Occurrence Of Stressors Research Articles

Stressors and Subjective Cognition in Daily Life: Tests of Physical Activity and Age as Moderators.

Growing research indicates that daily stress is associated with poorer same-day cognitive performance, for example, memory and attention. However, it is unclear whether this relationship holds across diverse ages and engagement in physical activity (PA), or whether these factors might buffer the relationship between daily stress and subjective cognitive function. Ecological momentary assessment data were collected from adults aged 25 to 88 years across British Columbia, Canada. For 14 days, participants ( N = 204) wore a triaxial physical activity monitor, reported stressor occurrence in mobile surveys four times per day, and rated their subjective attention and memory at the end of each day. Multilevel models evaluated daily stressor occurrence as a predictor of subjective attention and memory, with same-day PA engagement and age as moderators. Subjective attention and memory were lower on days when a stressor had occurred, compared to stressor-free days. Neither PA nor age moderated the within-person associations of daily stressors with subjective cognition. The lack of stress-buffering effects for same-day PA and age raises questions about the contexts in which PA promotes cognitive functioning and about age-related processes underlying stress and cognition. Future work could examine the mechanisms that might explain the link between daily stress and cognition function, as well as the associations of different intensity and forms of physical activity on stress across age groups.

An examination of the relationship between sport performers’ organizational stressor dimensions, physical health, and well-being

ABSTRACT Whilst research has assessed the multidimensionality of organizational stressors, severity has been overlooked. This study aimed to develop and validate a severity response scale, before examining the relationship between organizational stressor severity, physical health, and well-being, and if severity mediated the relationship between stressor occurrence and outcomes. 403 sport performers (186 male; M age = 21.43) completed a questionnaire assessing study variables and data were analysed using structural equation modelling. Organizational stressor severity had a significant, negative relationship with physical health (r = -.374, p < .001), but notwith hedonic or eudaimonic well-being (p = .624 and .203). Direct effects were found for neuroticism (β = -0.632, p < .001) and stressor frequency (β = -0.226, p = .016) on physical health; however, when adding severity as a mediator, stressor frequency positively predicted stressor severity (β = 1.025, p < .001); however, the indirect effect of stressor frequency on physical health via stressor severity (β = -0.018, p = .885) and the direct effect between stressor frequency and physical health (β = -0.191, p = .204) were non-significant. These novel findings highlight that higher stressor severity is associated with higher physical health complaints, and that repeated exposure to stressors may heighten an vulnerability to future stressors.

A Diary Study of the Within-Person Associations Between Daily Stressors and Negative Affect Among Post-Secondary Students With Recent Nonsuicidal Self-Injury Engagement

Exposure to stressors is known to lead to psychological impairment over time. However, the proximal relation between stressors and distress remains unclear, particularly among emerging adults with existing mental health concerns. Using daily diary methods, we explored the associations between five subtypes of daily stressors and negative affect among 160 post-secondary students with recent nonsuicidal self-injury engagement. We also examined whether this relation was moderated by coping strategies. We found a robust relation between daily stressors and negative affect, such that in most same-day and next-day models, relative increases in daily stressors led to increased negative affect. In contrast, we found that heightened negative affect only predicted daily stressor occurrence in same-day models. Problem-focused and socially-supported coping moderated the effect between social mistreatment and distress. Findings emphasize the need to adopt stress mitigation strategies in post-secondary contexts, as stressors may contribute to ongoing distress among students with mental health concerns.

