The contribution of perceived fitness to physiological and self-reported responses to laboratory stress

This study sought to evaluate the contribution of perceived physical fitnes s beyond the contributions of gender; body mass index (BMI), defensiveness, and estimated aerobic fitness on both physiological and self-reported stre ss responsivity to laboratory-induced stress. Ninety healthy individuals (4 5 males, 45 females) participated in the experiment. Participants completed a laboratory procedure measuring cardiovascular responses (i.e. pulse rate and blood pressure) and self-reported rating of anxiety (i.e. the anxiety scale from the Multiple Affective Checklist-Revised-MAACL-R) while performi ng stressful laboratory tasks (i.e. the Stroop Color Naming Test and Serial 7's). Estimated aerobic fitness (i.e. VO2 max using the Bruce protocol) as well as perceived fitness (using a 10-point Likert scale) were also determ ined Multiple regression and effect size results revealed that perceived fi tness significantly contributed to the variance associated with both physio logical and self-reported responses to laboratory stress. Specifically, per ceived fitness significantly added to the variance beyond that attributed t o gender BMI, defensiveness, and estimated aerobic physical fitness while a ssessing pulse rate and MAACL-R anxiety scores. Overall results support the view that perception of fitness may be art important factor above and beyo nd aerobic fitness in its association with physiological and self-reported responses to stress.