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The Stress Buffering Effects Of Positive Life Events And Personality (Hardiness) In Undergraduates With Dental Anxiety, Janette Louise Seville

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Previous studies have independently identified positive life events and the hardy personality as variables that reduce the influence of life stress on physical or paychological disturbance. The present study investigates the possible stress buffering effects of hardiness and positive events. Seventy-five undergraduates, identified as having dental anxiety, were randomly assigned to one of five film groups. Groups viewed either a positive film, a negative film, both films (in one of two sequences), or no film. Dependent measures of dental anxiety. positive affect, negative affect, and heart rate were observed. Multiple tests of a priori hypotheses yielded partial support for the …