Christina J. Breitenstein

University of Zurich

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Research Field

Effects of stress beliefs on the emotional and biological response to acute psychosocial stress in healthy men

Psychoneuroendocrinology (2023)

Johannes A. C. Laferton Lea Maria Bartsch Tamara Möschinger Lisa Baldelli Sophia Frick

Negative beliefs about stress (e.g., "stress is bad") constitute an independent risk factor for increased morbidity and mortality. One potential underlying mechanism are altered responses to acute psychosocial stress. The aim of this study was to investigate whether beliefs about stress are associated with physiological and endocrine stress response patterns.A total of N = 77 healthy adults were randomised to an experimental and a placebo control group and were subsequently exposed to the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST). Stress beliefs were measured before and after a psychological manipulation aiming at fostering more balanced stress beliefs or a placebo manipulation. Self-reported stress was measured four times before/after the TSST, heart rate was assessed continuously, and cortisol was assessed eight times before/after the TSST.There was a significant decrease in negative stress beliefs (p < .001) and increase in positive stress beliefs (p < .001) in participants in the experimental condition, which was absent in participants in the placebo condition. The participants in the experimental group had more pronounced self-reported stress reactions (p = .028) while at the same time also showing more pronounced stress recoveries (p = .036). The findings regarding cortisol were mixed.More balanced stress beliefs appeared to be associated with more efficient subjective responses to acute psychosocial stress. These findings attest to a potential mechanism translating negative stress beliefs into ill health while at the same time outlining targets for psychological interventions.

Psychological stress

10.1016/j.psyneuen.2023.106091

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Citations (1)

Spillover Effects When Taking Turns in Dyadic Coping: How Lingering Negative Affect and Perceived Partner Responsiveness Shape Subsequent Support Provision

Frontiers in Psychology (2021)

Lisanne S. Pauw Suzanne Hoogeveen Christina J. Breitenstein Fabienne Meier Valentina Rauch-Anderegg

When experiencing personal distress, people usually expect their romantic partner to be supportive. However, when put in a situation to provide support, people may at times (still) be struggling with issues of their own. This interdependent nature of dyadic coping interactions as well as potential spillover effects is mirrored in the state-of-the-art research method to behaviorally assess couple’s dyadic coping processes. This paradigm typically includes two videotaped 8-min dyadic coping conversations in which partners swap roles as sharer and support provider. Little is known about how such dyadic coping interactions may feed back into one another, impacting the motivation and ability to be a responsive support provider. In three behavioral studies, we examined how sharers’ experiences may spill over to affect their own support provision in a subsequent dyadic coping interaction. We hypothesized that the extent to which sharers perceive their partner as responsive to their self-disclosure increases the quality of their own subsequent support provision (Hypothesis 1), whereas sharers’ lingering negative affect reduces the quality of their own subsequent support provision (Hypothesis 2). In line with our first hypothesis, perceived partner responsiveness predicted the provision of higher-quality support, though primarily as perceived by the partner. Sharers who perceived their partner to have been more responsive were somewhat more likely to subsequently engage in positive dyadic coping and were rated as more responsive by their partners. Negative dyadic coping behavior was unaffected. Evidence for our second hypothesis was mixed. While lingering negative affect did not affect positive dyadic coping behavior or perceived support, it did increase the chances of negative dyadic coping behavior. However, given the very low occurrences of negative affect and negative dyadic coping, these findings should be interpreted with caution. Taken together, these findings suggest that support interactions may feed back into one another, highlighting the complex and interdependent nature of dyadic coping. The strongest and most consistent findings concerned the spillover effect of perceived partner responsiveness on subsequent perceived support quality, speaking to the key role of believing that one’s partner is responsive to one’s needs in promoting healthy relationship functioning.