Everyday discrimination, co-ethnic social support and mood changes in young adult immigrants in Germany–Evidence from an ecological momentary assessment study

ObjectiveIn the context of international migration flows, Germany is the second largest receiving country of migrants in the world. The aim of this study is to investigate the momentary mood effects of discrimination experiences for young adult immigrants and which social resources can buffer negative effects. A distinction is made between the importance of inter and intra-ethnic interaction partners in processing stressors. MethodUsing an ecological momentary assessment design, first-generation migrants in Germany who had recently migrated from Poland, Turkey or Syria were interviewed three times a day over seven days in June 2021 (N individuals = 976; N observations = 11,470). The timing of the short surveys was chosen at random using a signal contingent sampling method. Participants reported their momentary mood and instances of discrimination, along with information on social support perception and interaction partners during the preceding hour in the context of their everyday lives. Hybrid mixed-effects regression models were estimated and the research questions were tested with three-way interactions. ResultsThe results indicate that perceived social support only moderately buffers the negative effect of everyday discrimination experiences on mood. A positive main effect on mood is observed for situational variations in perceived social support as well as for support from interaction partners. ConclusionThe findings illustrate that being embedded in supportive relationships is important in everyday life, regardless of the occurrence of stressors. Furthermore, the study suggests that the level of perceived support is more important for first-generation migrants than the ethnic origin of the support provider.

Daily and Trait personality Assessments’ relationship with Daily experiences of stress risk and resilience factors

Personality predicts individual differences in stress risk and resilience factors, but these associations are often examined via global trait measures, which may not capture how associations unfold in daily life, especially for older adults whose global ratings may not be weighted towards their current experiences. The current study used intensive measurements in a sample of older adults to investigate how daily and trait measures of extraversion and neuroticism related to daily occurrences of a stress risk (stressors) and resilience (social interactions. Participants (N = 201; ages 70–93) completed a trait personality measure and then a 16-day ecological momentary assessment period during which they reported on the occurrence of stressors and social interactions and completed daily assessments of extraversion and neuroticism. Multilevel model results showed that Social Interactions were predicted positively by Daily Extraversion at the within- and between-person levels, and negatively by Daily Neuroticism at the within-person level, but that global measures of these traits did not show significant relationships. Conversely, Stressors were predicted negatively at the within-person level by Daily Extraversion and positively at the within-person level by Daily Neuroticism. Although Trait Extraversion did not significantly relate to Stressors, Trait Neuroticism showed a significant positive relationship with Stressors at the between-person level. Results illustrate how fluctuation in the manifestation of personality as measured with daily assessments relates meaningfully to daily experiences of stress risk and resilience factors, and may not always be captured by global measures in older adults.

DAILY STRESS AND SAME-DAY SUBJECTIVE MEMORY: AGE DIFFERENCES AND PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AS A BUFFER

Abstract Growing research indicates that daily stress is associated with poor same-day memory performance, but it is unclear whether this relationship varies by age and whether moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MPVA) might offset the within-person link between stress and memory in daily life. Ecological momentary assessment data were collected from adults aged 25-88 across British Columbia, Canada. For 14 days, participants (N = 249) wore a tri-axial physical activity monitor, reported stressor occurrence and perceived stressfulness of the events in mobile surveys 4 times per day, and rated their memory at the end of each day. Multilevel modeling was run to evaluate daily perceived stressfulness as a predictor of subjective memory, with same-day MVPA engagement (activity counts &amp;gt;570 counts/60s) and age (years) entered as moderators. At the within-person level, on days when stressors were perceived as more stressful than usual, subjective memory was rated as relatively worse (b = -0.037, CI[-0.061, -0.017], p &amp;lt; .001). MVPA did not buffer against the within-person associations of daily stress with subjective memory, nor did age (p &amp;gt; .05). Future work could examine the mechanisms that might explain the link between stress and memory, for example cortisol, as well as the associations of different intensity and forms of physical activity on stress across age groups.

