Daily Cognitive Appraisals, Daily Affect, and Long-Term Depressive Symptoms: the Role of Self-Esteem and Self-Concept Clarity In
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Article Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin Daily Cognitive Appraisals, Daily Affect, 37(2) 255 –268 © 2011 by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc and Long-Term Depressive Symptoms: Reprints and permission: sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav The Role of Self-Esteem and Self- DOI: 10.1177/0146167210394204 Concept Clarity in the Stress Process http://pspb.sagepub.com Sharon C. Lee-Flynn1, Georgia Pomaki1, Anita DeLongis1, Jeremy C. Biesanz1, and Eli Puterman2 Abstract The current study investigated how self-esteem and self-concept clarity are implicated in the stress process both in the short and long term. Initial and 2-year follow-up interviews were completed by 178 participants from stepfamily unions. In twice-daily structured diaries over 7 days, participants reported their main family stressor, cognitive appraisals (perceived stressor threat and stressor controllability), and negative affect. Results of multilevel modeling indicated that high self-esteem ameliorated the effect of daily negative cognitive appraisals on daily negative affect. Self-concept clarity also buffered the effect of low self-self-esteem on depressive symptoms 2 years later. Our findings point to the vulnerability of those having low self-esteem or low self-concept clarity in terms of both short- and long-term adaptation to stress. They indicate the need for the consideration of such individual differences in designing stress management interventions. Keywords self-esteem, self-concept clarity, cognitive appraisals, stress and coping, depression Received March 19, 2009; revision accepted September 26, 2010 The process of adaptation to stress involves dynamic cogni- The present study attempted to shed light on the role of tive and behavioral efforts to manage the ever-changing psy- self-esteem and self-concept clarity in the stress process by chological stressors with which individuals must contend examining their association with both short- and long-term (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984). However, in addition to those adaptational outcomes. For the longer term, the interaction dynamic efforts, a more comprehensive understanding of the between self-esteem and self-concept clarity was examined stress process must include more stable self-views. An intrigu- in relation to adaptational outcomes over time. For the short ing place for research on how people adapt to stressful cir- term, we looked at the role of stable self-views in cognitive cumstances is the interchange between those dynamic efforts appraisals of daily stressors. and more stable aspects of the self (Bolger & Zuckerman, More specifically, we used a contextual model of stress 1995; Lee-Baggley, Preece, & DeLongis, 2005). and coping (DeLongis & Holtzman, 2005) and predicted that Traditionally, self-views have been examined in terms of self-esteem and self-concept clarity would modify the way two components: evaluative and knowledge (Nezlek & Plesko, appraisals of daily interpersonal stressful events are associ- 2003). Self-esteem, an evaluative component of the self, is ated with daily fluctuations of negative affect. As we mea- theorized to be a key resource that individuals use in the face of sured negative affect twice a day over 7 days, we were able stressors (Taylor & Stanton, 2007). In addition, self-concept to control for morning negative affect when predicting evening clarity, which is a knowledge component of the self, has been suggested to help individuals be more resilient in 1University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada stressful circumstances (Campbell, 1990). However, the 2University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA mechanisms through which those components of the self influence the stress process remain unclear (Baumeister, Corresponding Authors: Georgia Pomaki or Anita DeLongis, University of British Columbia, Campbell, Krueger, & Vohs, 2003; Kernis, 2005; Swann, Department of Psychology, 2136 West Mall, Vancouver BC, Canada V6T 1Z4 Chang-Schneider, & Larsen-McClarty, 2007). Email: [email protected] or [email protected] 256 Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 37(2) negative affect. Our study combined within- and between- A contextual model of stress and coping suggests that there person designs. This allowed the investigation of individual are three key contextual factors that influence the appraisal differences in the daily stress process. and outcomes of stressful events: the nature of the event, the For long-term outcomes, we examined the relation between social context in which the stress occurs, and stable aspects of self-esteem, self-concept clarity, and depressive