Abstract
Do physical and psychosocial stressors interact to increase stress in ways not explainable by the stressors alone? A preliminary study compared participants’ stress response while subjected to a physical stressor (reduced or full physical load) and a predetermined social stressor (confronted by calm or aggressive behavior). Salivary cortisol samples measured endocrine stress. Heart rate variability (HRV) and electrodermal activity (EDA) measured autonomic stress. Perceived stress was measured via discomfort and stress state surveys. Participants with a heavier load reported increased distress and discomfort. Encountering an aggressive individual increased endocrine stress, distress levels, and perceived discomfort. Higher autonomic stress and discomfort were found in participants with heavier physical load and aggressive individuals. The results suggest a relationship where physical load increases the stressfulness of aggressive behavior in ways not explainable by the effects of the stressors alone. Future research is needed to confirm this investigation’s findings.
Highlights
Many professions depend greatly on the ability to interact with clients, civilians, patients, students, and customers (Euwema et al, 2004)
Conflict situations can include medical professionals interacting with demanding patients (Bakker et al, 2000), teachers confronting student misbehavior and discipline issues (Skaalvik and Skaalvik, 2016), clients becoming assertive when they feel they have been mistreated (Brockmann, 2002), military personnel interacting with hostile civilians (Azari et al, 2010), or police interacting with aggressive civilians (Kop and Euwema, 2001)
16 participants’ data were used due to data loss from faulty equipment. This resulted in unequal participant group numbers of Reduced/Calm
Summary
Many professions depend greatly on the ability to interact with clients, civilians, patients, students, and customers (Euwema et al, 2004). How these professionals handle conflicts with people greatly impacts their ability to do their jobs and may have short-term and long-term physiological, cognitive, social, emotional, and performance effects (Salas et al, 1996; Walker et al, 2014). Research into the acute effects of stress on physiology have established that repeated or continuous exposure to acute stress over time can have an accumulative biological cost, referred to as allostatic load (Moberg, 2000; McEwen, 2004). The HPA axis regulates the adaptation to increased demands and enables the individual to maintain allostasis under acute stress
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