Searching for a job: Cardiac responses to acute stress and the mediating role of threat appraisal in young people

Being unemployed and looking for a job has become a source of stress for many people in several European countries. However, little attention has been paid to the impact of this stressful situation on the individuals' psychophysiological stress responses. The aim of this study was to investigat...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Stress and health 2018-02, Vol.34 (1), p.15-23
Main Authors: Zandara, M., Garcia‐Lluch, M., Villada, C., Hidalgo, V., Salvador, A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Animal behavior
Anxiety - physiopathology
Anxiety - psychology
cardiac responses
Cognitive ability
cognitive threat appraisal
Female
Heart
Heart diseases
Heart Rate - physiology
Humans
Male
Physiological effects
Physiological responses
Self Efficacy
Social interactions
Stress response
Stress, Psychological - physiopathology
Stress, Psychological - psychology
unemployed job seekers
Unemployment - psychology
Young Adult
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Being unemployed and looking for a job has become a source of stress for many people in several European countries. However, little attention has been paid to the impact of this stressful situation on the individuals' psychophysiological stress responses. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of being an unemployed job seeker on cognitive threat appraisal and cardiac responses to a psychosocial stressor. We exposed a group of unemployed job seekers (N = 42) and a matched group of unemployed non‐job seekers (N = 40) to a standardized social stressor in form of job interview, the Trier Social Stress Test. Our results showed that unemployed job seekers manifest lower cardiac responses, along with a lower cognitive threat appraisal, compared to non‐job seekers. Moreover, we observed a full mediating role of cognitive threat appraisal on the relationship between being an unemployed job seeker and cardiac responses to stress. These findings reveal that being unemployed and looking for a job has an effect on physiological responses to acute stress, as well as the importance of psychological process related to the situation. These responses might lead to negative health and motivational consequences. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
ISSN:1532-3005
1532-2998
DOI:10.1002/smi.2757