Psychological vulnerability and stress: the effects of self-affirmation on sympathetic nervous system responses to naturalistic stressors.
Title | Psychological vulnerability and stress: the effects of self-affirmation on sympathetic nervous system responses to naturalistic stressors. |
Publication Type | Journal Article |
Year of Publication | 2009 |
Authors | Sherman DK, Bunyan DP, J Creswell D, Jaremka LM |
Journal | Health Psychol |
Volume | 28 |
Issue | 5 |
Pagination | 554-62 |
Date Published | 2009 Sep |
ISSN | 1930-7810 |
Keywords | Achievement, Adaptation, Psychological, Adolescent, Anxiety, Arousal, Epinephrine, Female, Humans, Internal-External Control, Male, Norepinephrine, Self Care, Self Efficacy, Self-Assessment, Stress, Psychological, Students, Sympathetic Nervous System, Writing, Young Adult |
Abstract | OBJECTIVE: Everyday stressors can threaten valued aspects of the self. Self-affirmation theory posits that this threat could be attenuated if individuals affirm alternative self-resources. The present study examined whether self-affirmation would buffer cumulative stress responses to an ongoing academic stressor. DESIGN: Undergraduate participants provided 15-hr urine samples on the morning of their most stressful examination and baseline samples 14 days prior to the examination. Participants were randomly assigned to the self-affirmation condition where they wrote two essays on important values over the 2-week period prior to exam, or a control condition. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Samples were analyzed for urinary catecholamine excretion (epinephrine, norepinephrine), an indicator of sympathetic nervous system activation. Participants also indicated their appraisals of the examination experience. RESULTS: Participants in the control condition increased in cumulative epinephrine levels from baseline to examination, whereas participants in the self-affirmation condition did not differ from baseline to examination. The buffering effect of self-affirmation was strongest among individuals most concerned about negative college evaluation, those most psychologically vulnerable. CONCLUSION: The findings demonstrate that sympathetic nervous system responses to naturalistic stressors can be attenuated by self-affirmation. Discussion centers on psychological pathways by which affirmation can reduce stress and the implications of the findings for health outcomes among chronically stressed participants. |
DOI | 10.1037/a0014663 |
Alternate Journal | Health Psychol |
PubMed ID | 19751081 |