1. Increased chronic stress predicts greater emotional negativity bias and poorer social skills but not cognitive functioning in healthy adults
- Author
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Donna M. Palmer, Gabriel Tillman, Taylor A Braund, Evian Gordon, and Heidi Hanna
- Subjects
Male ,050103 clinical psychology ,Emotions ,Psychological intervention ,Social Skills ,Young Adult ,Cognition ,Sex Factors ,Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous) ,Social skills ,Surveys and Questionnaires ,Negativity bias ,Developmental and Educational Psychology ,Humans ,0501 psychology and cognitive sciences ,Chronic stress ,Stress measures ,Cognitive Dysfunction ,Cognitive skill ,Depression (differential diagnoses) ,Psychiatric Status Rating Scales ,05 social sciences ,Emotional Regulation ,Psychiatry and Mental health ,Clinical Psychology ,Cross-Sectional Studies ,Chronic Disease ,Female ,Psychology ,Stress, Psychological ,Clinical psychology - Abstract
Background and Objectives: Chronically stressed individuals report deficits spanning cognitive and emotional functioning. However, limitations to clinical populations and measures of stress have impeded the generalisability and scope of results. This study investigated whether chronic stress predicted cognitive and emotional functioning, and whether these relationships differed between males and females, in a large representative sample of healthy participants. Design: Cross-sectional study. Method: 1883 healthy adults sampled from the Brain Resource International Database reported stress using the 21-item Depression Anxiety Stress Scales. Participants then completed a cognitive and emotional assessment battery (IntegNeuro), as well as questionnaires related to sleep, emotional functioning, and self-regulation. Results: In contrast to previously reported results, chronic stress did not predict cognitive functioning. However, higher stress predicted a greater negativity bias and poorer social skills, confirming previous research identifying these links. Conclusions: Cognitive deficits related to stress are absent in healthy participants when stress is measured using the 21-items Depression Anxiety Stress Scales. Identifying how chronic stress is associated with aspects of emotional functioning can lead to personalized interventions for individuals to better manage the negative outcomes resulting from stress.
- Published
- 2019