Physiological reactions to and recovery from acute stressors: the roles of chronic anxiety and stable resources

Abstract

Background Research has shown that employees subjected to acute stressors at work can suffer devastating repercussions. However, little is known about how employees who are experiencing ongoing chronic anxiety or have stable resources respond to acute stressors, particularly regarding their physiological responses to these situations. This study examines the physiological effects of an acute stressor when workers are already under chronic anxiety (i.e., cognitive anxiety and somatic anxiety) or when they have a stable resource (i.e., job control). Participants and procedure Data were collected from 230 full-time employees working at three major oil companies in Brazil. First, demographic, anxie-ty, and job control measures were collected via questionnaire. Later, muscle tension, skin temperature, and heart rate were collected during a simulated task to assess the physiological response to stress. Hypotheses were tested by repeated measures general linear modeling. Results The findings indicated that when employees were exposed to an acute stressor, those with chronic cognitive and somatic anxiety exhibited more heightened physiological responses than those lower on chronic anxiety. Further, compared to those with low control, employees with stable, high control over their work experienced a lower physiological reaction to the acute stressor. Conclusions Chronic anxiety generates high levels of physiological arousal and hyper-responsiveness to acute environmental stressors. Also, employees possessing stable resources, such as job control, experience reduced physiological responsivity to an acute stressor.

Keywords

• anxiety
• skin temperature
• job control
• acute stress
• muscle tension