The role of resilience on the consequences of loneliness in a stressful environment

Abstract

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) causes approximately 31.5 % of death globally, which is a leading cause of death. Several studies provided the evidence for the significant positive association between cardiovascular disease outcomes and blood pressures. It is unavoidable for individuals to experience sense of loneliness. However, high level of loneliness was suggested to be one of the risk factors of cardiovascular disorders while resilience exerts protective effect on individuals under stressful situations. This study aims to investigate the role of resilience on the effect of loneliness on cardiovascular responses to laboratory stressors among the young adults. The result of this study found that the interaction effect between resilience and loneliness on reactivity of SBP is marginally significant (F(1,28)=4.18,p=.05,) and the interaction effect between resilience and loneliness on recovery of SBP is significant (F(1,28)=4.30,p=.047). It suggested that the moderating effect of resilience on SBP was found only when individuals experienced sense of loneliness. A significant positive correlation between SBP reactivity and SBP recovery was also found in this study (r=.681, n=32, p<0.01), which suggested that lowest SBP reactivity and recovery may reflect a stable cardiovascular profile among high resilient people.