Cognitive effects of life stress and learned helplessness

Abstract Stressful life events and learned helplessness attributional styles have been shown to impact a variety of personal outcomes. This study examined how these factors influence two classes of cognitive behaviors: the occurrence of intrusive thoughts and performance in memory and verbal-spatial reasoning tasks. Negative life change and attributions for negative events predicted different types of cognitive responses. Individuals reporting higher levels of life stress were more likely to experience distracting thoughts that were unrelated to the current task, whereas individuals with learned helplessness attributional styles tended to have more worrisome thoughts about their task performance. In general, individuals reporting high levels of negative life stress tended to perform more poorly in tasks, whereas individuals with learned helplessness attributional styles tended to perform better than those who did not share this explanatory style. These results suggest that life stress and attributional style have important influecnes on cognitive processes, and that a learned helplessness attributional style can have beneficial effects on behavior in some situations.     

The Correspondence Between Attachment Dimensions and Prayer in College Students

Attachment theory applied to religious behavior suggests that at a given point in time, "avoidant" individuals (who experience discomfort with closeness) engage in less prayer overall, and less prayer during times of stress than nonavoidant individuals. Additionally, "anxious" individuals (who worry about abandonment) would be expected to engage in more help-seeking prayer than nonanxious individuals. To test these hypotheses in a college sample, the frequency of three types of prayer were individually regressed on avoidance, anxiety, anxiety × avoidance, stress, stress × avoidance, stress × anxiety, in addition to the control variables of age, church attendance during childhood and adolescence, gender, gender × avoidance, and gender × anxiety. The hypotheses were supported in so far as: (a) avoidance was significantly and negatively related to colloquial (conversational) and meditative (contemplative) prayer, (b) stress × avoidance showed the predicted relation to colloquial and meditative prayer, and (c) anxiety was a significant predictor of petitionary (materialistic help-seeking) prayer, only.     

Coping with Missile Attack: Resources, Strategies, and Outcomes

ABSTRACT The coping process was examined in a group of Israeli subjects experiencing SCUD missile attacks during the Persian Gulf War. We were interested in examining the relationship of coping resources, optimism, perceived control, and coping strategies, to anxiety, to physical symptoms, and to cognitive functioning during a real crisis. Data were gathered via structured questionnaires in the midst of the Persian Gulf War (February 1991) on a sample of 261 adult respondents residing in northern Israel. Although people reported a mixture of palliative and active coping strategies, it was the use of palliative coping efforts that predicted greater anxiety and physical symptoms. Subjects with greater coping resources used more palliative and active coping strategies and had higher cognitive functioning. However, active coping did not predict any of the negative stress reactions (i.e., anxiety and physical symptoms). People who perceived being in control of the situation reported using less palliative coping and fewer symptoms. That active coping did not predict negative stress reactions may have been a function of the severity of the stressor, and the resultant high levels of anxiety that were engendered. Overall, these findings do point to a different coping process in a grave and ongoing disaster situation than that reported in reaction to more normal life events.     

Pre-Conception War Exposure and Mother and Child Adjustment 4 Years Later

Evidence is accumulating for the transgenerational effects of maternal stress on offspring. A particular increasing concern is the possible transgenerational effects of community exposure to war and terror. Here, 107 mothers that had been exposed to war, were assessed with their 3 year old children (52 % girls) who had been conceived after the end of the war, and thus never directly exposed to war. The circumscribed nature (missile bombardment) and temporal limits (34 days) of the tragic 2006 Lebanon war in the north of Israel, affords a unique methodological opportunity to isolate an epoch of stress from preceding and subsequent normal life. We find that war experience engenders higher levels of mothers’ separation anxiety, lower emotional availability in mother-child interaction, and lower levels of children’s adaptive behavior. The novelty of these findings lies in documenting the nature and strength of transgenerational effects of war-related stress on offspring that were never exposed. In addition, because these effects were obtained after 4 years of a continuing period of normality, in which the children were born and raised, it suggests that an extended period of normality does not obliterate the effects of the war on mother and child behavior as assessed herein. Despite the study limitations, the results are indicative of persisting transgenerational effects of stress.     

