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Biomedical subjects

R S Lazarus

Publications and source records attributed to R S Lazarus.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

Coping with the stress of illness.

How can we cope better, or help others to do so? The answer to this depends on knowing what an individual is coping with. This, in turn, depends on the appraisal, by the individual concerned, of the significance of what is happening for well-being--in effect, the source of harm, threat, challenge. Cases of myocardial infarction, cancer and chronic pain have some harms, threats, and challenges in common but there are also unique factors in each illness. The patient with a chronic illness is continually appraising his or her symptoms, pains, disease progression with respect to their significance for well-being and survival, and coping accordingly. The paper presents a microanalytic, contextual and process-centred approach to coping which is part of a broad system of thought, emphasizing cognitive appraisal and the person's ongoing relationships with the environment as factors of his or her emotional life. Implications for prevention and treatment of illness in a perspective of health promotion are discussed as well as the need for research to predict long-term outcome from stress and coping.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1991

Cognition and motivation in emotion.

The role of cognition--and to some extent motivation--in emotion, the ways meaning is generated, unconscious appraising, and the implications of this way of thinking for life-span development are addressed. It is argued that appraisal is a necessary as well as sufficient cause of emotion and that knowledge is necessary but not sufficient. This position is examined in light of what is known about emotions in infants and young children, the effects of drugs on acute emotions and moods, and recent patterns of thought about the brain in emotions. The discussion of how meaning is generated is the core of the article. Automatic processing without awareness is contrasted with deliberate and conscious processing, and the concept of resonance between an animal's needs and what is encountered in the environment is examined. The idea that there is more than one way meaning is achieved strengthens and enriches the case for the role of appraisal in emotion and allows the consideration of what is meant by unconscious and preconscious appraisal and the examination of how they might work.

Brain↗
PubMed1991

Progress on a cognitive-motivational-relational theory of emotion.

The 2 main tasks of this article are 1st, to examine what a theory of emotion must do and basic issues that it must address. These include definitional issues, whether or not physiological activity should be a defining attribute, categorical versus dimensional strategies, the reconciliation of biological universals with sociocultural sources of variability, and a classification of the emotions. The 2nd main task is to apply an analysis of appraisal patterns and the core relational themes that they produce to a number of commonly identified emotions. Anger, anxiety, sadness, and pride (to include 1 positive emotion) are used as illustrations. The purpose is to show the capability of a cognitive-motivational-relational theory to explain and predict the emotions. The role of coping in emotion is also discussed, and the article ends with a response to criticisms of a phenomenological, folk-theory outlook.

Cognition↗
PubMed1989

Psychoactive drugs, alcohol, and stress and coping processes in older adults.

Data are presented on a) the relationship between psychoactive substance use and personal characteristics, b) the relationship between psychoactive substance use and appraisal of and coping with stressful situations, and c) the use of psychoactive substances specifically to cope with stress among older people. Data were provided by 141 65-to-74-year-old retired Caucasians who were assessed repeatedly over 6 months. Compared to national samples, subjects were relatively heavy users of alcohol and average users of psychoactive drugs. Use of alcohol increased with income, and drug use was associated with several psychosocial characteristics as well as with psychological and somatic health. Psychoactive substance use did not relate to the ways subjects appraised and coped with stressful encounters. Further, only a small number of subjects used drugs or alcohol specifically to help them cope in these encounters. The findings about psychoactive drug users are compared with other findings about misusers of drugs, and the risks associated with each type of drug use are discussed.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1988

The relationship between coping and emotion: implications for theory and research.

Historically, coping has been viewed as a response to emotion. Our purpose here is to evaluate this idea and offer a broader view based on cognitive and relational principles concerning the emotion process. We will explore the ways emotion and coping influence each other in what must ultimately be seen as a dynamic, mutually reciprocal relationship.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1988

The impact of daily stress on health and mood: psychological and social resources as mediators.

