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Part 1

Pain and Thinking

Karisha George - 9781848883161 Downloaded from Brill.com09/30/2021 12:21:07PM via free access Karisha George - 9781848883161 Downloaded from Brill.com09/30/2021 12:21:07PM via free access It Is Not What Happens to You, But How You Think about It: Exploring the Cognitive Processes Underlying Resilience Following Adversity

Karisha George

Abstract This chapter seeks to present a model for exploring why individuals fail to adapt to adversity. Researchers link the failure to adapt to adversity to an inability to develop higher levels of resilience following the adverse experience.1 This research thus performed a series of studies to develop a model of the processes that generate an inability to develop higher levels of resilience. These studies assessed individuals with high levels of negative trait , which refers to the dispositional tendency for individuals to experience intense, frequent and prolonged periods of negative emotion.2 Researchers describe negative trait emotion as an individual’s vulnerability toward pathology following adversity3 and thus that person’s inability to increase levels of resilience. This chapter assesses the impact of cognitive processes on generating the inability to develop higher levels of resilience among persons high on negative trait emotion. Cognitive processes are the various thinking patterns (both automatic and deliberate) through which individuals’ attitudes, beliefs, assumptions and personal life goals influence how they anticipate, monitor, reflect on and respond to their experiences.4 Beck5 claimed that these processes predispose individuals to experiencing psychological problems in response to triggering life events and also serve to maintain the problem behaviours long after the event has passed. Cantor6 further asserted that each personality trait is characterised by specific cognitive processes that in turn generate and maintain the personality trait. He put forth this relationship as the main determinant of individuals’ levels of resilience. The thesis in this chapter thus uses a mediation analysis to understand the cognitive processes that characterise individuals high on negative trait emotion and the extent to which these processes explain their inability to develop higher levels of resilience.

Key Words: Resilience, negative trait emotion, cognition.

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1. Resilience Studies have explored the determinants of adaptation in response to positive life transitions such as career and religious change, entering university, getting married and having children. However, a great deal of research has examined adaptation following adverse life transitions, such as unemployment, recent illnesses or injuries, and long-term life difficulties including chronic health problems.7 In each

Karisha George - 9781848883161 Downloaded from Brill.com09/30/2021 12:21:07PM via free access 4 It Is Not What Happens to You ______case, researchers claim that adaptation emerges when individuals have completed the resilience process, developing higher levels of resilience. Researchers describe the resilience process as ‘a cycle of disruption and reintegration.’8 ‘Disruption’ is a temporary phase of emotional and behavioural instability experienced in the immediate aftermath of life events.9 Over time, however, the majority of persons enter into the ‘reintegration’ phase where social and emotional functioning improves, higher levels of resilience develop, and positive adaptation emerges. In support of these arguments, studies have found that improvements in resilience over time are associated with increases in scores on emotional and behavioural functioning measures.10 However, some individuals fail to ‘reintegrate;’ they become ‘stuck’ in the ‘disruption’ phase and fail to develop higher levels of resilience. As a result, these persons remain unable to adapt to the life event. In addition, over time, their emotional and behavioural instability intensifies leading to diagnoses of mental illness and dysfunctional behavior, such as substance abuse and aggression.11 Research has corroborated these claims. Studies have linked affective disorders, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), to being ‘stuck’ in ‘disruption’ triggered by a significant life experience.12 Therefore, it can be deduced that individuals who fail to adapt to adversity do so as a result of failing to develop higher levels of resilience, caused by becoming ‘stuck’ in ‘disruption.’ Flach13 described various factors that he believed made people unable to develop higher levels of resilience. However, he did not attempt to establish which of these factors were most pertinent and how they exerted their influence. Richardson14 attempted to fill this gap in Flach’s theory. He theorised that the personality traits an individual possesses determine the level of emotional and behavioural instability he or she would experience during ‘disruption,’ and his or her capacity to eventually ‘reintegrate’ following the ‘disruption’ phase. Richardson thus establishes the role played by personality and makes some assertions as to how it influences individuals’ levels of resilience. However, he performed no empirical work to assess his postulations. Researchers have since explored the impact of a variety of traits. Among these negative trait emotion has received some attention.