Does War Hurt? Effects of Media Exposure After Missile Attacks on Chronic Pain

This study focused on the effects of exposure to terrorist missile attacks on the physical and mental well being of chronic pain patients. In this prospective and longitudinal design, 55 chronic pain patients treated at a specialty pain clinic completed self-report questionnaires regarding their pain, depression and anxiety pre- and post a three week missile attack on the southern region of Israel. In addition, levels of direct and indirect exposure to the attacks were measured. Results of regression analyses showed that exposure to the attacks through the media predicted an increase in pain intensity and in the sensory component of pain during the pre-post war period, but did not predict depression, anxiety or the affective component of pain. These findings contribute to the understanding of the effects of terrorism on physical and emotional distress and identify chronic pain patients as a vulnerable population requiring special attention during terrorism-related stress.     

Three accounts of the learned helplessness effect

Two experiments tested predictions drawn from test anxiety theory, learned helplessness theory, and Wortman and Brehm's (1975) integration of helplessness and reactance theories. Experiment 1 demonstrated that performance deficits predicted by learned helplessness do not rely on experimenter-induced failure. It also showed such deficits to be unrelated either to negative affect following exposure to pretreatment or to causal attributions about pretreatment task performance. Experiment 2 showed that experience of uncontrollability need not result in impaired performance, because failure on an unimportant task did not produce the deficits predicted by learned helplessness theory. This result provides qualified support for the integrative model. Finally, because the subjective measures used in Experiment 2 were not consistent with performance measures, the reliability of self-reports is questioned.     

Posttraumatic Stress Related to Hyperglycemia: Prevalence in Adults with Type I Diabetes

Prevalence of hyperglycemia-related posttraumatic stress (PTS) was assessed in 239 adults with type 1 diabetes using the posttraumatic stress diagnostic scale (PDS; Foa, Posttraumatic stress diagnostic scale manual, National Computer Systems, Inc., Minneapolis, 1995) by an anonymous online survey. Additionally, this study aimed to identify variables related to hyperglycemia-related PTS. Over 30 % of participants reported symptoms consistent with PTSD related to hyperglycemia with standard PDS scoring, and 10 % with more conservative scoring. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses indicated that diabetes self-management behavior and perceived helplessness about hyperglycemia predicted PTSD with standard scoring. Perceived death threat, self-management behavior, helplessness about hyperglycemia, and severity of hypoglycemia in past month predicted PTSD using more conservative scoring. Perceived helplessness, hypoglycemia severity, perceived death-threat, HbA1c, and self-management behavior predicted PTS severity. When fear, helplessness, and perceived death-threat were combined to represent an overall cognitive appraisal factor, this variable was the strongest predictor of PTSD and PTS severity. Scores for PTSD symptom clusters appeared similar to data on hypoglycemia-related PTS.     

