(PS8-63) Discrepancies Between Perceived Stress and Physiological Stress Using Oura Ring Biometric Data

Abstract Text: Stress is a multidimensional construct encompassing physiological responses such as changes in heart rate, heart rate variability (HRV), motion, and body temperature (Lomas, 2024), as well as psychological experiences, including perceived tension and coping abilities (Chu et al., 2024). The physiological aspects of stress can be objectively quantified via wearable biometric technology such as the Oura ring, which assesses several variables of bodily stress. Conversely, perceived stress, typically measured through self-report measures such as the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10; Cohen et al., 1983), assesses an individual’s subjective appraisal of life as stressful, uncontrollable, or unpredictable. Although physiological and perceived stress significantly impact psychological health and well-being (Feizi et al., 2024; James et al., 2023), the relationship and interaction between these dimensions remain insufficiently understood. Clinically, understanding how individuals interpret their physiological stress responses and evaluate their coping capacity is essential in informing targeted interventions that address discrepancies between physiological stress indicators and subjective experiences. Therefore, this study evaluated the relationship between physiological stress and perceived stress to identify potential discrepancies and explore implications for clinical practice and future intervention strategies. Twenty graduate students (55.6%) and sixteen undergraduate students (44.4%) from two large urban universities in the Northeast US wore an Oura ring for 40 days to gather biometric data and to assess participants’ bidirectionality of physiological and emotional arousal. Participants completed the PSS-10 through Expiwell, a smartphone application utilized for Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) and Experience Sampling Methodology (ESM) data collection. Interestingly and importantly, a linear mixed model revealed that the average time in physiological stress was significantly negatively correlated with perceived stress (PSS-10; r = -.28, p = .03), suggesting that individuals with higher average physiological stress over the 40 days reported lower perceived stress. Additionally, between-person differences accounted for more variation in PSS-10 than within-person changes over time (r = -.28, p = .03), indicating that individuals who typically experience more physiological stress report lower perceived stress. The findings reveal that physiological stress and psychological perceptions of it may be capturing different aspects of the stress experience. For example, physiological stress can include recovery from exercise, health ailments, or food/drink intake, while psychological stress relates more to situational appraisal and regulation strategies. Ongoing studies using the Oura ring use EMA to study the relationship between physiological parameters measured in wearable biometrics and multiple times per day assessment of affective states, which may provide a more nuanced understanding of the physiological stress-perceived stress relationship.