2. Negative Trait Emotion and Resilience Negative trait emotion refers to the tendency for individuals to experience intense, frequent and prolonged , even in the absence of aversive stimuli.15 Research has mainly explored three main types of negative trait emotion – trait anger, trait anxiety and trait . Trait anger refers to the disposition to experience intense, frequent and prolonged anger.16 Individuals high on trait anxiety are described as possessing the relatively stable tendency to experience intense, frequent and prolonged anxiety. Trait depression is conceptualised as the inclination to experience intense, frequent and prolonged sadness or depression.17

Karisha George - 9781848883161 Downloaded from Brill.com09/30/2021 12:21:07PM via free access Karisha George 5 ______Each of these has been linked to emotional and behavioural malfunctioning indicative of an absence of higher levels of resilience. For instance, persons diagnosed with social anxiety disorder have reported significantly higher levels of trait anger.18 Trait anger has also been linked to juvenile delinquency, misuse of alcohol, aggressive and risky behaviour while driving and more ‘close calls’ on the road and minor accidents.19 Trait anxiety is described as ‘a vulnerability factor for…the development of anxious pathology.’20 In addition, high trait anxiety has been shown to negatively impact individuals’ levels of self-esteem – a personality trait described as fundamental to adaptive behaviour.21 Trait depression is referred to as a premorbid risk factor for persistent depression.22 Additionally, in response to victimisation, higher levels of trait depression have been found to promote delinquency.23 Research suggests that a high level of trait emotion exerts its influence by triggering prolonged disruptions. For instance, Tarfate, Kassinove and Dundin24 evaluated the anger experiences of individuals within the community. Participants high on trait anger reported that their angry feelings were generally extremely intense, triggering yelling, screaming, arguing, threatening, making sarcastic and abusive remarks, and physical aggression. This profile resembles the emotional and behavioural chaos described as characteristic of ‘disruption.’25 In addition, these persons described themselves as remaining in this disruptive state for more than a day. This parallels the delayed disruption phase described above. The findings thus suggest that high negative trait emotion generates an intense disruption phase that tends to extend for a prolonged period of time. However, the study’s researchers did not perform any direct analysis of the impact of this intense and delayed disruption on individuals’ wellbeing. Therefore, although the findings propose that individuals high on negative trait emotion may become stuck in ‘disruption,’ there is no evidence to support the impact of this on how they will adapt to adversity. Furthermore, the authors failed to explore how negative trait emotion actually generates this intense and prolonged disruption. Researchers describe the need to understand this relationship. In particular, they highlight the impact of these findings on developing treatments that will enable these individuals to better adjust:

…by identifying these processes…(practitioners) may be able to predict which clients are at risk from succumbing to their circumstances, encourage those who have the potential to persevere, and promote development of skills useful in successfully negotiating variations in health.26

Therefore, the need still remains to understand the processes through which negative trait emotion causes individuals to become ‘stuck’ in disruption. Cognition has emerged as playing a lynchpin role. However, several models of

Karisha George - 9781848883161 Downloaded from Brill.com09/30/2021 12:21:07PM via free access 6 It Is Not What Happens to You ______cognition exist in the literature. Although researchers have argued that these different cognitive models interact to exert significant influence, little attempt has been made to understand the extent to which these interactions explain the harmful influence of negative trait emotion on adaptation.

3. Cognition and Resilience Three models of cognition have been described in the literature – cognitive appraisal, thinking styles, and meaning making.27 Cognitive appraisal is the process by which individuals automatically evaluate why an event occurred, whether it is threatening and controllable, and its implications for their future.28 Thinking styles refers to the thinking patterns people characteristically engage in to process information about themselves, their experiences, and their lives, such as optimism, rumination, and worry.29 Meaning making comprises individuals’ attempts to cognitively process the experience. It includes the stories they tell themselves about the event and how they think and rethink their lives as a result of its occurrence.30 Research suggests that each of these cognitive models plays a specific role in the resilience process. Namely, cognitive appraisal determines one’s emotional reactions to the event. Emotions have also been shown to determine how individuals respond to painful experiences. For example, positive emotions have been linked to the increased use of resilient behaviours,31 higher levels of self-esteem,32 and an improved capacity to engage in creative problem solving.33 The emotions generated by cognitive appraisals typically trigger the meaning making process. Completing this meaning making process, indicated by having found benefit in the adverse experience, generates higher levels of resilience. Positive thinking styles such as optimism help to enable meaning making. However, in cases of negative trait emotion, two biases in cognition may occur. On the one hand, biases in cognitive appraisal generate intense negative emotions that prevent individuals from beginning the meaning making process. On the other hand, negative thinking styles can cause individuals to become ‘stuck’ in meaning making, essentially becoming ‘stuck’ in ‘disruption.’ Disruption represents the first stage of the meaning making process during which individuals feel intense emotional distress. To highlight the relationship between negative trait emotion and resilience, I present studies that attempted to explore the two main pathways through which cognition may hinder individuals high on negative trait emotion from developing higher levels of resilience. These include:

