Meurs James A, Stride Christopher, Rossi Ana Maria, Perrewé Pamela L
Michael A Leven School of Management, Entrepreneurship, and Hospitality, Kennesaw State University, Kennesaw, USA.
Institute of Work Psychology, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK.
Appl Psychophysiol Biofeedback. 2025 Sep 8. doi: 10.1007/s10484-025-09733-x.
The explanation for how acutely stressful experiences could result in proximal health outcomes has been lacking in occupational health research. Although scholars have argued that individual personality and affect could worsen health behaviors, we believe that these qualities also could intensify the experience of acute stressors, potentially explaining why acutely stress encounters result in poor health outcomes for some people, but not others. Our study examines three individual differences - worry, negative affect, and positive affect - that are relevant to differential stress anticipation, reactivity, and recovery. Study participants, who were full-time professional or managerial employees, attended a clinic where we gathered data on their trait worry, and state negative and positive affect. Then, they took part in an experimental exercise that should reflect stressful experiences at work (i.e., cognitive stressor with social pressure). The clinician collected measures of participant facial muscle tension, skin temperature, blood pressure, respiratory breathing, and heart rate, before, during, and after the stressful exercise. Results suggest that only positive affect magnified stress during the anticipation of the experiment, both worry and negative affect intensified the negative physiological effects of the stressor in two of the three experimental stages, and only negative affect delayed physiological recovery and relaxation. Our findings augment our understanding of how individual differences affect physiological responses to acute stress.
职业健康研究一直缺乏对急性应激经历如何导致近期健康结果的解释。尽管学者们认为个体性格和情绪可能会使健康行为恶化，但我们认为这些特质也可能会加剧急性应激源的体验，这可能解释了为什么急性应激遭遇会导致一些人健康状况不佳，而另一些人则不会。我们的研究考察了与不同的应激预期、反应性和恢复相关的三种个体差异——担忧、消极情绪和积极情绪。研究参与者为全职专业或管理人员，他们前往一家诊所，我们在那里收集了他们的特质担忧以及状态消极和积极情绪的数据。然后，他们参加了一项实验活动，该活动应能反映工作中的应激经历（即具有社会压力的认知应激源）。临床医生在应激活动之前、期间和之后收集了参与者面部肌肉紧张度、皮肤温度、血压、呼吸和心率的测量数据。结果表明，只有积极情绪在实验预期期间放大了应激，担忧和消极情绪在三个实验阶段中的两个阶段加剧了应激源的负面生理影响，并且只有消极情绪延迟了生理恢复和放松。我们的研究结果加深了我们对个体差异如何影响对急性应激的生理反应的理解。
