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The Role of Stressful Events in the Relationship Between Positive and Negative Affects: Evidence From Field and Experimental Studies
Author(s) -
Zautra Alex J.,
Reich John W.,
Davis Mary C.,
Potter Phillip T.,
Nicolson Nancy A.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
journal of personality
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.082
H-Index - 144
eISSN - 1467-6494
pISSN - 0022-3506
DOI - 10.1111/1467-6494.00121
Subject(s) - stressor , psychology , affect (linguistics) , developmental psychology , clinical psychology , cognition , negative correlation , correlation , psychological intervention , medicine , psychiatry , communication , geometry , mathematics
Three studies are presented that examine the effects of stress on the relationship between positive and negative affective states. In the first study, recently bereaved and disabled older adults were compared to matched control groups without these recent stressors. Negative affect was inversely correlated with positive affect to a significantly greater extent for the highly stressed groups compared with controls. In a second study, older adults were exposed to a laboratory stressor, and their positive and negative affective reactions recorded. Immediately following a speech stressor task, the inverse correlation between positive and negative affect was significantly greater than in pre‐ and post‐assessments of affects. The third study was an attempt to replicate and extend the findings from Study 2 with a mid‐aged sample of women. The speech stressor had the same effects as in Study 2. A second stressor, which induced pain through immersion of an arm into cold water, had no effects on the correlation between affective states. Alternative explanations for these effects and the implications for cognitive interventions are discussed.