1. Exaggerated negative cognitive appraisals trigger intense negative emotions. These intense emotions prevent individuals from finding benefit in the experience, preventing higher levels of resilience.

Karisha George - 9781848883161 Downloaded from Brill.com09/30/2021 12:21:07PM via free access Karisha George 7 ______2. Negative thinking styles also prevent individuals from finding benefit in the experience, also preventing higher levels of resilience.

Before presenting the findings of these studies, however, the results of related research (not reported here) must be summarised. Specifically, a factor analysis was performed on the three main negative trait emotion measures identified in the literature – trait anger, trait anxiety, and trait depression. Two main components emerged – (1) trait anger and (2) trait negative affectivity (trait NA) characterised by trait anxiety and trait depression. The studies described here thus focused on analysing the mechanisms associated with these two factors.

4. Research Methods for the Studies Certain methods were consistent throughout each of the three research studies and are described here. Primarily, the samples for all studies were derived from undergraduate and postgraduate students attending the University of York in the United Kingdom. This was based on the main aim of the study being to pave the way for an in-depth analysis of how students adapt to moving into university – a life change that incorporates significant demands and challenges and thus necessitates an adaptation process paralleling that required for adapting to adversity. Secondly, the same measures were used to assess negative trait emotion and resilience. These included the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC)34 and the trait subscales of Spielberger’s State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI),35 State- Trait Anger Expression Inventory II (STAXI-II),36 and State Trait Personality Inventory (STPI).37 All of these measures have been widely used in the literature and report high reliability (alphas ranging from .84 to .89).38

5. Study 1: Comparing the Impact of Emotion and Cognition The first step was to compare the impact of the various cognitive processes on the relationship between negative trait emotion and resilience. Thus, study 1 assessed the mediating influence of negative cognitive appraisal and negative thinking styles. The mediations assessed can be viewed in Image 1. The sample of 106 students (53 males) filled in the negative trait emotion and resilience measures. In addition, emotions were assessed using silent video clips depicting a range of minor daily hassles.39 Before viewing the videos, participants were told to imagine they were the main character in the scene or related to the main character in some way; for example as a passer-by or a friend. Participants then viewed the10-second video and subsequently rated it in terms of how angry, sad, and anxious they would feel on scales of 1 to 6. There were 24 clips in addition to three practice videos depicting such events as cats fighting, a woman having difficulty standing after slipping on ice, and children eating. These were

Karisha George - 9781848883161 Downloaded from Brill.com09/30/2021 12:21:07PM via free access 8 It Is Not What Happens to You ______chosen from an initial sample of 37 silent clips standardised by 10 participants. Thinking styles was assessed via trait rumination measured using the Rehearsal subscale of the Emotion Control Questionnaire (ECQ).40 Research within a similar undergraduate population using the ECQ documented a large alpha coefficient of .86.41 The significant mediation models are presented in Image 2 below. The results are based on the Preacher and Hayes mediation analysis,42 utilising bootstrapping with biased corrected and accelerated method. Unstandardised regression coefficients are reported.

Cognition (Thinking styles)

Negative trait Resilience emotion

Cognition (Emotional res ponses)

Image 1: The cognitive mediation model that was examined in the study.

Rumination

.19** -.74*

Trait anger Resilience -.29 (-.21)

Rumination

.07** -.72*

Trait NA Resilience -.30*** (-.24**) * p<.05 ** p<.01 *** p<.001

Image 2: The results from the cognitive mediation analysis.

