Associations of resilience and respiratory sinus arrhythmia with alienation among college students

Abstract

Background: Although the sense of alienation is harmful and causes many developmental problems, very few studies have focused on its antecedent variables and when these variables are related to alienation. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between resilience and sense of alienation among college students, and the moderating role of baseline respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) in this association.

Method: Physiological data were collected during a resting condition in the laboratory from 109 college students aged from 17 to 21 years (M = 18.94, SD = 0.92). Questionnaires that captured demographic information, resilience, and sense of alienation, were also completed.

Results: Results indicated that resilience was negatively related to the sense of alienation. Moreover, this negative relationship was moderated by baseline RSA such that it was significant only among students with low levels of baseline RSA.

Conclusion: Our findings revealed that individuals with low resilience tend to have a higher level of alienation if their baseline RSA is relatively low.

Discussion: The current study sheds light on the psychological and biological characteristics of these individuals who tend to have higher levels of alienation, which may be useful for intervention program developers and practitioners.

Keywords: Alienation; College students; Resilience; Respiratory sinus arrhythmia.