The tendency to appraise stressful situations as more of a threat is associated with poorer health and well‐being

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McLoughlin, E ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3630-6055, Arnold, R and Moore, LJ, 2023. The tendency to appraise stressful situations as more of a threat is associated with poorer health and well‐being. Stress and Health. ISSN 1532-3005

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/smi.3358

Abstract

It has been argued that habitually appraising stressful events as more of a threat (i.e., situational demands exceed personal coping resources) may increase one's risk of ill-health (e.g., depression). However, while first theorized 15 years ago, little research has tested this assertion. Thus, this study offered a novel test of the associations between trait challenge and threat appraisals and health-related outcomes (i.e., mental health symptomology, psychological well-being, and physical health complaints). Three hundred and ninety-five participants (251 female, 144 male; M age = 22.50 years, SD = 5.33) completed valid and reliable measures of trait challenge and threat appraisals, mental health (i.e., symptoms of depression and anxiety), well-being (e.g., subjective vitality), and physical health complaints (e.g., respiratory illnesses). Regression analyses revealed that trait challenge and threat appraisals accounted for a significant proportion of variance in all outcomes after controlling for age and gender, with a tendency to appraise stressful events as more of a threat associated with poorer mental health (i.e., greater depression symptomology), well-being (e.g., lower vitality), and physical health (e.g., more respiratory illnesses). Taken together, the findings highlight the importance of trait challenge and threat appraisals for health, although further research is needed using stronger designs (e.g., longitudinal) to enable a more causal understanding.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	Stress and Health
Creators:	McLoughlin, E., Arnold, R. and Moore, L.J.
Publisher:	Wiley
Date:	18 December 2023
ISSN:	1532-3005
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1002/smi.3358 DOI 1849764 Other
Divisions:	Schools > School of Science and Technology
Record created by:	Jeremy Silvester
Date Added:	04 Jan 2024 10:03
Last Modified:	04 Jan 2024 10:03
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/50617