The direct effects between negative trait emotion and resilience, after controlling for the mediating variable, are shown in the brackets. Although the trait emotions

Karisha George - 9781848883161 Downloaded from Brill.com09/30/2021 12:21:07PM via free access Karisha George 9 ______and resilience are not significantly related in one of the models, the literature states that a significant relationship between independent and dependent variables is not necessary for mediation to occur.43 The results show that rumination represents a significant causal factor in explaining the absence of higher levels of resilience associated with negative trait emotion. This relationship did not emerge for negative emotions, thus substantiating the influence of thinking styles and not cognitive appraisals on the relationship between negative trait emotion and resilience. However, only partial mediations emerged. Therefore, the next study incorporated 200 participants who filled in qualitative and quantitative assessments of thinking styles. It begins with a factor analysis of the quantitative measures followed by another mediation analysis.

6. Study 2: Exploring the Influence of Thinking Styles The quantitative assessment of thinking styles incorporated a battery of measures. These included assessments of optimistic thinking (the Life Orientation Test – Revised; LOT-R),44 savouring experiences (Savouring Beliefs Inventory; SBI),45 and worry (the Worry Domains Questionnaire; WDQ),46 in addition to rumination (the ECQ used in the previous study). These were evaluated primarily via a factor analysis that revealed two main dimensions – positive and negative thinking styles. Negative thinking comprised the ECQ and WDQ, whereas positive thinking included the SBI and LOT-R. The qualitative method entailed streams of consciousness, developed by Pennebaker in 1989 and widely used in the literature.47 This required participants to type their thoughts ‘at the moment’ for 20 minutes. It was assessed using the Linguistic and Word Count (LIWC) – a computerised text analysis programme that incorporates 61 scales each tapping a particular dimension of language. For instance, the ‘positive emotion’ words scale calculated the number of words like ‘love’ and ‘sweet,’ while the anxious, sad and angry scales evaluated the frequency of words such as ‘worried,’ ‘crying,’ and ‘hate,’ respectively. The scales have high reliability, reporting binary alphas ranging between .89 and .97.48 Following the preliminary analyses detailed above, mediation analyses were performed using the Preacher and Hayes programme with bias corrected and accelerated methods. It was hypothesised that trait anger and trait NA would be related to distinct aspects of thinking styles. For trait anger, significant partial mediations emerged for both reduced positive and increased negative thinking. Although no relationships emerged between trait NA and these variables, significant mediations were found for trait NA and the increased use of self- focused words in the LIWC analyses. Two types of self-focused thinking exist in the literature – ruminative and experiential self-focus.49 According to Teasdale,50 the former focuses on analytical thinking, while the latter – the more adaptive of the two – incorporates direct, intuitive, experiential awareness of the self ‘in the

Karisha George - 9781848883161 Downloaded from Brill.com09/30/2021 12:21:07PM via free access 10 It Is Not What Happens to You ______moment.’ Given the increased presence of past and future tense in participants’ responses, the findings suggested that high levels of trait NA were associated with analytical self-focus. The study hinted that the inability to develop higher levels of resilience associated with trait anger and trait NA may be generated by unique aspects of thinking styles. On the one hand, individuals high on trait anger are more likely to engage in negative thinking and less likely to practise positive thinking. On the other hand, trait NA generates high levels of ruminative self-focused thinking, which involves more intense analytical thinking. Before the impact of such thinking on how students handle the college experience can be evaluated, however, the relationship between trait emotion and meaning making needed to be explored.

7. Study 3: Exploring the Influence of Meaning Making The two main types of meaning making – searching for comprehensibility and searching for significance – were assessed by having 50 participants write for 20 minutes about a significant event that has happened to them. The instructions specified that they write about an incident that they have thought about and/or continue to think about frequently and/or for extended periods of time. They were also told to give specific details, such as what they have been thinking about the event and how they have been thinking about it. Based on the literature, it was hypothesised that both trait anger and trait NA would be related to an increased and incomplete search for meaning and a reduced presence of having found benefit. Correlations between scores on the negative trait emotion measures and participants’ scripts were performed. The scripts were analysed using the LIWC and deductive content analysis. The LIWC revealed increased use of fillers and the reduced use of insight words, hinting at an ongoing meaning making process. For the deductive analysis, inter-rater reliability was primarily assessed using 30 of the 50 scripts. High reliability was established with kappa of .70 and .73 for both categories (ongoing meaning making and finding benefit). Correlations that were subsequently performed on the results from the deductive content analysis supported the proposed hypotheses: both trait NA and trait anger were related to a continued search for meaning and reduced presence of finding benefit. These findings highlight the importance of meaning making.

