Perceived Stress, Positive Resources and Their Interactions as Possible Related Factors for Depressive Symptoms

Abstract

Objective The present study aimed to explore how the patterns of interaction between stress and positive resources differ according to the severity of depression and which resources play the most important role among the various positive resources.Methods The study included 1,806 people who had visited a health screening center for a mental health check-up to evaluate the levels of perceived stress, positive resources, and depressive symptoms. The participants were divided into a depressive group (n=1,642, mean age 50.60, female 68%) and a non-depressive group (n=164, mean age 48.42, female 66.6%). We conducted hierarchical regression analyses and simple slope analyses to examine the interaction between perceived stress and positive resources.Results The interaction between perceived stress and optimism was significantly associated with depression in non-depressive groups. In depressive groups, the interactions between five types of positive resources (optimism, purpose in life, self-control, social support and care) and perceived stress were all significantly related to depression.Conclusion Interventions that promote optimism can be helpful for preventing inevitable stress from leading to depression. A deficiency in positive resources may be a factor in aggravating depression in stressful situations for people reporting moderate to severe depressive symptoms.

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“…The POREST showed good consistency (Cronbach’s alpha 0.80 for optimism, 0.80 for purpose/hope, 0.67 for self-control, 0.70 for social support, and 0.82 for care) in a study of the impact of interaction patterns between stress and positive resources on depression symptoms in Korea. 26 …”

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“…Perceived stress, which refers to an individual's perceptions or ideas about the levels of stress they experience at a given time or during a specified period, can affect various aspects of the individual's life 28 . Previous studies have shown that perceived stress is a predetermined psychological state that occurs before experiencing depressive symptoms 29,30 . Individuals with high levels of perceived stress are often distressed; thus, they are likely to experience depressive symptoms 31 .…”

“…28 Previous studies have shown that perceived stress is a predetermined psychological state that occurs before experiencing depressive symptoms. 29,30 Individuals with high levels of perceived stress are often distressed; thus, they are likely to experience depressive symptoms. 31 Moreover, it has been reported that perceived stress is a complicated cognitive appraisal process influenced by many factors, and the most important factor may be the stressor.…”