This study examined daily stress processes among 75 married couples across 20 assessments during a 6-month period. The somatic and psychological effects of common everyday hassles were investigated. Overall, there was a significant relationship between daily stress and the occurrence of both concurrent and subsequent health problems such as flu, sore throat, headaches, and backaches. The relationship of daily stress to mood disturbance was more complex. The negative effects of stress on mood were limited to a single day, with the following day characterized by mood scores that were better than usual. Furthermore, striking individual differences were found in the extent to which daily stress was associated with health and mood across time. Participants with unsupportive social relationships and low self-esteem were more likely to experience an increase in psychological and somatic problems both on and following stressful days than were participants high in self-esteem and social support. These data suggest that persons with low psychosocial resources are vulnerable to illness and mood disturbance when their stress levels increase, even if they generally have little stress in their lives.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

Centrality and individual differences in the meaning of daily hassles.

In this study we introduce the concept of centrality in an attempt to assess individual differences in the meaning underlying daily hassles. Central hassles are defined as those which reflect important ongoing themes or problems in the person's life. The characteristics of central hassles, and their role in psychological and somatic health, were assessed in a sample of 150 community-residing men and women. The results indicate that central hassles vary in content from person to person and touch more on problems with personal needs and deficits in coping skills compared to noncentral hassles. The dimension of centrality was found to play a significant role in the prediction of psychological symptoms. Although the empirical case for the importance of centrality in the stress-illness relationship is inconclusive due to problems of confounding and a cross-sectional rather than longitudinal design, the ideas presented appear promising and provide a basis for further research on psychological vulnerability to stress.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

Coping as a mediator of emotion.

There is widespread conviction among health care professionals that coping affects emotion. Yet theory and research have traditionally emphasized the effects of emotion on coping. The present research addresses this imbalance by evaluating the extent to which coping mediated emotions during stressful encounters in two Caucasian, community-residing samples. Subjects' recently experienced stressful encounters, the ways they coped with the demands of those encounters, and the emotions they experienced during two stages of those encounters were assessed repeatedly. The extent to which eight forms of coping mediated each of four sets of emotions was evaluated with a series of hierarchical regression analyses (of residuals). Coping was associated with changes in all four sets of emotions, with some forms of coping associated with increases in positive emotions and other forms associated with increases in negative emotions.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1987

Correlates of social support receipt.

Psychological correlates of social support receipt were examined in an investigation of stress and coping among 150 middle-aged community residents. Subjects were interviewed monthly for 6 months, each time concerning a specific stressful situation in the previous month. Social support received and methods of coping were assessed each time, as well as other variables. Factors hypothesized to be associated with support receipt were person predispositions, appraisal patterns with regard to specific stressful encounters, and coping strategies used. Each was most strongly associated with a particular type of social support. Person predispositions related most strongly to emotional support received, appraisal factors related most strongly to aid, and coping strategies related most to informational support received. Furthermore, of the three sets of variables, the individual's ways of coping appeared to be most strongly associated with all types of social support received. Two implications are explored. First, we suggest that the three types of social support studied represent different constructs with different antecedents and consequences. Second, we argue that coping behavior provides interpersonal cues regarding what is wanted or needed in a stressful situation and that the members of the social environment respond accordingly.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1987

Age differences in stress and coping processes.

The dramatic increase in the numbers of people who are living into old age has been accompanied by a growing interest among psychologists and health care professionals in their sources of stress and how they cope with them. Despite this interest, little is known about normative stress and coping patterns and the ways in which these patterns differ in older and younger people. This study, which draws on stress and coping theory, compares younger and older community-dwelling adults in daily hassles and eight kinds of coping. Two interpretations of age differences are evaluated: a developmental interpretation, which says that there are inherent, stage-related changes in the ways people cope as they age, and a contextual interpretation, which says that age differences in coping result from changes in what people must cope with. The findings indicate that there are clear age differences in hassles and coping. Overall, the findings tend to support the developmental interpretation, although the contextual interpretation also applies.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1987

Stress processes and the misuse of drugs in older adults.