TIFFS, TOSSES, AND TURNS: EFFECTS OF AFFECTIVE REACTIVITY TO INTERPERSONAL STRESSORS DURING THE DAY ON NIGHTLY SLEEP

Abstract Background Sleep has been recognized as an antecedent as well as a consequence of daytime stress. However, less research has compared the role of different stressor types on same-night sleep in the context of daily life. Interpersonal stressors may be particularly important, given that social stressors to elicit greater stress responses than other forms of stressors. This study tested the hypothesis that following days when a person exhibits greater negative affect (NA) reactivity to stressors (versus on days with less NA reactivity), sleep quality will be lower. This link between affective reactivity to stressors and subsequent sleep was expected to be more pronounced for interpersonal stressors versus non-interpersonal stressors. Methods In this pre-registered study, 252 adults in British Columbia, Canada (ages 25 to 87y; 68% women; 64% White) completed mobile surveys 5x/day for 14 days to assess daily stressors and NA. Self-reported sleep quality was assessed in morning surveys. Multilevel-models tested daily stressors (interpersonal, non-interpersonal, or no stressors), daily NA (averaged across the day), and their interaction as predictors of subsequent sleep quality, controlling for prior-night sleep quality and sociodemographics. Results Daily NA and stressor occurrence independently predicted poorer subsequent sleep quality. Stressor type moderated the relationship between NA and sleep quality, such that this association was stronger for interpersonal compared to non-interpersonal stressors. Discussion The findings suggest that encountering interpersonal stressors may be particularly impactful to one’s subsequent sleep. Future studies should consider investigating potential mechanisms that may underlie this association, such as pre-sleep cognitive, emotional, and physiological arousal.

Well-being in children and adolescents with hearing/listening impairment from a special needs school during the Covid-19 pandemic: associations with stressful situations and self-efficacy

ABSTRACT Background: Research on the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on well-being among children with disabilities is scarce. Studies in children and adolescents that have problems with hearing or listening, a possibly particularly vulnerable group during the pandemic, are largely lacking. Aims: We investigated well-being, stress experiences, and self-efficacy among children who are deaf or hard of hearing (D/HH) or with auditory processing disorder (APD) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: A total of N = 90 children who are D/HH or with APD (47% girls, M age = 14.95, SD = 2.02) from a special needs school completed self-reports. Data were assessed in Germany in May 2021. Results: Over half the children (52%) reported low well-being. Well-being correlated negatively with stress (perceived stress and stressor occurrence, both for the three different domains: general everyday stressors, pandemic-specific stressors, hearing-specific stressors, r = −.27 to −.56) and positively with self-efficacy (r = .42). Regression analyses confirmed the positive association between well-being and self-efficacy (β = .37/.30). Regarding stress, perceived stress for pandemic-specific stressors (e.g. homeschooling, crowds, β = -.35) and a stronger occurrence of everyday stressors (e.g. gossiping, parents having no time, β = -.45) were relevant for lower well-being. Conclusions: Especially everyday and pandemic-related stressors should be taken seriously. Self-efficacy should be strenghtened as a resource.

The effectivity of hypnobreastfeeding on the success of exclusive breastfeeding by mothers giving birth at Dian Dwi Anggraini Independent Midwifery Practice in Bogor Regency

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Background:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Stunting is an indicator of chronic malnutrition due to a long period of insufficient food intake. The prevalence rate of stunting in Indonesia reached 24.4% in 2021. Generally, problems related to linear growth in toddlers are frequently disregarded because it is still considered as normal as long as the child’s weight has met the standard. Several studies stated that stunting is associated with an increased risk of morbidity and mortality, as well as inhibited development of motoric and mental abilities. To decrease the prevalence of stunting, specific intervention in the form of exclusive breastfeeding needs to be carried out. The coverage of exclusive breastfeeding in Indonesia was 52.5%. Feeding the baby exclusively with breast milk up to the age of 6 months has been recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). However, various obstacles occurred in the breastfeeding process cause the mothers unable to provide the babies with exclusive breast milk. One of the inhibiting factors of breast milk production is the psychological factor, which is the occurrence of stressors in breastfeeding mothers. One of the efforts which can be done to relieve stress in breastfeeding mothers is by applying hypnobreastfeeding. It is a natural effort carried out by providing positive affirmations for the breastfeeding process when mothers are in a very relaxed or very concentrated state.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt; &lt;strong&gt;Objectives : &lt;/strong&gt; This study aims to figure out the effect of hypnobreastfeeding on the success of giving exclusive breastfeeding.&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Methods: &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;This research employed quantitative descriptive analysis with a quasi-experimental and control group post-test-only design.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Results :&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;em&gt; The results of this study obtained the effectiveness of hypnobreastfeeding on the success of exclusive breastfeeding. It is indicated by statistical values with a p-value of &amp;lt; 0.05., and the effect is 5.5 times greater than that of the group without hynobreastfeeding. &lt;strong&gt;Conclusions : &lt;/strong&gt;Referring to the high effectiveness of hypnobreastfeeding on the success of exclusive breastfeeding shown in this study, the researchers confirmed that hypnobreastfeeding is an action that must be given by health workers when accompanying mothers in labor.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

