@article{ref1,
title="Can self-affirmation exacerbate adverse reactions to stress under certain conditions?",
journal="Psychology and Health",
year="2018",
author="Jessop, Donna C. and Ayers, Susan and Burn, Flora and Ryda, Corin",
volume="33",
number="7",
pages="827-845",
abstract="OBJECTIVE: Self-affirmation has repeatedly been shown to reduce adverse psychological and physiological responses to stress. However, it is plausible that self-affirmation could exacerbate negative reactions to stress under certain conditions. The current research explored whether self-affirmation would increase negative psychological responses to a stressor occurring in a central life domain characterised by low levels of control. <br><br>DESIGN: Female participants (Study 1 N = 132; Study 2 N = 141) completed baseline measures of anxiety and mood. They were then randomly allocated to complete a self-affirmation or control task, before reading a narrative documenting a stressful birth and imagining themselves in the place of the woman giving birth. After completing this task, participants again reported their levels of anxiety and positive mood. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Anxiety and positive mood assessed at follow-up. <br><br>RESULTS: Study 1 demonstrated that self-affirmed women experienced increased anxiety and less positive mood at follow-up, compared both to baseline and to women in the control condition. Study 2 revealed that the effect of self-affirmation on outcomes was moderated by fear of childbirth. <br><br>CONCLUSION: These results provide preliminary evidence that self-affirmation may worsen negative responses to stressors under certain conditions and for certain individuals.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0887-0446",
doi="10.1080/08870446.2017.1421187",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08870446.2017.1421187"
}