Dysfunctional Attitudes, Life Stress and Coping Processes

<p>The findings of recent investigations earmarked chronic daily stressors as being highly related to stress levels. In addition, researchers are promoting a more integrative model of stress. The stress response is no longer thought of in strictly linear terms, i.e. an event causes stress. Rather, cognitive factors, existing within the human mind itself, strongly influence our coping processes and the chronic stress we experience.</p> <p>Canonical correlation analysis was used to study how dysfunctional attitudes, a negative cognitive factor, were related to individuals' daily hassles and coping processes. An increase in dysfunctional attitudes was found to correspond to an increase in the frequency and severity of hassles. Also, the more frequent the occurrence of dysfunctional attitudes, the less individuals sought social support, engaged in planful problem solving, and found some positive meaning in their stressful encounters. At the same time, higher levels of dysfunctional attitudes led to more hostility and confrontive behavior, wishful thinking, detachment to minimize the significance of the problem, and attempts to control outcomes by controlling one's feelings occurred more frequently. As hypothesized, dysfunctional attitudes augmented the use of less productive coping processes, discouraged the use of productive coping processes, and increased the frequency and severity of hassles.</p> <p>Although a relationship between coping processes and hassles was not hypothesized, analysis indicated that 26% of the variation in coping processes was found to be explained by the canonical variate connecting coping and hassles. Interestingly, the higher the frequency and severity of hassles, the more individuals used escape-avoidance as a coping response. Twenty five percent of the variance in hassles was explained by the canonical variate connecting hassles and coping processes. In this study, productive coping was related to decreased daily hassles and, alternatively, less productive coping was significantly related to an increase in daily hassles.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Public Health (DrPH)

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Year

1991

Author dc:creator

• DeSalliers, Deborah

Contributors dc:contributor

• Jerry W. Lee
• Christine M. Neish
• Gunter Reiss

• Psychology
• Public Health Education and Promotion
• Statistical Models
• Attitude; Life Change Events; Stress, Psychological

Statement dc:rights

• This title appears here courtesy of the author, who has granted Loma Linda University a limited, non-exclusive right to make this publication available to the public. The author retains all other copyrights.

Language dc:language

English

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarsrepository.llu.edu/etd/1677

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarsrepository.llu.edu:etd-2364