Longitudinal change in daily stress across 20 years of adulthood: Results from the national study of daily experiences.

This study examined age-related patterns in exposure and affective reactivity to daily stressors across a 20-year time span among adults who were between 22 and 77 years old at their baseline interview. Longitudinal data from the National Study of Daily Experiences (NSDE) consisted of three bursts of eight consecutive nightly interviews of stress and affect. Analyses made use of all available data from a U.S. National sample of respondents who participated in any of the three NSDE bursts (N = 2,845; number of daily assessments = 33,688). Findings revealed increasing age-related benefits. Younger adults (< 30 years) reported the highest levels of stressor exposure and reactivity, but their stress profile improved with age. Over time, adults averaged an 11% reduction in the occurrence of stressor days, and the younger adults exhibited an even steeper decline (a 47% reduction) in their levels of stressor reactivity. For people in midlife and old age, stressor occurrence continued to decrease over time, yet among adults aged 54 years or older at baseline, stress reactivity remained stable across time. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Troubles on troubled minds: an intensive longitudinal diary study on the role of burnout in the resilience process following acute stressor exposure

ABSTRACT Burnout negatively affects employees’ health, life satisfaction, and performance. However, little is known about how burnout shapes employees’ resilience process in daily life to produce these adverse effects. Therefore, we present a 30-day diary study among an international sample of 410 employees, studying burnout-related differences in response to an acute stressor (i.e., learning about the COVID-19 diagnosis of a close friend or family member). Specifically, we investigate how this event affects COVID-19-related worrying, positive and negative affect, and work engagement, both on the day itself and across several post-event days. Multilevel analyses with cross-level interactions between individual-level burnout and day-level stressor occurrence reveal that employees high in burnout score significantly higher on negative affect and lower on positive affect and work engagement on the day the stressor occurred. Additionally, discontinuous random coefficient growth modelling with burnout-time interactions shows that employees high in burnout sustain higher levels of COVID-19 worrying, but their negative and positive affect return to pre-event levels in the post-event days. These findings shed important new light on how burnout affects employees’ resilience process in response to acute stressors, thereby potentially identifying a key proximal mechanism by which burnout’s negative distal effects on health, well-being, and performance emerge.

Perspectives on resilience: Trait resilience, correlates of resilience in daily life, and longer-term change in affective distress.

Resilience describes successful adaptation in the face of adversity, commonly inferred from trajectories of well-being following major life events. Alternatively, resilience was conceptualised as a psychological trait, facilitating adaptation through stable individual characteristics. Both perspectives may relate to individual differences in how stress is regulated in daily life. In the present study, we combined these perspectives on resilience. Our sample consisted of N=132 middle-aged adults, who experienced major life events in between two waves of a longitudinal study. We implemented latent change regression models to predict change in affective distress. As predictors, we investigated trait resilience and correlates of resilience in daily life (stressor occurrence, stress reactivity, positive reappraisal, mindful attention, and acceptance), measured using experience sampling (T=70 occasions). Unexpectedly, trait resilience was not associated with change in distress. In contrast, resilience correlates in daily life, most notably lower stress reactivity, were associated with more favourable change. Higher trait resilience related to higher average mindfulness, higher reappraisal, and lower negative affect. Overall, while trait resilience translated into everyday correlates of resilience, it was not predictive of changes in affective distress. Instead, precursors of changes in well-being may be found in correlates of resilience in daily life.