7. Conclusions and Future Directions The research presented here has thus far set the stage for the in-depth analysis of the impact of how personality (negative trait emotion) and cognition (thinking styles and meaning making) influence individuals’ capacity to develop higher levels of resilience in the face of adversity. The findings have shown that negative trait emotion renders individuals susceptible to negative thinking patterns and also incapable of finding benefit in adversity. The next stage remains – to determine

Karisha George - 9781848883161 Downloaded from Brill.com09/30/2021 12:21:07PM via free access Karisha George 11 ______how these two processes interact to prevent individuals from developing higher levels of resilience following adversity.

Notes

1 Laura Campbell-Sills, Sharon L. Cohan and Murray B. Stein, ‘Relationship of Resilience to Personality, Coping, and Psychiatric Symptoms in Young Adults’, Behaviour Research and Therapy 44, No. 4 (2006): 585-599. 2 Erika L. Rosenberg, ‘Levels of Analysis and the Organization of Affect’, Review of General Psychology 2, No. 3 (1998): 247. 3 Jacobus F. Hazebroek, Kevin Howells and Andrew Day, ‘Cognitive Appraisals Associated with High Trait Anger’, Personality and Individual Differences 30, No. 1 (2001): 31-45. 4 Aaron T. Beck, Depression: Clinical, Experimental, and Theoretical Aspects (New York: Hoeber Medical Division, Harper & Row, 1967). 5 Ibid. 6 Nancy Cantor, ‘From Thought to Behavior: “Having” and “Doing” in the Study of Personality and Cognition’, American Psychologist 45, No. 6 (1990): 735. 7 Wendy J. Brown and Stewart G. Trost, ‘Life Transitions and Changing Physical Activity Patterns in Young Women’, American Journal of Preventive Medicine 25, No. 2 (2003): 140-143; Jack J. Bauer and Dan P. McAdams, ‘Personal Growth in Adults’ Stories of Life Transitions’, Journal of Personality 72, No. 3 (2004): 573- 602; Rachael Dyson and Kimberly Renk, ‘Freshmen Adaptation to University Life: Depressive Symptoms, Stress, and Coping’, Journal of Clinical Psychology 62, No. 10 (2006): 1231-1244. 8 Susan B. Fine, ‘Resilience and Human Adaptability: Who Rises Above Adversity?’, The American Journal of Occupational Therapy 45, No. 6 (1991): 458. 9 Frederic Flach, Resilience (New York: Fawcette, Columbine, 1988). 10 Frederic Flach, ‘The Resilience Hypothesis and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder’, in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: Etiology, Phenomenology, and Treatment, eds. Marion T. Wolf and Aaron D. Mosniam (Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press, 1990), 36-45; Anita J. Hunter and Genevieve E. Chandler, ‘Adolescent Resilience’, Journal of Nursing Scholarship 31, No. 3 (1999): 243-247; Kathryn M. Connor and Jonathan R. T. Davidson, ‘Development of a New Resilience Scale: The Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC)’, Depression and Anxiety 18, No. 2 (2003): 76-82. 11 Flach, Resilience. 12 Flach, ‘The Resilience Hypothesis and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder’. 13 Ibid.

