Why are some people at higher risk for "stress contagion"?

Stress is contagious, meaning that we are susceptible to the stress levels of those around us. However, different people are affected to different degrees. People's stress levels don't rise and fall in isolation, and grasping the social dimensions of stress's impact can help us manage it better.

When you are in a particularly busy workplace where no one seems to have a chance to take a break, even if you are able to manage your work well, you may find it difficult to remain calm in the face of the stress or anxiety that pervades your workplace. Simply watching the people around you complain or panic can trigger you to tense up. As social animals, we are naturally inclined to relate to the experiences of others, to "pick up" on their emotions, and to adopt the judgment of others when events occur.

Traditionally, psychologists have viewed stress as a personal psychological response to high demands on an individual with fewer resources to cope with them. However, in recent decades, evidence that interpersonal processes also play a crucial role has complemented the individual-level view of stress.

For example, Mina Westman and Arnold B . Bakker published a series of studies examining the so-called "crossover" effects of psychological stress in relationships and small groups. They found that in married couples, one partner who is stressed at work may bring that stress home, leading to increased stress in the other partner.

Barker and his colleagues also observed that the burnout levels of coworkers in a work team tend to converge or co-evolve over time, and Emily Butler proposed a Temporal Interpersonal Emotional Systems (TIES) framework that explains how various factors of negative emotions are transmitted between people, such as distressing experiences, expression, and autonomic physiology. such as painful experiences, expression, and autonomic physiology.

Building on these studies, stress can be better understood if it is viewed as a dynamic network phenomenon (a phenomenon that develops and spreads in a social context). In stressful situations, the reactions of other people can provide potentially useful information. They can help you interpret and clarify the demands of the situation and the resources available to cope with them.

The reactions of others also provide a reference point that enables you to determine the appropriate way to respond to the situation. In the course of chatting and sharing ideas, you may continue to take cues from those around you and evaluate changing social norms to gain an updated understanding of your situation, which in turn may raise or lower your stress response. As a result, your stress levels are likely to become more and more similar to those of your own social contacts.

The findings also suggest that a person may be affected by greater social stress when their social circle exhibits more similar stress levels. This would be the case, for example, when one's coworkers all generally feel stressed out or all tend to be less stressed.

This finding coincides with classic "attitude convergence" research, which suggests that a person is more likely to conform to the attitudes of others when those attitudes are more congruent with those of others. If the social messages received from others are consistent, they are more likely to be perceived as credible and more likely to encourage people to reassess the status quo.

Stressed people tend to reach out to those who are also stressed, and these interactions with like-minded people can exacerbate their stress.

For those looking to reduce stress levels in groups and communities, the findings offer some insight. A common stress reduction strategy is to help people develop a more supportive social environment. Interventions based on social support emphasize the importance of increasing the number of social connections and interactions, as well as the social cohesion of people in a network. However, this approach may have limitations in managing social group stress.

Sharing stressful experiences with others does not necessarily trigger the spread of anxiety and worry. For example, when discussing these negative emotions with others, a person may consciously adopt a more positive and constructive attitude rather than emphasizing "I am stressed". This might include suggesting potential ways to manage stress or its effects, or asking colleagues what strategies they use to meet needs and cope with stress.