Mental health problems in the 7th and 8th grade of primary school are an important topic to discuss, as stress, anxiety, and depression can occur at a young age and can have consequences, such as,...Show moreMental health problems in the 7th and 8th grade of primary school are an important topic to discuss, as stress, anxiety, and depression can occur at a young age and can have consequences, such as, stress complaints, problems with learning, behavioral problems or health problems. This research focuses on mapping the relationship between stress, anxiety and depression in students in the 7th and 8ht grade, and on the differences in stress, anxiety, and depression across gender and school grades. Two questionnaires were completed by 89 participants: one about stress, and one about anxiety and depression. All of the questionnaires were deemed usable for performing statistical analyses, including multiple correlation analyses and two MANOVA’s. All participants were primary school students in the 7th and 8th grade. A strong positive correlation was found between stress, anxiety and depression in group 7 and 8 students. Additionally, a significant difference was found between boys and girls, with girls reporting higher scores for stress, anxiety and depression. No significant difference was found between groups 7 and 8. The results emphasize the need for appropriate interventions to reduce and prevent stress and mental health problems in this age group, especially for girls. By intervening early with preventive measures, the likelihood of these issues arising or worsening can potentially be reduced. In-depth research is needed to explore the role of other gender identities in mental health and to develop inclusive, effective interventions.Show less
Background: Stress is increasingly recognized as a problem that affects both mental and physical health. With the rise of wearable devices such as smartwatches, monitoring stress via physiological...Show moreBackground: Stress is increasingly recognized as a problem that affects both mental and physical health. With the rise of wearable devices such as smartwatches, monitoring stress via physiological indicators has become more accessible. However, the link between subjective stress experiences and objective data from wearable devices remains underexplored. Objective: This research aims to examine the relationship between self-reported stress levels and physiological stress markers measured by wearable devices, as well as examine the possible moderating role of coping strategies in this relationship. Methods: Data was analyzed from 606 participants in the WARN-D study. The data consisted of physical biomarkers such as heart rate and objective stress retrieved from smartwatches and daily self-assessments measuring subjective stress. Coping mechanisms were evaluated through a questionnaire. Results: The results showed that subjective stress was associated with objective stress, however the strength and direction of these relationships differed. The cognitive coping strategy putting things into perspective had a moderating effect on the relationship between subjective and objective stress. Conclusion: These findings show that wearables can track physiological stress markers, however they should be complemented by subjective stress measures for a more accurate view. Coping strategies could also play a crucial role in moderating the relationship between objective and subjective stress, which shows the importance of interventions for healthy coping styles to manage stress.Show less
Students commonly experience stress and associated eating disturbances, which may lead to health problems and lower well-being. This study aims to investigate the mechanisms behind these eating...Show moreStudents commonly experience stress and associated eating disturbances, which may lead to health problems and lower well-being. This study aims to investigate the mechanisms behind these eating disturbances, specifically stress-induced hyperphagia and hypophagia. Knowledge about these mechanisms is important as it may further the development of effective interventions to reduce harmful eating disturbances. In this study, questionnaires forstress-induced hyperphagia and hypophagia (Salzburg Stress Eating Scale), perceived stress (PSS-10), reward sensitivity, and behavioural inhibition (BAI) were administered to a sample of 210 Dutch university students in a cross-sectional research design. A regression analysis was performed on a model with as dependent variable stress-induced hyperphagia and hypophagia (SSES) and as dependent variables perceived stress (PSS2), reward sensitivity (BAS-Reward) and behavioural inhibition (BIS2) with the covariates BMI and gender. PSS2 and BIS2 were tested quadratically as this was speculated to fit the data best. None of the main predictors, PSS2 (B = 0.000, p = 0.503), BAS-Reward (B = -0.163, p = 0.217) and BIS2 (B = 0.019, p = 0.283), were significantly associated with SSES, only the covariate BMI (B = 0.073, p < 0.001). Thus, none of the dependent variables of the regression model seem to predict stress-induced hyperphagia and hypophagia, next to the covariate BMI. This does not correspond to prior research which does find associations between the independent variables and SSES. However, this research is mostly performed in clinical populations and might not hold true for non-clinical populations. This study has several limitations, including a cross-sectional design and biases associated with self-reports, but also several strengths, such as testing variables quadratically and studying a student population with varying levels of stress. A final suggestion is made to focus on the factors that give healthy students high levels of stress, instead of their stress-induced behaviours.Show less