The gulf war: Distressful reactions to scud missiles attacks

This study investigated the relationships among coping strategies, trait anxiety and distressful reactions (State anxiety and fears and symptoms) of Israeli civilians under missile attack during the 1991 Gulf war. During the war sixty-six subjects (46 females and 20 males) completed a questionnaire that measured their distressful reactions and included fears in various situations (e.g., during the night, in the sealed room) and various symptoms (e.g., sleep disturbances, sensitivity to noise). In addition each subject completed the Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations (CISS, Endler & Parker, 1990a), a multidimensional self-report measure of coping which measures three major coping strategies: task-oriented, emotion-oriented and avoidance-oriented. Subjects also completed the State and Trait anxiety scales of the Endler Multidimensional Anxiety Scales (EMAS, Endler, Edwards, & Vitelli, 1991). The state anxiety scales measure two components of the individual's state anxiety, cognitive worry and autonomic emotional reactions. The trait anxiety scales measure the individual's predisposition to experience anxiety in four different situations: social evaluation, physical danger, ambiguous situations and daily routines. The results showed that individuals who used emotion-oriented coping more frequently, experienced more state anxiety and symptoms and fears, (i.e., experienced greater distress) during the war. Task-oriented and avoidance-oriented coping were not related to the distressful reactions. It was further found that subjects high on physical danger trait anxiety and social evaluation trait anxiety experienced greater fears and more symptoms (i.e., experienced greater distress) during the war. Persons high on social evaluation trait anxiety also experienced great cognitive-worry state anxiety. The results are discussed within the framework of the multidimensional model of stress, anxiety and coping (Endler, 1988; Endler & Parker, 1990a, 1990b) and the special characteristics of the Gulf war situation.     

Attributions,Cognitions, and Coping Styles: Teleworkers' Reactions to Work-Related Problems1

Based on the attributional reformulation of learned helplessness theory (Abramson, Seligman, & Teasdale, 1978) and Lazarus and Launier's (1978) primary-secondary appraisal theory of stress, the present study sought to examine teleworkers' reactions to their work-related problems. The role of attributions about the sources, and cognitions about the consesquences, of these problems in promoting positive adaptation was addressed. In particular, it was predicted that teleworkers who made optimistic attributions and cognitions would be more likely to employ problem-focused coping strategies and, as a result, report more positive psychological and job-related outcomes. Based on a survey sample of 192 teleworkers, the results indicated that a tendency to engage in self-blame was related to the use of emotion-focused coping strategies. In turn, there was evidence linking emotion-focused coping strategies to negative outcomes and problem-focused coping strategies to positive outcomes. The results are discussed in relation to attributional approaches to stress which highlight the importance of cognitions about the consequences of negative events. Finally, implications for the training of teleworkers are presented.     

The Relationship Between Perceived Probability of Personal Harm and Distressful Reactions During the Gulf War

This study investigated the relationship between threat appraisal, distressful reactions, and coping strategies of Israeli civilians under missile attack during the Gulf War. During the war, 66 subjects were asked about their perceived probability of being hurt by the missiles. Additionally, they completed a questionnaire that measured their fears and symptoms during the war, the State Anxiety scale of the Endler Multidimensional Anxiety Scales, and the Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations (CISS, Endler & Parker, 1990). The results showed an inverted U-shaped relationship between perceived probability of being hurt and the anxiety measures. A similar curvilinear relationship was found between perceived probability of being hurt and emotion coping strategy. Furthermore, it was found that those who appraised the possibility of being hurt as very high, more often used avoidance coping. The results are discussed within the framework of stress theories and are related to other inverted U-shape relationships found between threat appraisal and stressful reactions.     

归因、自我效能和社会容认度对心理求助行为的影响

在江光荣心理求助行为的“阶段-决策模型”框架下,探查处于第三阶段的被试的求助行为,侧重研究⑴对心理问题的归因、⑵作为心理咨询当事人的自我效能和⑶心理求助行为的社会容认度这三个变量对实际求助行为的影响,同时探讨变量之间的作用机制。结果表明,这三个变量对求助行为均有预测作用。其中心理求助行为的社会容认度除了对求助行为有直接作用外,还以作为心理咨询当事人的自我效能为中介变量间接影响求助行为。整个模型对求助行为解释的变异量达到26％     

Mental health help-seeking intentions and organizational climate among military members