symptoms the self (DeLongis & Holtzman, 2005). These factors are pro- over a 2-year period. Recently, Swann et al. (2007) argued in posed to have synergistic effects on stress outcomes. favor of the investigation of knowledge components of the Although DeLongis and Holtzman (2005) and others self as a way to clarify the somewhat controversial relation (Bolger & Zuckerman, 1995) have demonstrated a key role between self-esteem and important adaptational outcomes. of stable person traits in coping efforts, the proposed inter- Consistent with this, we suggest that the effect of self-esteem play between personality, affect, and cognitive appraisals of on outcomes is dependent on the level of one’s self-concept stress is largely unexplored (Tong, 2010). Recently, Nezlek clarity. We examined whether individuals with low self-esteem et al. (2008), Timmermans et al. (2009), and Tong (2010) and low self-concept clarity are at increased risk for depres- have shown that the effect of appraisals on affective states is sive symptoms 2 years later, after controlling for baseline influenced by individual differences and personality traits depressive symptoms. (extraversion and neuroticism). For example, events that were Our study focused on stress processes in couples living considered impactful were associated with more arousal among in stepfamilies. Because of the unique set of interpersonal individuals low on extraversion and with less pleasantness stressors with which many stepfamilies must cope, this fam- among those high on neuroticism (Timmermans et al., 2009). ily form provides a rich context in which to examine stress Tong found that higher levels of neuroticism were also asso- processes. On average, those in stepfamilies face both higher ciated with stronger appraisal–affect relations, indicating levels of stress and a greater variety of stress than do those in that individuals higher on neuroticism are more emotionally first-marriage families (Bray & Berger, 1993; Hetherington, reactive to negative appraisals. Those recent findings, together 1993). Indeed, the stress in blended families has been reported with theoretical suggestions (DeLongis & Holtzman, 2005), to be consistently higher than that in first marriages, match- indicate that we can expect a dynamic interrelation between ing the level of first marriages only by the 14th year of stable personality factors and appraisals in predicting affec- marriage (Zeppa & Norem, 1993). tive states and adaptation to stress. Interestingly, there is no evidence that stable self-views, such as self-esteem and self- concept clarity, can play a similar role in the stress process, Adaptation to Stress and so our study seeks to contribute to the emerging litera- Individuals are faced with stressful episodes in their daily life ture on the role of personality traits in the appraisal–affect (Bolger, DeLongis, Kessler, & Schilling, 1989), and although relation by looking more closely at the role of those two sta- those episodes per se can take a toll on affective states ble aspects of the self. (Hammen, 2005; Van Eck, Nicolson, & Berkhof, 1998), how individuals appraise the episodes plays a significant role in resulting affect (Baum, Fleming, & Singer, 1983; Folkman, Self-Esteem and the Stress Process Lazarus, Dunkel-Schetter, DeLongis, & Gruen, 1986). Key Self-esteem is often conceptualized as a protective psycho- dimensions of cognitive appraisal include: (a) how threaten- logical resource that enables people to adapt and recover from ing the situation is (primary appraisal) and (b) evaluating stressful events (Greenberg et al., 1992). Researchers have the possibilities for overcoming or dealing with a stressor, established an association between low levels of self-esteem as assessed with perceptions of how controllable the stressor and poorer adaptational outcomes, such as depression and is (secondary appraisal; Lazarus & Folkman, 1984). negative affect (Nezlek & Plesko, 2003; Orth, Robins, Cognitive appraisals have been found to play a major role Trzesniewski, Maes, & Schmitt, 2009). Individuals with high in how people respond to a stressful situation (Franks & self-esteem have been found to apply stress-reducing strate- Roesch, 2006; Lee-Baggley et al., 2005) and to ultimately have gies that help them keep unpleasant and ruminative thoughts an effect on adaptational outcomes (Bouchard, Guillemette, at bay (S. M. Smith & Petty, 1995). Applying those strate- & Landry-Leger, 2004; Denson, Spanovic, & Miller, 2009). gies over long periods can have positive influences on adap- Individuals who perceive events as uncontrollable (Van Eck tational outcomes. et al., 1998), impactful (Timmermans, van Mechelen, & Although past research has suggested a main effect of self- Nezlek, 2009), or threatening (Nezlek, Vansteelandt, van esteem on adaptational outcomes, much attention has been Mechelen, & Kuppens, 2008), or react more