Personality and the stress-adjustment relationship during adolescence and the early adult transition: A longitudinal epidemiologic perspective.
Item
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Title
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Personality and the stress-adjustment relationship during adolescence and the early adult transition: A longitudinal epidemiologic perspective.
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Identifier
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AAI8914771
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identifier
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8914771
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Creator
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Lewis, Carla Susan.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Suzanne Kobasa Ouellette
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Date
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1988
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Psychology, Personality | Psychology, Social
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Abstract
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Propositions from existential personality theory and developmental stress research were extrapolated and tested within a life events context. Prospective analyses of hardiness theory and the buffering hypothesis yielded epidemiological data on normal (nonclinical) population youth that confirmed personality factors as moderators of the stress-adjustment relation for adolescents and young adults. Specifically, perceived competence and goal directedness predicted lower post-stress behavioral symptoms, in general, and fewer specific stress reactions to the life-change event appraised as most disturbing by youth and parents. Albeit the results confirmed a "true", or linear, buffering effect (cf. Cohen & Wills, 1985) on youth's transient reaction; the effect on ongoing symptoms was conditional. Unexpectedly, high scores on these dimensions and life-stress may be more threatening to young people's adjustment than low scores. The findings were interpreted from a cognitive-developmental and social-interactionist perspective. Family context was also explored for its weight in predicting stress-resistance in normal population youth. Confirming notions drawn from existential personality theory, nonpunitive (but structured) parenting and child centeredness (maternal closeness, support, warmth, availability) facilitated the development of competence and goal directedness in young people.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
