EXAMINING THE PREDICTIVE UTILITY OF THE HEMODYNAMIC PROFILE OF THE STRESS RESPONSE IN HEALTHY POPULATIONS

The 'reactivity hypothesis' has a long and fruitful history in health psychology and behavioural medicine, with elements of its thesis taken as core and others lost in the plethora of research on its utility as a theory of psychosomatic disease. One such thesis is that the underlying hemodynamic profile of the stress response may be particularly revealing when detailing the impact of psychological stress on the development of cardiovascular disease. This paper re-examines old ideas surrounding the hemodynamic profile of the stress response, asking why its health-predictive properties were never fully explored. Further, this paper reviews the evidence that a vascular profile of stress responding may be especially predictive of disease development, particularly in the case of hypertension. In addition, measurement of hemodynamic profile as well as its known psychosocial moderators are reviewed including how examination of patterns of cardiovascular-stress response adaptation may extend the field. This paper highlights that the extension of the reactivity hypothesis to include both hemodynamic profile and patterns of cardiovascular stress-response adaptation may hold much explanatory power in detailing the impact of how stress responding and stress tolerance promotes disease development.

The cardiovascular response to acute psychological stress is related to subjectively giving and receiving social support

The pathways linking giving and receiving emotional and instrumental social support, and cardiovascular reactivity (CVR) are not yet fully understood. Eight-two healthy young adults completed psychometric measures of giving and receiving emotional and instrumental social support and participated in a standardised laboratory stress task. Cardiovascular and hemodynamic parameters were monitored throughout. Both giving and receiving emotional support were positively associated with systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP), such that those reporting giving and receiving more emotional support had higher reactivity. Only receiving instrumental was associated with DBP, with those receiving more instrumental support having higher reactivity. Moreover, while the significant association between giving social support and CVR withstood adjustment for several confounding factors (e.g., BMI, sex) it was abolished when receiving support was controlled for. These findings are novel and extend the literature on social support and CVR. Taken together, these findings suggest that receipt of support, rather than giving, may be more influential in this context.

How Resilience Promotes Mental Health of Patients With DSM-5 Substance Use Disorder? The Mediation Roles of Positive Affect, Self-Esteem, and Perceived Social Support

Objectives: The existing studies found that resilience is a salient trait that can significantly affect people's psychological well-being with substance use disorders (SUDs). However, few studies examined how the mechanisms are connected between resilience and mental health among patients with Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-fifth edition SUD. This study investigated the mediation effects of positive affect, perceived social support, and self-esteem on the effect of resilience on perceived stress and life satisfaction in SUD patients. Design: A total of 415 patients diagnosed with Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-fifth edition SUD from the south of China joined the research. Outcome Measures: The study applied Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, Positive and Negative Affect Scale, Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, and Satisfaction with Life Scale to measure patients' resilience, positive affect, self-esteem, perceived social support, perceived stress, and life satisfaction. Results: Structural equation model analysis revealed that positive affect and self-esteem partially mediate the relationship between resilience and perceived stress. In contrast, positive affect and perceived social support partially mediate the relationship between resilience and life satisfaction. Conclusion: The findings provide insights for evidence-based substance abuse intervention that positive affect, self-esteem, and perceived social support can conditional the effects of resilience on promoting the mental health of SUD patients.

The ways parents cope with stress in difficult parenting situations: the structural equation modeling approach

The purpose of this study was to verify a theoretical model of parents’ responses to difficulties they experienced with their child. The model presents relationships between seven variables: (a) discrepancy between parental goal and the child’s current level of development, (b) parental experience of a difficulty, (c) representation of the child in the parent’s mind, (d) parent’s withdrawal from the parenting situation, (e) seeking help, (f) distancing oneself from the situation, and (g) applying pressure on the child. The study involved 319 parents of preschool children: 66 parents of three-year-olds, 85 parents of four-year-olds, 99 parents of five-year-olds and 69 parents of six-year-old children. Structural equations modeling (SEM) was used to verify the compounds described in the theoretical model. The studies revealed that when a parent is experiencing difficulties, the probability increases that the parent will have one of two reactions towards that type of stress: withdrawal from the situation or applying pressure on the child. Experiencing difficulties has no connection with searching for help and is negatively related to distancing oneself from the situation.

