Abstract
Explorations of the relationship between stress reactivity and depression are relatively scarce outside of Europe and North America. This research examined the relationship between emotional reactivity to daily life stressors (stress reactivity) and depressive symptoms among citizens of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Emirati college students (N = 286, 76% females) completed a culturally grounded measure of daily life stress, along with measures of depression and anxiety symptoms. Stress reactivity was associated with elevated depression and anxiety symptoms. In a second study, we examined the efficacy of a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program within the same population. Emirati College women (N = 24) were randomly assigned to either an 8-week MBSR program or a waiting list control group (WLC). MBSR participants demonstrated significantly greater reductions in stress reactivity and depressive symptoms compared with the WLC group. These findings extend the stress reactivity literature to an Arabian Gulf nation. Interventions that help young adults better manage responses to daily life stress may play an important role in reducing the prevalence of depressive illness in the region.
References
2000). The Kuwait University Anxiety Scale: Psychometric properties. Psychological Reports, 87, 478–492. 10.2466/pr0.2000.87.2.478
(2007). Anxiety levels in East and West: 18 Arab countries, Germany, Spain, U.K., and U.S.A. Paper presented at the European Psychiatry, Madrid, Spain.
(2001). A1 Ain Community Psychiatric Survey. I. Prevalence and socio-demographic correlates. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 36, 20–28. 10.1007/s001270050286
(2005). Beck depression inventory (BDI-II) items characteristics among undergraduate students of nineteen Islamic countries. Social Behavior and Personality, 33, 675–684.
(2001). Psychometric properties of the beck depression inventory-II with university students in Bahrain. Journal of Personality Assessment, 77, 568–579. 10.1207/S15327752JPA7703_13
(1979). Cognitive therapy of depression: A treatment manual. New York, NY: Guilford Press.
(1996). BDI-II manual. San Antonio, TX: Harcourt Brace & Company.
(2012). Prevalence, symptom patterns and comorbidity of anxiety and depressive disorders in primary care in Qatar. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 47, 439–446. 10.1007/s00127-011-0349-9
(2007). Daily hassles and depressive symptoms among first year psychology students in France: The role of coping and social support. Stress and Health: Journal of the International Society for the Investigation of Stress, 23, 93–99. 10.1002/smi.1125
(2012). Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy improves emotional reactivity to social stress: Results from a randomized controlled trial. Behavior Therapy, 43, 365–380. 10.1016/j.beth.2011.08.006
(2003). The benefits of being present: Mindfulness and its role in psychological well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 822–848. 10.1037/0022-3514.84.4.822
(2011). Mindfulness based cognitive therapy for psychiatric disorders: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Psychiatry Research, 187, 441–453. 10.1016/j.psychres.2010.08.011
(2009). Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy. New York, NY: Routledge.
(1990). Social insecurity, anxiety, and stressful events as antecedents of depressive symptoms. Behavioral Medicine, 16, 161–164. 10.1080/08964289.1990.9934604
(1982). Relationship of daily hassles, uplifts, and major life events to health status. Health Psychology, 1, 119–136. 10.1037/0278-6133.1.2.119
(2004). Stress reactivity and vulnerability to depressed mood in college students. Personality and Individual Differences, 36, 789–800.
(2013). Burden of depressive disorders by country, sex, age, and year: Findings from the global burden of disease study 2010. PLoS Medicine, 10,
(e1001547 . 10.1371/journal.pmed.10015472000). The performance of the Center for Epidemiologic Study Depression Scale (CES-D) in an Arab female community. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 46, 241–249. 10.1177/002076400004600402
(1999). Acceptance and commitment therapy. New York, NY: Guilford Press.
(2000). Relationship of daily hassles and social support to depression and antisocial behavior among early adolescents. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 29, 647–659.
(1992). The daily hassles scale (Revised): Does it measure stress or symptoms? Behavioral Assessment, 14, 465–482.
(2000). The corticosteroid receptor hypothesis of depression. Neuropsychopharmacology, 23, 477–501. 10.1016/S0893-133X(00)00159-7
(1982). An outpatient program in behavioral medicine for chronic pain patients based on the practice of mindfulness meditation: Theoretical considerations and preliminary results. General Hospital Psychiatry, 4, 33–47. 10.1016/0163-8343(82)90026-3
(1994). Wherever you go, there you are: Mindfulness meditation in everyday life. New York, NY: Hyperion.