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14 Glenn E. Richardson, ‘The Metatheory of Resilience and Resiliency’, Journal of Clinical Psychology 58, No. 3 (2002): 307-321. 15 Rosenberg, ‘Levels of Analysis and the Organization of Affect’. 16 Charles D. Spielberger, Susan S. Krasner and Eldra P. Solomon, ‘The Experience, Expression, and Control of Anger’, in Individual Differences, Stress, and Health Psychology, ed. Michel P. Janisse (Springer: New York, 1988), 89-108; Dewey G. Cornell, Catherine S. Peterson and Herbert Richards, ‘Anger as a Predictor of Aggression among Incarcerated Adolescents’, Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 67, No. 1 (1999): 108-115. 17 Helfried Moosbrugger, Karin Schermelleh-Engel and Andreas Klein, ‘Methodological Problems of Estimating Latent Interaction Effects’, Methods of Psychological Research Online 2, No. 2 (1997): 95-111. 18 Brigette A. Erwin, Richard G. Heimberg, Franklin R. Schneier and Michael R. Liebowitz, ‘Anger Experience and Expression in Social Anxiety Disorder: Pretreatment Profile and Predictors of Attrition and Response to Cognitive- Behavioral Treatment’, Behavior Therapy 34, No. 3 (2003): 331-350. 19 Jerry L. Deffenbacher and Stark, Robert. S, ‘Relaxation and Cognitive– Relaxation Treatments of General Anger’, Journal of Counseling Psychology 39 (1992): 158-167; Jerry L. Deffenbacher, Maureen E. Huff, Rebekah S. Lynch, Eugene R. Oetting, and Natalie F. Salvatore, ‘Characteristics and Treatment of High-Anger Drivers’, Journal of Counseling Psychology 47, No. 1 (2000): 5-17; Cornell, Peterson and Richards, ‘Anger as a Predictor of Aggression among Incarcerated Adolescents’. 20 Lisa S. Elwood, Kate Wolitzky-Taylor and Bunmi O. Olatunji, ‘Measurement of Anxious Traits: a Contemporary Review and Synthesis’, Anxiety, Stress & Coping 25, No. 6 (2012): 647-666. 21 Michael Rutter, ‘Resilience in the Face of Adversity’, British Journal of Psychiatry 147, No. 1 (1985): 598-611; Fine, ‘Resilience and Human Adaptability: Who Rises above Adversity?’; Celeste Benetti and Nicolas Kambouropoulos, ‘Affect-Regulated Indirect Effects of Trait Anxiety and Trait Resilience on Self- Esteem’, Personality and Individual Differences 41, No. 2 (2006): 341-352. 22 Moosbrugger, Schermelleh-Engel and Klein, ‘Methodological Problems of Estimating Latent Interaction Effects’. 23 Michelle Eileen Manasse and Natasha Morgan Ganem, ‘Victimization as a Cause of Delinquency: The Role of Depression and Gender’, Journal of Criminal Justice 37, No. 4 (2009): 371-378. 24 Raymond Chip Tafrate, Howard Kassinove and Louis Dundin, ‘Anger Episodes in High and Low Trait Anger Community Adults’, Journal of Clinical Psychology 58.12 (2002): 1573-1590.

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25 Flach, Resilience; Flach, ‘The Resilience Hypothesis and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder’; Richardson, ‘The Metatheory of Resilience and Resiliency’. 26 Cynthia S. Jacelon, ‘The Trait and Process of Resilience’, Journal of Advanced Nursing 25, No. 1 (1997): 123-129. 27 Susan Nolen-Hoeksema and Jannay Morrow, ‘A Prospective Study of Depression and Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms after a Natural Disaster: The 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake’, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 61, No. 1 (1991): 115-121; Cynthia Hudley and Sandra Graham, ‘An Attributional Intervention to Reduce Peer-Directed Aggression among African-American Boys’, Child Development 64, No. 1 (1993): 124-138; Hazebroek, Howells and Day, ‘Cognitive Appraisals Associated with High Trait Anger’. 28 Craig A Smith, Kelly N. Haynes, Richard S. Lazarus and Lois K. Pope, ‘In Search of the “Hot” Cognitions: Attributions, Appraisals, and Their Relation to Emotion’, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 65, No. 5 (1993): 916; Crystal L. Park, ‘Making Sense of the Meaning Literature: An Integrative Review of Meaning Making and Its Effects on Adjustment to Stressful Life Events’, Psychological Bulletin 136, No. 2 (2010): 257. 29 Suzanne C. Segerstrom, Annette L. Stanton, Lynn E. Alden and Brenna E. Shortridge, ‘A Multidimensional Structure for Repetitive Thought: What’s on Your Mind, and How, and How Much?’, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 85, No. 5 (2003): 909-921; Edward R. Watkins, ‘Constructive and Unconstructive Repetitive Thought’, Psychological Bulletin 134, No. 2 (2008): 163-206. 30 George A. Kelly, The Psychology of Personal Constructs, Vol. 2 (New York: Norton, 1955); Mardi Horowitz, Stress Response Syndromes (New Jersey: Northvale, Aronson, 1976); Fine, ‘Resilience and Human Adaptability: Who Rises above Adversity?’. 31 Susan Folkman and Judith Tedlie Moskowitz, ‘Positive Affect and the Other Side of Coping’, American Psychologist 55, No. 6 (2000): 647-654. 32 Benetti and Kambouropoulos, ‘Affect-Regulated Indirect Effects of Trait Anxiety and Trait Resilience on Self-Esteem’. 33 Alice M. Isen, Kimberly A. Daubman and Gary P. Nowicki, ‘Positive Affect Facilitates Creative Problem Solving’, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 52 (1987): 1122-1131; Gillian Rowe, Jacob B. Hirsh and Adam K. Anderson, ‘Positive Affect Increases the Breadth of Attentional Selection’, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 104, No. 1 (2007): 383-388. 34 Connor and Davidson, ‘Development of a New Resilience Scale: The Connor- Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC)’. 35 Charles D. Spielberger, Gerald Jacobs, Sheryl Russell and Rosario S. Crane, ‘Assessment of Anger: The State-Trait Anger Scale’, Advances in Personality Assessment 2 (1983): 159-187.