Association between social support and post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms among Chinese patients with ovarian cancer: A multiple mediation model

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms can develop after person experiences one or more traumatic events. Little research, however, has been done on PTSD symptoms of patients with ovarian cancer. The present study aimed to estimate the prevalence of PTSD symptoms in patients with ovarian cancer in China; the effects of demographic and clinical variables on PTSD symptoms; multiple mediation roles in the association between social support and PTSD symptoms in patients with ovarian cancer in China. We collected demographic and clinical information of patients with ovarian cancer in the first and second hospitals of China Medical University between January 1, 2014 and December 31, 2015. Qualified patients were asked to complete the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist-Civilian Version (PCL-C), Duke-UNC Functional Social Support Questionnaire, Herth Hope Index (HHI), and Resilience Scale-14 (RS-14). 201 patients provided responses. We performed hierarchical linear regression to assess the correlation between social support and PTSD symptoms and bootstrapping to test the mediating role of hope and resilience as potential mediators. After controlling demographic and clinical characteristics, social support negatively correlated with PTSD symptoms (β = -0.406, P < 0.01). Social support explained 14.7% of the variance in PTSD symptoms. Hope and resilience explained 17.0% of the variance in PTSD symptoms. The proportion of the hope mediating effect was 43.37% for social support and the proportion of the resilience mediating effect was 10.64% for social support. Hope and resilience partly mediated the correlation between social support and PTSD symptoms despite accounting for different proportions of the mediating effect. Future intervention plans should pay more attention to social support as well as hope and resilience to prevent, relieve and treat PTSD symptoms.

The Development of the Scale of Protective Factors: Resilience in a Violent Trauma Sample

This research developed the Scale of Protective Factors (SPF-24) to measure protective factors contributing to resilience. We investigated the factor structure of 35 items. After exploratory factor analysis, we subjected 25 items representing 2 social-interpersonal and 2 cognitive-individual factors to confirmatory factor analysis. The sample consisted of 942 college students from 3 studies and 2 institutions. To examine the diagnostic function of the SPF, we used clinical criteria to identify a subsample of participants who had experienced violent trauma and scored low, moderate, or high on an established resilience scale. Results showed that the low-resilient group scored significantly lower on all subscales of the SPF with marked differences in prioritizing/planning behavior. Implications for the research and clinical settings are discussed.

Highly resilient coping entails better perceived health, high social support and low morning cortisol levels in parents of children with autism spectrum disorder

The negative consequences of caring for people with developmental disabilities have been widely described. However, the ability to bounce back from the stress derived from care situations has been less studied. Those caregivers who have shown this ability are considered as resilient. This study aims to evaluate the relationship between resilience and self-reported health and cortisol awakening response (CAR) in a sample of caregivers of people with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). It also aims to evaluate the role of social support as a mediator in the association between resilience and health. Caregivers with higher resilience show better perceived health, lower morning cortisol levels, and less area under the curve with respect to ground (AUCg). Social support was positively related to resilience and mediated the relationship between resilience and perceived health. This mediating effect was not found in the association between resilience and CAR. Resilience could be a protective factor that modulates the negative consequences of chronic stress in the care context. Social support could be an important variable mediating the effects of resilience on health outcomes in caregivers. All these results must be considered when implementing effective psychological programs for helping caregivers.

Type D personality is associated with a sensitized cardiovascular response to recurrent stress in men

The present study sought to examine the role of gender and Type D personality on cardiovascular reactivity to stress, by examining patterns of cardiovascular adaptation to recurrent laboratory-based stress. Cardiovascular data were collected from 76 students who, following an initial 10-min baseline period, underwent two cognitive stress tasks. Type D personality was assessed using the 16-item Type D scale. Adaptation of cardiovascular response to recurrent stress was examined by scrutinizing the changes in systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), and heart rate (HR) across the procedure. Female participants and non-Type D males showed cardiovascular habituation to recurrent stress. For Type D males, however, cardiovascular sensitization was evident. The results implicate Type D personality in maladaptive cardiovascular responses, particularly in men, highlighting a possible direct mechanism of psychosomatic cardiovascular pathogenesis.