Stress, Resilience, and Impulsivity

Stress is a phenomenon that everyone will experience. Stress that is unmanageable can become chronic, which is linked to various negative psychological effects (Le Fevre, Matheny, & Kolt, 2003). Although stress research often focuses on the negative long-term effects, there are times where individuals develop a trait known as resilience. Resilient individuals eventually learn how to buffer the negative effects of stress (Cicchetti, 2010), and researchers have begun investigating the positive effects of resilience on stress (Cicchetti, 2010; Kermott, Johnson, Sood, R., Jenkins, & Sood, A., 2019). Currently, few studies have been conducted to identify any additional traits that may impact the relationship between stress and resilience. However, there is some evidence that impulsivity may be a prevalent trait that affects the dynamic between stress and resilience. Typically, stressed individuals exhibit higher levels of impulsivity (Moustafa, Tindle, Frydecka, & Misiak, 2017). In turn, this may affect one’s level of resilience. The present study aims to focus on the relationship between stress (current and chronic) and resilience, as well as the moderating effect of impulsivity on that relationship. It was predicted that there would be a relationship between stress and resilience and that impulsivity would have a moderating effect on the relationship. UMSL students (n=81) completed various questionnaires to determine their stress, resilience, and impulsivity levels. We found that chronic stress was not a significant predictor of resilience (R2 = .52, F(1,79) = .40, p \u3e .05), but that current stress was a significant predictor (R2= .15, F(1,79) = 13.4, p \u3c .001). For this presentation, we decided to only run one moderation with the significant results. We found that impulsivity was not a significant moderator between current stress and resilience (B = -.02, p \u3e .05). Although we did not find a significant relationship within the moderation, there is still some value in investigating traits that influence stress and resilience. Understanding potential factors that may impact resilience may help researchers identify appropriate methods for increasing resilience in vulnerable populations