An evolutionary perspective on stress responses, damage and repair

Variation in stress responses has been investigated in relation to environmental factors, species ecology, life history and fitness. Moreover, mechanistic studies have unravelled molecular mechanisms of how acute and chronic stress responses cause physiological impacts (‘damage’), and how this damage can be repaired. However, it is not yet understood how the fitness effects of damage and repair influence stress response evolution. Here we study the evolution of hormone levels as a function of stressor occurrence, damage and the efficiency of repair. We hypothesise that the evolution of stress responses depends on the fitness consequences of damage and the ability to repair that damage. To obtain some general insights, we model a simplified scenario in which an organism repeatedly encounters a stressor with a certain frequency and predictability (temporal autocorrelation). The organism can defend itself by mounting a stress response (elevated hormone level), but this causes damage that takes time to repair. We identify optimal strategies in this scenario and then investigate how those strategies respond to acute and chronic exposures to the stressor. We find that for higher repair rates, baseline and peak hormone levels are higher. This typically means that the organism experiences higher levels of damage, which it can afford because that damage is repaired more quickly, but for very high repair rates the damage does not build up. With increasing predictability of the stressor, stress responses are sustained for longer, because the animal expects the stressor to persist, and thus damage builds up. This can result in very high (and potentially fatal) levels of damage when organisms are exposed to chronic stressors to which they are not evolutionarily adapted. Overall, our results highlight that at least three factors need to be considered jointly to advance our understanding of how stress physiology has evolved: (i) temporal dynamics of stressor occurrence; (ii) relative mortality risk imposed by the stressor itself versus damage caused by the stress response; and (iii) the efficiency of repair mechanisms.

Optimism, Daily Stressors, and Emotional Well-Being Over Two Decades in a Cohort of Aging Men.

Growing evidence supports optimism as a health asset, yet how optimism influences well-being and health remains uncertain. We evaluated 1 potential pathway-the association of optimism with daily stress processes-and tested 2 hypotheses. The stressor exposure hypothesis posits that optimism would preserve emotional well-being by limiting exposure to daily stressors. The buffering hypothesis posits that higher optimism would be associated with lower emotional reactivity to daily stressors and more effective emotional recovery from them. Participants were 233 men from the Veterans Affairs Normative Aging Study who completed the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 Revised Optimism-Pessimism scale in 1986/1991 and participated in up to three 8-day daily diary bursts in 2002-2010 (age at first burst: M = 76.7, SD = 6.5). Daily stressor occurrence, positive affect (PA), and negative affect (NA) were assessed nightly. We evaluated the hypotheses using multilevel structural equation models. Optimism was unrelated to emotional reactivity to or recovery from daily stressors. Higher optimism was associated with higher average daily PA (B = 2.31, 95% Bayesian credible interval [BCI]: 1.24, 3.38) but not NA, independent of stressor exposure. Lower stressor exposure mediated the association of higher optimism with lower daily NA (indirect effect: B = -0.27, 95% BCI: -0.50, -0.09), supporting the stressor exposure hypothesis. Findings from a sample of older men suggest that optimism may be associated with more favorable emotional well-being in later life through differences in stressor exposure rather than emotional stress response. Optimism may preserve emotional well-being among older adults by engaging emotion regulation strategies that occur relatively early in the emotion-generative process.

Emotional reactivity to daily stressors: Does stressor pile-up within a day matter for young-old and very old adults?

Over the past decade, many studies have reported individual differences in negative emotional reactions to daily stressful events. However, whether and how individual and age-related differences in emotional reactivity also depend on the temporal characteristics of stressors has received little attention. In this project, we focused on the temporal characteristics of stressor occurrence and examined the pile-up of stressors within a day-referring to multiple stressors encountered within a relatively narrow time window. To do so, we used data from 123 young-old (66-69 years, 47% women) and 47 very old adults (84-90 years, 60% women). Participants reported their momentary feelings and exposure to stressors six times a day over 7 consecutive days in their everyday life. Emotional reactivity to stressor pile-up over the day followed an exponential decay trajectory, with higher stressor burden in close proximity to the stressor occurrence. The exact shape of the decay trajectory differed among participants. Most importantly, both stressor pile-up and ongoing stress predicted greater emotional reactivity. We also found interaction effects of stressor pile-up and current stressor occurrence in that increases in negative affect under ongoing stress were stronger when stressors had piled-up before. No evidence was found for increased vulnerability to stressor pile-up in very old adults; rather, the impact of preceding stressors attenuated faster for individuals in this age group. The findings highlight the utility of comprehensively studying how stressor characteristics such as their pile-up within short time periods shape emotional reactivity. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Existential Well-being, Mental Health, and COVID-19: Reconsidering the Impact of Lockdown Stressors in Moscow.

