Trait reappraisal is associated with resilience to acute psychological stress

Life is full of stressful events. However, while some individuals are negatively affected by stress, others are more resilient to its effects. The factors that contribute to variability in stress resilience are not fully understood. Here, we tested the hypothesis that trait reappraisal would be associated with greater stress resilience to a first-time tandem skydive. Specifically, we expected measures of “anxiety” to be lower and measures of “euphoria” to be higher in high trait reappraising individuals. Our findings that trait reappraisal is negatively correlated with stress reactivity as measured by cortisol, heart rate, and self-report state anxiety, but positively correlated with self-report state euphoria suggest that individuals high in trait reappraisal are more stress resilient.

► First-time skydiving produced an effective stress response. ► Trait reappraisal negatively correlated with self-report and physiological stress. ► High trait reappraisal was associated with greater post-skydive euphoria. ► We link resilience to stress to the habitual usage of cognitive reappraisal.