The Role of Social Context and Perceived Control in Stress Reactivity and Recovery: an ESM study.

The physical presence of others has been shown to buffer physiological stress responses in laboratory settings, yet evidence for its effect on perceived stress remains inconsistent. Furthermore, it is unclear whether such effects extend to the complexity of everyday life. The current study aims to investigate whether being alone versus with others is associated with higher stress reactivity and reduced stress recovery in daily life. We hypothesize that being alone will be associated with higher stress reactivity and reduced recovery. Furthermore, we hypothesize that the impact of low perceived control over stress on reactivity and recovery will be amplified when participants are alone. A total of 100 adult women will participate in an 8-day Experience Sampling Method (ESM) study, receiving 10 semi-random prompts per day via the m-Path smartphone application. At each prompt, participants will report their current stress level, the source of their stress, their perceived control over it, and whether they are alone or with others. Stress reactivity will be operationalized as momentary perceived stress intensity at the time of the stress source. Stress recovery will be operationalized as the change in perceived stress regarding a previously reported stress source between two consecutive same-day prompts. Hypotheses will be tested using Multilevel Linear Models, examining the interaction between within-person perceived control and social context on momentary perceived stress and stress recovery, while controlling for time of day, study day, and individual baseline stress levels. Data has been collected as part of another study, but has not been seen by anyone yet at this point.