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Exploring the relationship between self-reported stress and electrodermal activity in daily life

Kiel, Lisa (2018) Exploring the relationship between self-reported stress and electrodermal activity in daily life.

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Abstract:Background: Laboratory studies have already indicated the effectiveness of using electrodermal activity (EDA) to detect ones stress level. The current study aims to investigate this relationship in a real-life setting, by looking at the correlation of self-reported stress with skin conductance level (SCL) and number of skin conductance response (SCR), which data were measure continuously over the course of seven days in real life. Methods: The 38 participants wore a wearable wrist-sensor, the Empatica E4, in order to measure their EDA. Their stress levels were acquired through the mobile application mQuest in which they indicated their stress level for the past minute and past 2 hours. The Pearson correlation coefficient of the stress and EDA variables was calculated for each participant to investigate their relationship. Results: Only for very few of the participants a significant correlation between the variables could be found. The highest correlation yielded the correlation of the past minute stress variable with the past minute number of SCR, with seven significant correlations of which 6 were positive. Discussion and Conclusion: The small number of significant results indicate that overall EDA cannot be used to indicate ones stress level in daily life. Further research should include measurements of the participants’ introspection to investigate to what extent this affects the relationship between EDA and more research is needed about the relationship of EDA and stress in long-term stress situations.
Item Type:Essay (Bachelor)
Faculty:BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences
Subject:77 psychology
Programme:Psychology BSc (56604)
Link to this item:https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/75761
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