The role of worry and affectivity on physiological responses to an acute stressor

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.