There is increasing concern about the misuse of drugs among the elderly. We assessed misuse, including drug usage, drug interactions across pharmacologic classes, and multiple drugs in the same pharmacologic class, in a community sample of 65 to 74-year-olds, and evaluated its relation to stress and coping processes and psychological and somatic health. Assessments were made repeatedly over a 6-month period. Results indicated that misuse was multidimensional and widespread. Misusers did not differ from nonmisusers on antecedent psychosocial variables, nor did they report more hassles or cope differently than nonmisusers. However, misusers and nonmisusers differed on their subjective experience of stressful encounters; misusers experienced their hassles as more intense, and they experienced more threat emotions and more dissatisfaction with their coping than did nonmisusers. Misuse was also associated with long-term psychological satisfaction, psychological symptoms, and somatic health.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1986

Appraisal, coping, health status, and psychological symptoms.

In this study we examined the relation between personality factors (mastery and interpersonal trust), primary appraisal (the stakes a person has in a stressful encounter), secondary appraisal (options for coping), eight forms of problem- and emotion-focused coping, and somatic health status and psychological symptoms in a sample of 150 community-residing adults. Appraisal and coping processes should be characterized by a moderate degree of stability across stressful encounters for them to have an effect on somatic health status and psychological symptoms. These processes were assessed in five different stressful situations that subjects experienced in their day-to-day lives. Certain processes (e.g., secondary appraisal) were highly variable, whereas others (e.g., emotion-focused forms of coping) were moderately stable. We entered mastery and interpersonal trust, and primary appraisal and coping variables (aggregated over five occasions), into regression analyses of somatic health status and psychological symptoms. The variables did not explain a significant amount of the variance in somatic health status, but they did explain a significant amount of the variance in psychological symptoms. The pattern of relations indicated that certain variables were positively associated and others negatively associated with symptoms.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1986

Dynamics of a stressful encounter: cognitive appraisal, coping, and encounter outcomes.

Despite the importance that is attributed to coping as a factor in psychological and somatic health outcomes, little is known about actual coping processes, the variables that influence them, and their relation to the outcomes of the stressful encounters people experience in their day-to-day lives. This study uses an intraindividual analysis of the interrelations among primary appraisal (what was at stake in the encounter), secondary appraisal (coping options), eight forms of problem- and emotion-focused coping, and encounter outcomes in a sample of community-residing adults. Coping was strongly related to cognitive appraisal; the forms of coping that were used varied depending on what was at stake and the options for coping. Coping was also differentially related to satisfactory and unsatisfactory encounter outcomes. The findings clarify the functional relations among appraisal and coping variables and the outcomes of stressful encounters.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1985

If it changes it must be a process: study of emotion and coping during three stages of a college examination.

This natural experiment provides substantial evidence for the following major themes, which are based on a cognitively oriented, process-centered theory of stress and coping: First, a stressful encounter should be viewed as a dynamic, unfolding process, not as a static, unitary event. Emotion and coping (including the use of social support) were assessed at three stages of a midterm examination: the anticipation stage before the exam, the waiting stage after the exam and before grades were announced, and after grades were posted. For the group as a whole there were significant changes in emotions and coping (including the use of social support) across the three stages. Second, people experience seemingly contradictory emotions and states of mind during every stage of an encounter. In this study, for example, subjects experienced both threat emotions and challege emotions. The complexity of emotions and their cognitive appraisals reflects ambiguity regarding the multifaceted nature of the exam and its meanings, especially during the anticipation stage. Third, coping is a complex process. On the average, subjects used combinations of most of the available forms of problem-focused coping and emotion-focused coping at every stage of the exam. Different forms of coping were salient during the anticipation and waiting stages. Problem-focused coping and emphasizing the positive were more prominent during the former, and distancing more prominent during the latter. Finally, despite normatively shared emotional reactions at each stage, substantial individual differences remained. Using selected appraisal and coping variables, and taking grade point averages (GPA) into account, approximately 48% of the variances in threat and challenge emotions at the anticipation stage was explained. Controlling for variance due to the grade received, appraisal, and coping variables accounted for 28% of the variance in positive and negative emotions at the outcome stage. Including grade, 57% of the variance in positive emotions at outcome and 61% of the negative emotions at outcome were explained.

Adaptation, Psychological↗