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PUTTING PLEASURE INTO THE PICTURE: RECENT AND DISTANT STRESSORS, SAVOURING PLEASURE, AND RESILIENCE

Ken A. Lim1, Desirée Kozlowski1* and Stephen C. Provost1*
  • 1 Southern Cross University, Psychology, School of Health and Human Sciences, Australia

Background: Resilience is broadly defined as an ever-changing process where individuals thrive after a significant crisis or stressful experience, providing some level of immunity to future stressors and potential psychopathology. The broaden-and-build theory of emotions suggests that the ability to savour pleasure can influence an individual’s resilience. However, the nature of the contributions of stress and savouring to resilience is still largely unclear. Aims: The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between resilience and recent and distant stressors while considering the ability to savour pleasure as a potential mediating factor. Methods: We conducted an online survey of regional university students (n = 98). The survey consisted of: demographic questions; the Connors-Davidson Resilience Scale to measure resilience; the Savouring Beliefs Inventory to measure the tendency to savour pleasure; the Communities that Care Youth Survey to assess risk factors in adolescence; and the Social Readjustment Rating Scale to measure stressful events in the past twelve months. Results: The four scales in combination accounted for 33.6% (p < .001) of the variance in resilience scores. Recent stressors were shown to be a significant predictor of resilience (β = .02, p = .047) and that relationship was significantly mediated by the ability to savour pleasure (β = -.02, p = .003). Conclusions: Experiencing recent stressors is associated with an increase in the level of resilience and the ability to savour pleasure appears to be a contributing factor to individuals exhibiting higher resilience in the face of stressors. Intervention programmes focused on the ability to savour pleasure could potentially be used to help individuals cope with recent stressors and maintain or improve their level of resilience.

Keywords: Pleasure, Savouring, stress, resilience, recent stressors

Conference: Southern Cross University 14th Annual Honours Psychology Research Conference, Coffs Harbour, New South Wales, Australia, 5 Oct - 6 Oct, 2017.

Presentation Type: Research

Topic: Psychology

Citation: Lim KA, Kozlowski D and Provost SC (2017). PUTTING PLEASURE INTO THE PICTURE: RECENT AND DISTANT STRESSORS, SAVOURING PLEASURE, AND RESILIENCE. Front. Psychol. Conference Abstract: Southern Cross University 14th Annual Honours Psychology Research Conference. doi: 10.3389/conf.fpsyg.2017.72.00026

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Received: 25 Sep 2017; Published Online: 11 Dec 2017.

* Correspondence:
Dr. Desirée Kozlowski, Southern Cross University, Psychology, School of Health and Human Sciences, Coffs Harbour, NSW, 2450, Australia, dak@creativeillusions.com.au
Dr. Stephen C Provost, Southern Cross University, Psychology, School of Health and Human Sciences, Coffs Harbour, NSW, 2450, Australia, steve.provost@scu.edu.au