The psychological effects of war include anxiety, depression, alcohol misuse and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Military members that displayed symptoms of mental illness were thought to lack the strength and courage necessary to be soldiers. As a result, many military members who suffered from these symptoms would not seek help for mental health care. This paper investigates the mental health help-seeking intentions of military members using the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and the role of leadership support climate and coworker support climate. This paper contributes to the literature in three ways. First, this paper applies a rigorously tested theoretical framework to the study of mental health help-seeking intentions in military members. Second, this paper incorporated the constructs of leadership support climate and coworker support climate into mental health help-seeking literature. Third, this paper introduces the concepts of leadership support climate and organizational support climate into the study of the theory of planned behavior. This study found that the personal attitudes of military members towards mental health help-seeking are positively related to their mental health help-seeking intentions. The study also found that mental health help-seeking attitudes mediated the relationship between leadership support climate and mental health help-seeking intentions. These results underscore the important role of leaders in setting a supportive organizational climate and influencing military members to seek help for mental health problems.     

Marital intimacy,family support,and secondary traumatization: A study of wives of veterans with combat stress reaction

Abstract

The main aim of the study was to assess the role of family variables in the process of secondary traumatization among wives of post-traumatic veterans. We compared a sample of 49 wives of Israeli veterans with combat stress reaction (CSR) from the 1982 Lebanon War with a sample of 31 wives of Israeli veterans who fought in the war without developing CSR. We assessed their psychological reactions to the war, their health status six years later, and their reported levels of marital intimacy and family support after the war. When compared with controls, wives of veterans with CSR reported more negative emotions and lower perceived intimacy after the war, and greater severity of psychiatric and somatic symptoms six years later. Results also indicate that the greater the perceived marital intimacy, the less the negative emotions wives of veterans with CSR felt after the war and the better their health status six years later. In addition, wives of veterans with CSR who reported having received more support from their families after the war reported more anxiety and hostility than wives who received less support. The roles of marital intimacy and family support in the process of secondary traumatization were discussed.     

Peer rejection, negative peer treatment, and school adjustment: Self-concept and classroom engagement as mediating processes

Data gathered from a short term longitudinal study within fifth grade classrooms (n = 378) were used to evaluate two process-oriented models linking peer rejection and negative peer treatment to children's self-concept, school engagement and adjustment. Both structural models linked peer rejection, victimization, and exclusion to children's self-concept, classroom engagement, and change in achievement (fall of fifth grade to the spring). The model evaluations indicated that peer rejection predicted both exclusion and victimization and that these forms of peer treatment, in turn, predicted academic self-competence. Academic self-competence, however, only partially mediated linkages to achievement change. Parallel (i.e. direct) linkages from exclusion and victimization to both academic self-competence and engagement were required for adequate model fit, as were direct links from academic self-concept and engagement to achievement change. An alternative model representing the hypothesis that academic self-concept fully mediated the relationships between the forms of negative peer treatment and children's engagement and achievement did not fit the data well.     

The Effect of Locus of Control on University Students' Mental Health: Possible Mediation through Self-Esteem and Coping

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of locus of control on university students' mental health and to examine possible mediational roles of self-esteem and coping. A total of 418 university students completed Rotters I-E Scale, Self-liking/self-competence Scale, Endlers Coping with Stressful Situations Scale and Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale. The results showed that external locus of control, lower self-liking and self-competence, as well as less problem-focused and more emotion-focused coping predict more symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress in university students. However, mediational analysis revealed that the effect of locus of control was fully mediated by self-esteem and coping, with self-liking and emotion-focused coping being the strongest mediators. Results suggest that beliefs about control affect beliefs about one's self-worth and coping strategies, which in turn can affect one's mental health.     

"Company motivates the miserable": the impact of consensus information on help seeking for psychological problems

Based on an attribution theory analysis, it was predicted that normal individuals (people who do not evidence a particular target problem) would be least motivated to seek help for a psychological problem when they believe that the problem is actuarially common (i.e., high consensus). Based on an analysis of how target problem people evaluate their psychological problem, however, it was predicted that such individuals (unlike normal individuals) should be maximally motivated to seek help when they believe that the problem is common. To test these predictions, target problem and normal individuals (high vs. average test anxious females) were given feedback that they possessed a problem (test anxiety). Individuals were then told that their problem was either common, uncommon, or given no consensus information. As predicted, the higher consensus information led to the least help-seeking behavior for the normal individuals and to the most help-seeking behavior for the target problem individuals.     