Throughout our lives, we go through stressful situations on a daily basis. It effects multiple facets of our lives, including social interaction and empathy. This study explores the impact of acute...Show moreThroughout our lives, we go through stressful situations on a daily basis. It effects multiple facets of our lives, including social interaction and empathy. This study explores the impact of acute stress on affective empathy in female students (N = 115, M = 21.23 years, SD = 1.64 years). After being exposed to the (placebo) Trier Social Stress Test, participants completed an affective empathy task. They assigned compassion and positive affect scores to negative, neutral and positive pictures. Smiling and frowning responses were measured simultaneously. Surprisingly, no significant differences were revealed between the stress and control group for compassion and positive affect. However, results indicated more relaxation in smiling muscles and more tension in frowning muscles in response to positive stimuli in the stress condition. The results challenge the tend-and-befriend framework.Show less
Research master thesis | Psychology (research) (MSc)
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In this study we investigated the relationship between stress, prosociality, and academic achievement. With a sample of UK-based college students, we aimed to investigate whether prosociality may...Show moreIn this study we investigated the relationship between stress, prosociality, and academic achievement. With a sample of UK-based college students, we aimed to investigate whether prosociality may serve as a buffer for the assumed negative relationship between stress and academic achievement. Our findings revealed that there was a negative relationship between academic stress and academic achievement. Furthermore, people tended to be more prosocial when they were stressed. However, this increased prosociality was not related to academic achievement and did not buffer people’s academic achievement from the negative effects of stress. The findings highlight the complex dynamic between stress, prosociality, and academic achievement. Understanding the interplay between these three variables has significant value for the innovation of interventions and preventive measures to enhance the overall well-being in students.Show less
Background: Itch and scratching are distressing symptoms in diverse diseases. Both negative expectancies and stress have been shown to increase symptom severity. However, especially the role of...Show moreBackground: Itch and scratching are distressing symptoms in diverse diseases. Both negative expectancies and stress have been shown to increase symptom severity. However, especially the role of stress remains unclear as it has mostly been tested in pain studies. Methods: To investigate whether the effect of stress on itch is mediated by negative expectancies; cowhage, verbal suggestions and a video fragment were used to induce itch in a within-subjects design of 11 healthy participants. Itch, scratching and negative expectancies were measured on a scale from 0 to 10. Stress was assessed by the DASS-21 questionnaire. Results: Using mediation analysis, results suggested that stress was not predictive of itch symptoms at all, even when taking into account negative expectancies. Nonetheless, negative expectancies on their own were related to itch and scratching. Conclusions: These findings demonstrate that negative expectancies should be treated as a key aspect in psychological treatment targeting chronic pruritus, such as rational-emotive therapy (RET). However, future research should still investigate stress in relation to itch, as the current study did not assess the impact of severe stress levels and experimentally-induced stress.Show less
This retrospective cohort study aimed to investigate the influence of stress on atypical symptom amelioration to first-choice psychostimulant medication in individuals with attention deficit...Show moreThis retrospective cohort study aimed to investigate the influence of stress on atypical symptom amelioration to first-choice psychostimulant medication in individuals with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Understanding the impact of stress on the effectiveness of psychostimulant medications is crucial, given the high prevalence of stress-related psychiatric comorbidity in ADHD and the potential stress effects on psychostimulant effectivity. It was hypothesized that cardiovascular stress and stress-related psychiatric comorbidity are related to atypical symptom amelioration and that these two characteristics are interrelated. Additionally, the effect of medication and time will be explored. A unique subset from the SOPHISTICATE cohort was analysed, comprising of 460 patients diagnosed with ADHD who exhibited atypical treatment response following first-choice medication registration and were switched to a second-choice medication within 3 weeks. The adult version of the Quantified Behavioral Test (QbTest), a computerized tool that quantifies the core symptoms of ADHD was used to determine baseline symptom severity and treatment response, i.e. QbActivity (QbAct); QbImpulsivity (QbImp); and QbInattention (QbIna). Patients were divided into groups based on stresscharacteristics, and linear mixed models were employed to examine the impact of stresscharacteristics, first-choice medication and time on symptom amelioration (i.e. QbTest score after first- or second-choice medication – QbTest score at baseline; ∆). The results reveal that stress-characteristics were not related to atypical symptom amelioration after first-choice medication. However, patients with stress related psychiatric comorbidity show more inattentive symptom amelioration after second-choice medication registration β=.21, SE=.10, 95% CI [.02, .41], p=.031. Importantly, the effect of time was significant for all three symptom domainssuggesting a role of time to enable a typical response, i.e. ∆QbAct (F(1,462) = 387.818, p < .001), ∆QbImp (F(1, 462) = 235.224, p < .001) and on ∆QbIna (F(1, 463) = 319.655, p = .242). Additionally it was found that baseline symptom severity confounds the medication effect for ∆QbImp and for ∆QbAct. In conclusion, the results indicate that stress characteristics nor medication is related to an atypical response pattern to first-choice medication. The current study did reveal an important role of time to enable a ‘typical’ response. Limitations of the study included the lack of a reference group, the possibility of random effects, and quality of the cardiovascular data. In conclusion, while the impact of stress on treatment response could not be definitively determined based on the available data, future research should explore the complex interplay between stress, psychiatric comorbidity, and medication types to optimize treatment strategies and improve outcomes for patientsShow less