(2013). A systematic review of gender differences in the effectiveness of mindfulness-based treatments for substance use disorders. Mindfulness, 4, 318–331. 10.1007/s12671-012-0132-3
(2008). Evidence that patients with single versus recurrent depressive episodes are differentially sensitive to treatment discontinuation: A meta-analysis of placebo-controlled randomized trials. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 69, 1423–1436. 10.4088/JCP.v69n0910
(1992). Time to recovery, chronicity, and levels of psychopathology in major depression. A 5-year prospective follow-up of 431 subjects. Archives of General Psychiatry, 49, 809–816. 10.1001/archpsyc.1992.01820100053010
(2011). Effects of mindfulness on psychological health: A review of empirical studies. Clinical Psychology Review, 31, 1041–1056. 10.1016/j.cpr.2011.04.006
(2008). Prevalence of common mental disorders in general practice attendees across Europe. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 192, 362–367. 10.1192/bjp.bp.107.039966
(1990). The Inventory of College Students’ Recent Life Experiences: A decontaminated hassles scale for a special population. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 13, 619–630. 10.1007/BF00844738
(1993). Cognitive-behavioral treatment of borderline personality disorder. New York, NY: Guilford Press.
(1997). Subsyndromal unipolar and bipolar disorders II: Comparisons on daily stress levels. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 21, 607–618. 10.1023/A:1021800106223
(2012). The validation of an active control intervention for Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR). Behaviour Research and Therapy, 50, 3–12. 10.1016/j.brat.2011.10.011
(2007). Depression, chronic diseases, and decrements in health: Results from the World Health Surveys. Lancet, 370, 851–858. 10.1016/S0140-6736(07)61415-9
(2004). Reliability and validity of the Beck depression inventory—II with adolescent psychiatric inpatients. Psychological Assessment, 16, 120–132. 10.1037/1040-3590.16.2.120
(1977). The CES-D Scale a self-report depression scale for research in the general population. Applied Psychological Measurement, 1, 385–401. 10.1177/014662167700100306
(1996). Primary dysthymia: A study of several psychosocial, endocrine and immune correlates. Journal of Affective Disorders, 40, 73–84. 10.1016/0165-0327(96)00045-6
(2012). The clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of low-intensity psychological interventions for the secondary prevention of relapse after depression: A systematic review. Health Technology Assessment, 16, 1–130. 10.3310/hta16280
(2002). Effects of social support during weekend leave on cortisol and depression ratings: A pilot study. Journal of Affective Disorders, 71, 153–157. 10.1016/S0165-0327(01)00414-1
(2003). Global burden of depression: The intersection of culture and medicine. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 183, 92–94. 10.1192/bjp.183.2.92
(2002). Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for depression: A new approach to preventing relapse. New York, NY: Guilford Press.
(2004). Daily hassles, cortisol, and the pathogenesis of depression. Medical Hypotheses, 62, 198–202. 10.1016/S0306-9877(03)00320-7
(2002). Criterion validity, severity cut scores, and test-retest reliability of the beck depression inventory-II in a University counseling center sample. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 49, 381–385. 10.1037/0022-0167.49.3.381
(2000). Prevention of relapse/recurrence in major depression by mindfulness-based cognitive therapy. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 68, 615–623. 10.1037/0022-006X.68.4.615
(2013). Psychological Well-Being in the Gulf States: The New Arabia Felix. London, United Kingdom: Palgrave Macmillan.
(1996). The effects of perceived stress, traits, mood states, and stressful daily events on salivary cortisol. Psychosomatic Medicine, 58, 447–458. 10.1097/00006842-199609000-00007
(2009). Transition from stress sensitivity to a depressive state: Longitudinal twin study. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 195, 498–503. 10.1192/bjp.bp.108.056853
(2008). The psychology of psychiatric genetics: Evidence that positive emotions in females moderate genetic sensitivity to social stress associated with the BDNF Val-sup-6-sup-6Met polymorphism. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 117, 699–704. 10.1037/a0012909
(2007). Genetic risk of depression and stress-induced negative affect in daily life. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 191, 218–223. 10.1192/bjp.bp.106.032201
(