Fig. 2: The moderating effect of trait positive affect on the relationship between life stress and SCL-90 score.
From: The interplay of acute cortisol response and trait affectivity in associating with stress resilience
This moderating analysis was conducted using the PROCESS macro implemented in SPSS (pre-set Model No. 1). The test was two-sided. As we analysed only one measure of positive affect, no multiple-testing correction was conducted. Positive affect negatively moderated the relationship between major life stress and SCL-90 score (F1, 139 = 2.71, bootstrapped CI = −1.4000 to −0.0075, P = 0.05), while controlling for daily hassle. At a low level of positive affect, major life stress correlated positively with SCL-90 score (Spearman’s ρ = 0.33, P = 0.02). This relationship became a positive trend at an intermediate level of positive affect (Spearman’s ρ = 0.26, P = 0.09), and was insignificant at a high level of positive affect (P = 0.71). The relationship is plotted separately for participants with low, medium and high levels of positive affect, divided according to 33% and 67% percentiles. Note that the x and y axes include negative values due to the intercept and nuisance variables being regressed out from the dependent and independent variables in partial correlation analysis. ***P < 0.001; **P < 0.01; *P < 0.05; NS, not significant.