This thesis research investigates the indirect relationship between role conflict and sleep quality. It is investigated whether anxiety complaints have a mediating effect, and whether burnout has a...Show moreThis thesis research investigates the indirect relationship between role conflict and sleep quality. It is investigated whether anxiety complaints have a mediating effect, and whether burnout has a moderating effect. An association has been found in the literature for the relationship between role conflict and anxiety symptoms, as well as for anxiety symptoms and reduced sleep quality. In addition, it turned out that burnout has an effect on these three variables. Four online questionnaires were used for this study, which were completed over a period of three weeks. The results of this study showed no significant indirect effect, also burnout was not a significant moderator. However, a non-significant association was found between decreased sleep quality and role conflict. It is recommended that more research be done on this in the futureShow less
Background: Threat-related attentional bias is a dynamic process, determined by internal and external factors. Individual differences in attentional control, a core function of the executive system...Show moreBackground: Threat-related attentional bias is a dynamic process, determined by internal and external factors. Individual differences in attentional control, a core function of the executive system, is thought to modulate the expression of attentional bias. Attentional bias is also influenced by the threat level of a stimulus (mild and high). The effect of stress on attentional bias in relation to attentional control and threat level shows considerable heterogeneity. Aims and hypotheses: Investigate the association between attentional bias to different threat levels, stress and attentional control. Stress increases attentional bias towards all threats compared to the control condition. Attentional control moderates the effect of stress on attentional bias towards mild and high threats. Method: Sixty-four female participants completed a self-report attentional control measure, underwent a stress-induction (n = 32) or control (n = 32) procedure and completed the modified dot-probe task. Results: Attentional bias to high and mild threats was not affected by stress. Importantly, attentional control moderated the relation between stress and attentional bias to high threats. High attentional control was associated with an attentional bias towards high threats in the stress condition while high attentional control predicted an attentional bias away from high threats in the control condition on a trend level. This moderation effect was not shown for the association between stress and attentional bias to mild threats. Discussion: This study provides evidence that attentional control plays an important role in the manifestation of attentional bias to high threats in stressful and controlled situations in healthy individuals.Show less
Background: Long-term exposure to road traffic noise is associated with the prevalence of hypertension. To understand more about this exposure-response relationship, it is essential to examine this...Show moreBackground: Long-term exposure to road traffic noise is associated with the prevalence of hypertension. To understand more about this exposure-response relationship, it is essential to examine this association with baseline blood pressure measurements. However, theories of possible mechanisms explaining the chronic physiological effects of road traffic noise exposure are limited. Furthermore, the findings of epidemiological studies investigating this relationship are inconsistent and different factors seem to influence the strength of the relationship. A critical evaluation of these studies seems warranted. Purpose: This study aims to gain more theoretical and empirical insight into the association between road traffic noise and resting blood pressure measurements. Methods: Web of Science, PubMed and reference lists were used. Six articles were included, consisting of information about ten studies. A meta-analysis on the association between road traffic noise and blood pressure among adults was performed. The ten effect size estimates were based on the data of 146,339 subjects in total. Results: A 0.195 mmHg (95% CI: 0.004, 0.386) higher systolic blood pressure per 10 dB increase was found. Road traffic noise was not associated with diastolic blood pressure. However, the sensitivity analysis revealed stronger associations with diastolic blood pressure for high-quality studies and stronger associations with systolic blood pressure for nighttime noise exposure. Conclusion: Long-term exposure to road traffic noise had a significant positive association with systolic blood pressure, perhaps strongest at night, and a nonsignificant positive association with diastolic blood pressure. The significant moderating effect of study quality on diastolic blood pressure is a possible explanation for this inconsistency. Further research is required to get a more comprehensive understanding of the association between road traffic noise and blood pressure.Show less
