Volume 4, Article 5
International Journal of Stress Prevention and Wellbeing, Volume 4, Article 5
Positive Emotions and Flourishing are Resilience Factors for Stress Symptoms
Benjamin Berend, Dominic Vogt, & Michaela Brohm-Badry
Citation
Berend, B., Vogt, D., & Brohm-Badry, M. (2020). ‘Positive Emotions and Flourishing are Resilience Factors for Stress Symptoms.’ International Journal of Stress Prevention and Wellbeing, 4, 5, 1-11. https://www.stressprevention.net/volume/volume-4-2020/volume-4-article-5/
Processing dates: Submitted: 8 November 2017; Re-submitted: 26 July 2020; Accepted: 16 September 2020; Published: 18 November 2020. Corrected version 27 November 2020
Biographies
Benjamin Berend is with the Department of Learning and Instruction, University of Trier, Germany
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0752-0135
Dominic Vogt was formerly with the University of Trier, Germany
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3831-573X
Michaela Brohm-Badry is Head of Department, Department of Learning and Instruction, University of Trier, Germany
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7304-1490
Abstract
Background: Flourishing has been shown to strengthen resilience and improve our health status whereas chronic stress has frequently been reported to affect health. This study aims to estimate possible stress-buffering effects of flourishing (in general and especially with regard to positive emotions) on mental stress symptoms.
Methods: We collected questionnaire data of 128 university students (67,2% female) before and during an examination period. Using the R package “mediation” (Tingley et al. 2014), we estimated associations between flourishing (general and with a focus on positive emotions) and stress symptoms, as well as mediating effects of perceived stress.
Results: Higher scores in flourishing significantly predicted less problems with concentration, irritability, restlessness, lack of initiative, and burnout. All of these associations were significantly mediated by the perceived level of stress. Furthermore, higher scores in the positive emotions scale were significantly linked to less problems with concentration, irritability, restlessness, lack of initiative, emotional exhaustion, and burnout. These associations were also mediated by perceived stress levels.
Discussion: Our results are in line with recent positive-psychological research. Flourishing and positive emotions may lead to lower levels of perceived stress and subsequently to less stress symptoms.
Conclusions: Our results emphasize the importance of flourishing and positive emotions as resilience factors.
Keywords: Positive Emotions, Flourishing, Stress, Resilience, Health