Initial psychological papers on COVID-19, mental health and wellbeing mostly focus on the aftermath lockdown-related stress and stress related to the disease itself. Still, we presume that personal well-being can be resistant to stressors depending on the way the person is settled in their life. We seek to reconsider the contribution of lockdown-related stressors to existential well-being, to assess existential well-being during the outbreak and to compare the contribution of living conditions and COVID-19-related factors on well-being. An online survey was conducted during the peak of the outbreak in Moscow (April-May 2020) (N=880). The data was obtained using the "Test of Existential Motivations" questionnaire and a series of questions addressing (1) living conditions - mental and physical health, employment, and social distancing; (2) COVID-19-related stressors - non-chronic illness, financial losses, and unavailability of goods or services; (3) sociodemographic indicators - age, gender, and income. Data analysis included hierarchical multiple regression, one-sample t-test, and analysis of variance. Surprisingly, the existential well-being of Moscow citizens during the research period was moderate. Each of the three groups of factors predicted a similar proportion of the variance of well-being (3-3,9%). The strongest predictors of well-being were long-term mental health status and financial stability. The effect of COVID-19-related stressors was most pronounced when they co-occur. The negative association between lockdown-related stressors and poor well-being is not universal. It is necessary to study the effect of COVID-19-related stressors in combination with individual living conditions and region-specific factors and to focus on the prevention of the occurrence of stressors.

Day-to-day associations between nightly sleep and next-day well-being amid the COVID-19 pandemic in North America

ObjectiveSleep may be especially important for maintaining health and well-being in daily life amid the stress of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. This preregistered study examined the associations of sleep quality, duration, and efficiency with next-day physical symptoms, affect, and stressors during the COVID-19 pandemic in North America, in addition to evaluating individual differences in COVID-19 threat as a moderator. MethodFrom mid-March to early August 2020, 1025 adults from Canada and the United States aged 18-91 reported COVID-19 threat at baseline and subsequently completed twice-daily diaries for one week about their sleep, negative affect, stressors, and physical symptoms. ResultsWithin-persons, nights with better-than-usual sleep quality predicted lower next-day negative affect, physical symptoms, and stressor occurrence. Better-than-usual sleep efficiency and longer-than-usual sleep duration also predicted lower next-day physical symptoms. COVID-19 threat ratings moderated several of these associations, such that individuals with higher COVID-19 threat showed weaker within-person associations of sleep duration and efficiency with next-day well-being, compared to individuals with lower-to-moderate levels of COVID-19 threat. For the reversed direction of association, stressor occurrence predicted shorter-than-usual sleep that night, but no other links between daily well-being and subsequent sleep were observed. DiscussionSleep quality, efficiency, and duration were important predictors of daily health and well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the protective associations between sleep and next-day well-being were attenuated among people with higher COVID-19 threat. These findings highlight the role of heightened stress contexts when considering the benefits of sleep on daily health and well-being.

"When I Sleep Poorly, It Impacts Everything": An Exploratory Qualitative Investigation of Stress and Sleep in Junior Endurance Athletes.

