Stress can profoundly influence one’s behavior. Evidence suggests that the fight-or-flight response to stress causes reduced prosocial behavior. While men seem prone towards the fight-or-flight...Show moreStress can profoundly influence one’s behavior. Evidence suggests that the fight-or-flight response to stress causes reduced prosocial behavior. While men seem prone towards the fight-or-flight reaction, it has been proposed that women instead exhibit a stress response of nurturing and affiliation, termed the tend-and-befriend response. However, there is inconsistent evidence for whether stress differentially impacts prosociality across the sexes. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the effect of sex and stress on prosocial behavior. We proposed that females would be more prosocial during stressful periods, while males would display the opposite pattern. This study was part of a larger research project involving a repeated-measure design with two time-points. Stress was naturalistically manipulated by comparing prosociality during an exam period and an exam-free period. 136 university students completed a prosocial effort task, which measured how much effort one would exert for someone else, compared to themselves, to obtain a reward. A repeated measures ANOVA revealed that there was no significant interaction between sex and stress levels affecting prosociality. In addition, prosocial behavior levels did not differ across the time points. However, females were found to be significantly more prosocial than males overall. The results of the prosocial effort task may have been confounded by other factors such as attachment security, while not properly measuring affiliation. Stress operationalization and personal characteristics may explain the absence of a relationship between stress and prosocial behavior. The higher prosocial behavior among females can be attributed to gender roles. Potential future research directions are discussed.Show less
The present study is a longitudinal study that examined whether depression in adolescence within a two-year gap could be predicted by adolescents’ stress responses to social stressors, while also...Show moreThe present study is a longitudinal study that examined whether depression in adolescence within a two-year gap could be predicted by adolescents’ stress responses to social stressors, while also investigating whether gender and age play a role in this prediction. At T1, participants were 205 adolescents between 12 and 17 years old (mean age=14.81 year, SD=1.31, 49.3% female). This study also replicated past studies that investigated gender differences in depression and stress responses including coping. The Response to Stress Questionnaire was used as an instrument to assess adolescents’ reaction and coping methods to social stressors, whereby the participants indicated the ways in which they react to social stressors on a four-point scale. Furthermore, the depressive symptoms of the participants were measured with the Children Depression Inventory at two time points two years apart, whereby the participants answer a 27-item self-report questionnaire. Based on the results of the statistical analyses, there were no significant gender differences in depression, nor were there significant age-related differences in depression between adolescent girls and boys. There were, however, significant gender differences in stress responses, namely Primary Control Engagement coping and Involuntary Engagement stress response. And finally, Primary Control Engagement coping, gender, and depression at T1 significantly predicted depression at T2, however the interaction effects of gender, age, and gender by age with the stress response did not significantly predict depression at T2. In conclusion, later depression can be predicted by stress responses, however gender and age do not moderate this prediction.Show less
Objective: The present study aims to better understand possible multidirectional interactions between depressive symptoms, sleep quality and stress response. Although a significant amount of...Show moreObjective: The present study aims to better understand possible multidirectional interactions between depressive symptoms, sleep quality and stress response. Although a significant amount of research has been done studying the effect of sleep quality and depression on stress response, they provided mixed results and showed large methodological differences. We extend previous research by testing three hypotheses: (a) Poor sleep leads to increased stress responses; (b) Higher levels of depressive symptoms lead to increased stress responses; and (c) The effect of minimal levels of depressive symptoms on stress reactivity is greater for individuals with poor sleep. Method: In 46 participants (69,60% female; 18–29 years), we assessed sleep quality using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (and depressive symptoms using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). The Trier Social Stress Test (TSST), a psychosocial stress task, was used to induce moderate stress in a controlled environment in order to assess stress reaction. Results: Participants with poorer sleep quality did not have elevated salivary cortisol response after being exposed to a social stressor compared to participants with better sleep quality. Also, no proof was found for (minimal) depressive symptoms being a predictor of salivary cortisol response to psychosocial stress. The results further indicated that individuals with poor sleep quality did not experience a greater effect of (minimal) depressive symptoms on stress reactivity. Conclusion: No support was found for a role of sleep quality and depressive symptoms in cortisol stress response. Future research should take person- and situation-specific characteristics into account when analyzing cortisol responses to psychological stress.Show less
