Unwinding on the Weekend from Work-Related Stress: Moderating Effect of Weekday Psychological Stress on the Relationship between Increased Recovery Experience and Reduction of Psychological Stress on the Weekend

Abstract

Recovery is described as a process that is in contrast to the process whereby the psychological stress response increases. Recovery experiences refer to specific experiences that promote recovery and represent psychological attributes including relaxation. This preliminary study tested the hypothesis that levels of psychological stress before the weekend have a moderating effect on the relationship between an increased recovery experience during the weekend and a reduction of psychological stress from workdays to the weekend. Of 270 Japanese teachers who were invited to participate, 181 completed questionnaires on the psychological stress response before, on the psychological stress response and the recovery experience during the weekend. Data from 7 part-time teachers and 38 teachers who were not stressed at all before the weekend were excluded; therefore, data for 136 participants were ultimately analyzed. Results of hierarchal regression analysis indicated that increased relaxation was associated with an increased reduction in psychological stress response during the weekends in participants with high levels of psychological stress before the weekends. This moderating effect was not observed for other recovery experiences. Considering the psychological stress response is important for research on recovery experiences during weekends.