On their journeys toward senior athletic status, junior endurance athletes are faced with a multitude of stressors. How athletes react to stressors plays a vital part in effective adaptation to the demanding, ever-changing athletic environment. Sleep, the most valued recovery strategy available to athletes, has the potential to influence and balance athletic stress, and enable optimal functioning. However, sleep is sensitive to disturbances by stress, which is described by the concept of sleep reactivity. Among athletes, poor sleep quality is frequently reported, but our understanding of the associations between stress and sleep in junior athletes is currently incomplete. The present study therefore investigated the themes of stress and sleep, and the associations between these variables with the use of in-depth semi-structured interviews in six junior endurance athletes (three men and three women, mean age 17.7 ± 0.5 years). Data was analyzed qualitatively based on the Grounded Theory. The qualitative material was supplemented with quantitative data on subjective sleep quality (Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index), sleep reactivity (Ford Insomnia Response to Stress Test), and mental strain (visual analog scale). The main results showed that stress could be differentiated into relevant stressors (encompassing poor performance, uncertainty in relation to training, school, daily hassles, and sleep) and reactions to stress (with sub-categories facilitative and maladaptive). Sleep could be differentiated into sleep benefits (encompassing energy levels and athletic functioning) and sleep quality (with sub-categories satisfactory and inadequate). All athletes identified relevant stressors, and all athletes were aware of the benefits of sleep for athletic functioning. However, athletes formed two distinctive categories based on the interactions between stress and sleep: three exhibited facilitative reactions to stress and good sleep quality, as well as low sleep reactivity, and low mental strain. The remaining participants exhibited maladaptive reactions to stress and poor sleep quality, as well as high sleep reactivity and high mental strain. Conceptualizing sleep quality based on the evaluation of stressors, reactions to stress, degree of mental strain, and the propensity to stress-related sleep disturbance may offer a plausible explanation for why the occurrence of stressors leads to poor sleep quality in some athletes, but not others.

Effects of Aerobic Exercise Training on Daily Psychological Processes in Family Caregivers: Secondary Analyses of a Randomized Controlled Trial.

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of a 24-week aerobic exercise training program on daily psychological processes and occurrence of stressors in a group of previously physically underactive family caregivers of patients with dementia. As part of the Fitness, Aging, and STress (FAST) randomized controlled trial, 68 participants (F = 55; M = 13) were randomized to either a staff-supported, 24-week aerobic training (N = 34) program or waitlist control (N = 34) group. Approximately 2weeks prior to randomization, ecological momentary assessments were completed 6 times per day for 7days and again in the 24th week of the trial to assess exposure to levels of momentary positive affect, negative affect, rumination, control, and the occurrence of stressors throughout the day. These secondary analyseswith data from 56 of the participants revealed that the intervention group showed a significantly larger increase in daily positive affect and perceptions of control compared to control participants over the course of the intervention. A treatment effect was also found for negative affect and rumination, whereby both decreased to a greater extent in the intervention group when compared with participants in the control condition. The 24-week aerobic training program had significant impacts on daily psychological processes in family caregivers, deepening our understanding of the robust effects of exercise on mental health.

Perceived Social Integration Predicts Engagement and Responsiveness to Positive Events: Test of Age Moderation

Social Integration has important implications for health and well-being during adulthood. Being socially integrated might be an important resource that helps people to regularly engage in daily positive events. With older age, this resource might become increasingly important. However, being well socially integrated might also mean that people are certain that they experience more positive events in the future and thus, respond with less positive affect to any given positive event. We examined perceived social integration as a predictor of engagement and responsiveness to positive events using data from the National Study of Daily Experiences 2. 1904 adults (Mean age = 56.25, min = 33, max = 84) reported their daily positive affect and daily positive events during 8 consecutive days of telephone interviews. Perceived social integration was assessed at baseline. Adults higher in social integration experienced daily positive events more frequently (b = 0.01, SE = 0.003, p < .001), but showed less of an increase in positive affect on days with more-than-usual positive events (b = -0.003, SE = 0.001, p = .030). These models controlled for the Big Five personality traits, purpose in life, demographic variables and same-day occurrence of stressors. Age did not moderate the present associations. The present findings imply that social integration might be an important contributor to experiencing more positive events across adulthood. Being better socially integrated might also lead to responding with less positive emotions to any given positive event.