Oldörp, Laura-Marie (2024) HRV and Stress Regulation: Sex Differences in Heart Rate Variability and Perceived Stress During Participation of IAT. Bachelor thesis, Psychology.
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Abstract
The experiment used a racial implicit association test (IAT) as a stress inducing factor. The IAT consisted of four rounds, with the first two being practice rounds, in which subjects pressed the corresponding (either right or left) button in response to positive or negative adjectives, and native or Moroccan names, respectively. For the third and fourth round the sequence was randomised, and subjects had to either pair the native names with positive adjectives and the Moroccan names with negative adjectives or vice versa. Subjects consisted of 49 German and Dutch University students, of which 33 had usable data. Thus, subjects included 23 cisgender women, 9 cisgender men and 1 transgender man. A low-threshold ECG device measured participant’s HRV; perceived stress was self-reported using the Self-Assessment-Manikin (SAM). We hypothesised (1) A decrease of HRV during IAT, (2) Higher SAM scores correlating with lower HRV, (3) The effect found for 1) to be more pronounced for female participants and (4) A higher resting HRV in females. Our results did not show a decreased HRV during the IAT, instead an increment of HRV was found. Of the SAM, only a positive correlation between Arousal and HRV was established. The study did find a higher HRV during stress in males (p =.04), but no sex differences were found in perceived stress and resting HRV. We concluded that our baseline might have led to a skewed course of HRV levels, and the participation of the IAT was perceived as rather tiresome than stressful.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Bachelor) |
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| Supervisor name: | Span, M.M. |
| Degree programme: | Psychology |
| Differentiation route: | None [Bachelor Psychology] |
| Date Deposited: | 25 Jul 2024 06:25 |
| Last Modified: | 25 Jul 2024 06:25 |
| URI: | http://gmwpublic.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/4139 |
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