Stress specificities: differential effects of coping style, gender, and type of stressor on autonomic arousal, facial expression, and subjective feeling

In this study several factors considered to be relevant in mediating stress arousal were experimentally manipulated. Ss selected for the coping styles anxiety denying, low anxiety, and high anxiety were confronted with both low- and high-arousal-inducing situations, using 2 different types of stressors (cognitive vs. emotional) in each case. Arousal reactions were measured in 3 response modalities: verbal report of subjective experience; nonverbal, nonvocal behavior; and physiological reactions. The results reveal complex interactions between type and degree of stress, coping style, and gender of Ss, confirming findings on vocal parameters of stress. These complex interactions are discussed with respect to the possibility that Ss' evaluation of situation characteristics may be influenced by coping styles and gender, resulting in differential reaction patterns.     

Role perceptions, satisfaction, and performance: moderating effects of self-esteem and organizational level

The moderating effects of organizational level and self-esteem on the relationships between role perceptions (i.e., role ambiguity and role conflict) and employee satisfaction and performance were examined. Previous research suggested that self-esteem, as an indicator of perceived self-competence, should act as a buffering element contingent upon an individual's organizational level. To test this possibility, data were collected from a sample of 161 hospital professional and support personnel. It was hypothesized that the negative effects of role ambiguity and conflict on satisfaction and performance would be attenuated by high self-esteem at lower organizational levels. Two of the four predicted interactions (ambiguity-satisfaction and conflict-performance) were obtained. The importance of considering the combined effects of both situational and individual difference variables as potential buffers against aversive role perceptions was discussed.     

When Thoughts Turn Toward Nuclear War: Stress Responses,Coping Strategies,and the Importance of Trait Anxiety in Moderating Effects on “Mental Health”1

The present investigation attempted to link the concept of Nuclear Anxiety (NA) to theory and research on stress and coping, which would predict that person variables would be extremely important in determining the amount of anxiety precipitated by the hypothetical and ambiguous nature of nuclear war. In Part I of this study, 356 undergraduates were divided into high and low NA groups on the basis of state anxiety experienced while thinking about the threat of nuclear war. Groups were compared on five personality traits (trait anxiety, death anxiety, and three locus of control variables), two “mental health” indices (psychological well-being and expectancy for future goal attainment), five nuclear war-related attitudinal measures, nine nuclear threat orientations, nine strategies for coping with the threat, and a single behavioral measure of approach toward information about nuclear war. In Part II, the relationships between key explanatory variables were explored, and a preliminary model of Nuclear Anxiety was developed. Results revealed that the two NA groups differed on 22 of the 32 dependent measures, and that four variables (i.e., sustained [nuclear] concern, death anxiety, trait anxiety, and psychological well-being) were the best group discriminators. More importantly, path analysis revealed that trait anxiety rather than nuclear anxiety was the variable primarily controlling “mental health” status. Results are discussed with regard to the resiliency and adaptability of young people in dealing with the threat of nuclear war, intergroup differences in coping styles, and questions in need of further empirical attention.     

Predicting feelings of cognitive competence in head start preschoolers

Little is known about what predicts the budding sense of self-competence in preschoolers. This is particularly true of cognitive competence, which may have implications for later schooling. Based on previous research with older children, it was expected that feelings of self-competence would be influenced by attitudes of significant others as well as intrapersonal dispositions. Forty-five Head Start preschoolers (M age = 4.36 years) served as participants. As expected, high effortful control and language competence, as well as teachers' ratings of competence, predicted positive feelings about cognitive competence in children. Further analysis revealed that the teachers' ratings were predicted by maternal education and language competence. The findings suggest that the development of cognitive self-concept in preschoolers is predicted by contextual and constitutional factors.