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36 Charles D. Spielberger, Richard L. Gorsuch and Robert E. Lushene, ‘Self- Evaluation Questionairre’, Manual for the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (US: Consulting Psychologists Press of Penn State Uni, 1970). 37 Charles D. Spielberger et al., Preliminary Manual for the State-Trait Personality Inventory (Tampa, FL: Human Resources Institute, University of South Florida, 1995). 38 Charles D. Spielberger, ‘State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory-Revised’ (Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources, Inc., 1999); Charles D. Spielberger et al., Preliminary Manual for the State-Trait Personality Inventory. 39 Hazebroek, Howells and Day, ‘Cognitive Appraisals Associated with High Trait Anger’. 40 Derek Roger and Bahman Najarian, ‘The Construction and Validation of a New Scale for Measuring Emotion Control’, Personality and Individual Differences 10, No. 8 (1989): 845-853. 41 Ibid. 42 Kristopher J. Preacher and Andrew F. Hayes, ‘Asymptotic and Resampling Strategies for Assessing and Comparing Indirect Effects in Multiple Mediator Models’, Behavior Research Methods 40, No. 3 (2008): 879-891. 43 Patrick E. Shrout and Niall Bolger, ‘Mediation in Experimental and Nonexperimental Studies: New Procedures and Recommendations’, Psychological Methods 7, No. 4 (2002): 422-445. 44 Michael F. Scheier, Charles S. Carver and Michael W. Bridges, ‘Distinguishing Optimism from Neuroticism (and Trait Anxiety, Self-Mastery, and Self-Esteem): A Reevaluation of the Life Orientation Test’, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 67 (1994): 1063-1078. 45 Fred Bryant, ‘Savoring Beliefs Inventory (SBI): A Scale for Measuring Beliefs about Savouring’, Journal of 12, No. 2 (2003): 175-196. 46 Frank Tallis, Michael Eysenck and Andrew Mathews, ‘A Questionnaire for the Measurement of Nonpathological Worry’, Personality and Individual Differences 13, No. 2 (1992): 161-168. 47 James W. Pennebaker, ‘Putting Stress into Words: Health, Linguistic, and Therapeutic Implications’, Behaviour Research and Therapy 31, No. 6 (1993): 539-548; Keith J. Petrie, Roger J. Booth and James W. Pennebaker, ‘The Immunological Effects of Thought Suppression’, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 75 (1998): 1264-1272. 48 James W. Pennebaker, Roger J. Booth and Martha E. Francis, LIWC2007: Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum Publishers, 2007). 49 Ed Watkins and John D. Teasdale, ‘Adaptive and Maladaptive Self-Focus in Depression’, Journal of Affective Disorders 82, No. 1 (2004): 1-8. 50 Ibid.

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Karisha George - 9781848883161 Downloaded from Brill.com09/30/2021 12:21:07PM via free access 16 It Is Not What Happens to You ______

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Karisha George is a PhD researcher at the University of York exploring the cognitive predispositions that prevent students from developing higher levels of resilience.

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