Partner effects

Affect

Spillover effect

Dyad

10.3389/fpsyg.2021.637534

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Citations (3)

From stress communication to depressive symptoms among couples facing vision impairment: The mediating role of dyadic coping

Social Science & Medicine (2024)

Stephanie Alves Katharina Weitkamp Christina J. Breitenstein Guy Bodenmann

Partner effects

10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.117171

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Citations (1)

Dyadic coping in late adolescent couples

Christina J. Breitenstein

10.5167/uzh-112804

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Citations (0)

Stress, dyadic coping, and relationship satisfaction in late adolescent couples

Journal of Social and Personal Relationships (2017)

Christina J. Breitenstein Anne Milek Fridtjof W. Nußbeck Joanne Davila Guy Bodenmann

In adult couples, stress emerging outside the relationship (extra-dyadic stress) spills over into the relationship evoking conflict between the partners (intra-dyadic stress), which itself has a negative effect on relationship satisfaction over time. This detrimental effect of stress spillover can be buffered by adequate dyadic coping (DC) skills of both partners. The current study aimed at replicating these effects in a sample of 96 Swiss adult couples and 124 Swiss late adolescent (non-cohabitating) couples, who were in a serious relationship for at least 1 year. We examined (a) whether extra-dyadic stress is associated with intra-dyadic stress and relationship satisfaction and (b) whether the potential buffering effect of DC on these associations already exists in this important developmental phase. Contrary to the adult sample, for which indirect actor and partner effects were significant, we found a marginally significantly negative indirect actor effect of extra-dyadic stress on relationship satisfaction via intra-dyadic stress in late adolescents only for participants experiencing high extra-dyadic stress and low support from the partner. DC moderated the spillover between extra-dyadic and intra-dyadic stress for late adolescents. This study highlights the importance of investigating dyadic processes in romantic relationships in late adolescence to gain an insight into these relationships and the associated developmental processes.

Partner effects

Spillover effect

10.1177/0265407517698049

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Citations (46)

Sehbehinderung und Partnerschaft – Partnerschaft als Ressource

Blinden- und Sehbehindertenpädagogik im Kontext Lebenslangen Lernens (2021)

Christina J. Breitenstein

ZusammenfassungErworbene Sehbehinderungen sind aufgrund der großen Anzahl Betroffener, ihrer voraussichtlichen Zunahme aufgrund des demografischen Wandels und ihrer umfassenden Auswirkungen einer entsprechenden Beeinträchtigung auf alle Lebensbereiche ein zentrales Thema unserer Gesellschaft, welches in den vergangenen Jahren vermehrt in den Fokus der Aufmerksamkeit gerückt ist. Sich mit den Auswirkungen eines Sehverlustes auf die Partnerin bzw. den Partner und die Partnerschaft zu befassen, welche oftmals zum unmittelbaren Lebensbereich eines Menschen mit einer erworbenen Sehbehinderung gehört, ist somit ein zentrales Thema. Obwohl die Partnerinnen und Partner von der Sehbehinderung ihrer Lebensgefährtinnen und -gefährten sowohl direkt als auch indirekt betroffen sind, gibt es nur wenige Studien, die sich mit dem Einfluss einer Sehbehinderung auf die Partnerinnen bzw. Partner und die Partnerschaft befassen. Dies ist insbesondere dahingehend überraschend, als dass die Partnerschaft unlängst als eine zentrale Ressource für die Aufrechterhaltung der psychischen und physischen Gesundheit und die Lebenszufriedenheit bis ins hohe Alter identifiziert wurde. Insbesondere fehlt es bislang an Wissen darüber, welche partnerschaftlichen Faktoren eine Adaption an ein Leben mit einer Sehbehinderung bzw. mit eine Partnerin oder einem Partner mit einer Sehbehinderung erleichtern bzw. erschweren. Das bereits in anderen Kontexten erfolgreich eingesetzte Konzept der We-Disease bildet in diesem Zusammenhang eine theoretische Grundlage und ermöglicht eine systemisch-ressourcenorientierte Sichtweise auf die Anpassung beider Partner an eine Sehbehinderung, welche Möglichkeiten eröffnet, Betroffene und ihre Partnerinnen und Partner gezielt zu unterstützen. Es ist jedoch weitere Forschung notwendig, um die Prozesse der gegenseitigen Beeinflussung und Abhängigkeit zwischen den Partnern besser zu verstehen und die Ressource Partnerschaft im Kontext einer erworbenen Sehbehinderung eines Partners und speziell auch im Alter gezielt fördern zu können.

