Living with Stress

Goldring and Bolger investigated how daily stressors influence lives and found that “Prior research shows that daily stressors lead to greater psychological distress. A separate body of research links daily stressors to physical symptoms such as backaches and stomach problems. We integrate these literatures by positing an interconnected causal system, whereby stressors lead to psychological distress which, in turn, leads to physical symptoms. Our integrated approach also includes causal effects in the opposing directions: Psychological distress can increase physical symptoms and physical symptoms can increase psychological distress. Put simply, causal effects are bidirectional. . . . some people are as much as four times as reactive as the average person, some people are not reactive at all, and other people are reactive in reverse directions (e.g., distress leads to fewer physical symptoms).”

Megan Goldring and Niall Bolger. 2021.  “Physical Effects of Daily Stressors Are Psychologically Mediated, Heterogeneous, and Bidirectional.”  Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, vol. 121, no. 3, pp. 722-746, https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000396