10.1007/978-3-658-32302-8_12

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Spillover Effects When Taking Turns in Dyadic Coping: How Lingering Negative Affect and Perceived Partner Responsiveness Shape Subsequent Support Provision

Lisanne S. Pauw Suzanne Hoogeveen Christina J. Breitenstein Fabienne Meier Valentina Rauch-Anderegg

When experiencing personal distress, people usually expect their romantic partner to be supportive. However, when put in a situation to provide support, people may at times (still) be struggling with issues of their own. This interdependent nature of dyadic coping interactions as well as potential spillover effects are mirrored in the state-of-the-art research method to behaviorally assess couple’s dyadic coping processes. This paradigm typically includes two video-taped eight-minute dyadic coping conversations in which partners swap roles as sharer and support provider. Little is known about how such dyadic coping interactions may feed back into one another, impacting the motivation and ability to be a responsive support provider. In three behavioral studies, we examined how sharers’ experiences may spill over to affect their own support provision in a subsequent dyadic coping interaction. We hypothesized that the extent to which sharers perceive their partner as responsive to their self-disclosure increases the quality of their own subsequent support provision (Hypothesis 1), whereas sharers’ lingering negative affect reduces the quality of their subsequent support provision (Hypothesis 2). In line with our first hypothesis, perceived partner responsiveness predicted the provision of higher-quality support, though primarily as perceived by the partner. Sharers who perceived their partner to have been more responsive were somewhat more likely to subsequently engage in positive dyadic coping, and were rated as more responsive by their partners. Negative dyadic coping behavior was unaffected. Evidence for our second hypothesis was mixed. While lingering negative affect did not affect positive dyadic coping behavior or perceived support, it did increase the chances of negative dyadic coping behavior. However, given the very low occurrences of negative affect and negative dyadic coping, these findings should be interpreted with caution. Taken together, these findings suggest that support interactions may feed back into one another, highlighting the complex and interdependent nature of dyadic coping. The strongest and most consistent findings concerned the spillover effect of perceived partner responsiveness on subsequent perceived support quality, speaking to the key role of believing that one’s partner is responsive to one’s needs in promoting healthy relationship functioning.

Partner effects

Affect

Spillover effect

Dyad

10.31234/osf.io/vdhmu

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Citations (0)

Deleterious Effects of Stress on Time Spent Together and Parents' Relationship Satisfaction

Journal of Couple & Relationship Therapy (2016)

Anne Milek Ashley K. Randall Fridtjof W. Nußbeck Christina J. Breitenstein Guy Bodenmann

Data from 90 German committed heterosexual couples who had a least one child were used to examine the associations between chronic minor external stress, quantity and quality of time spent together as a couple, and partners' relationship satisfaction. Using an extended version of the Actor Partner Interdependence Model, the authors found significant negative indirect effects from mothers' chronic minor external stress via quality, but not quantity, of shared time to both parents' reported relationship satisfaction. Mothers' chronic minor external stress was associated with fewer reported quality time activities, which were also associated with lower reports of relationship satisfaction for both mothers and fathers. The authors did not find indirect effects for fathers' chronic minor external stress. Overall, the frequency of quality time activities may be more important for mothers, as it explained 25% of variance in their relationship satisfaction, compared with 15% in fathers' relationship satisfaction. Implications for relationship researchers and clinicians are discussed.

Partner effects

Minor (academic)

10.1080/15332691.2016.1238799

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Citations (11)

Coping equally: Equity of dyadic coping and depressive symptoms among adolescent couples

Journal of Adolescence (2024)

Fabienne Forster Anne Milek Christina J. Breitenstein Mirjam Senn Thomas N. Bradbury

Partner effects

10.1002/jad.12377

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Citations (0)