The impact of reappraisal ability on adjustment to stressful life events

描述（由申请人提供）：压力生活事件（SLEs），如亲人去世，失业或离婚，在成年期经常遇到。对于一些人来说，这些SLE会导致衰弱和持久的结果，如抑郁症和焦虑症。然而，其他人在面对SLE时表现出令人印象深刻的弹性。是什么因素决定了个体之间巨大的结果差异？对这个问题的一个可能的答案是关于重新评价的新兴研究，这是一种情绪调节，涉及认知重构情绪事件，以使它们不那么情绪化。这项研究强烈暗示了对心理健康和幸福的重新评估。因此，个体使用重新评价的能力可能是一个关键的心理因素，它可以预测个体在面对SLE时的结果差异。此外，由于重新评价对情感反应强度具有强大的影响，并且由于情感反应强度是对SLE的负面调整的重要风险因素，因此重新评价能力为我们指出了这些环节中的关键中介机制，即情感反应强度降低（情感反应）。这些观察结果表明，理解重新评价能力可以提供一个关键，形成一个科学的模型，在调整SLE的个体差异。此外，这些知识具有至关重要的应用价值，因为它可以有效地指导干预措施，从而有助于防止许多人出现严重的心理健康后果。然而，我们在以下几个方面的认识存在很大的差距：（1）涉及重新评价能力的精确心理过程，特别是在成年人中;（2）重新评价能力的个体差异在适应SLE中所起的作用;（3）它们影响适应SLE的机制。为了解决最紧迫的问题，周围的重新评估和它的作用，在个人的适应SLE，我们建议招募一个社区样本的个人年龄在21至60岁谁最近经历了SLE。在这个样本中，我们将（1）在实验室范式中检查重新评价能力，特别关注理解可能支持重新评价能力的认知控制过程，（2）在纵向设计中检查重新评价能力的个体差异在适应SLE中所起的预期作用，（3）检查这些影响是否由负面情感反应介导。总之，拟议中的研究应该促进我们对个人适应SLE的关键过程的理解，从而为我们理解个人的心理健康和幸福做出重大贡献。因为我们将研究一组不同年龄（21-60岁）暴露于各种SLE的个体，我们将能够广泛地测试所提出的联系的特异性和普遍性。公共卫生相关性：这项研究计划的目的是帮助了解面对压力生活事件时健康结果的巨大个体差异。它关注的是一个心理过程，理论和经验的考虑表明，这是至关重要的，即个人的能力，使用重新评估，或认知重构压力事件，使他们少情绪化。从长远来看，该项目的研究结果将对制定有效的、基于药物的早期识别和预防方案至关重要。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Stressful life events (SLEs) such as death of a loved one, unemployment, or divorce are frequently encountered in adulthood. For some, these SLEs lead to debilitating and long-lasting outcomes such as depression and anxiety disorders. Others, however, exhibit impressive resilience in the face of SLEs. What factors govern this vast individual variation in outcomes? One possible answer to this question is suggested by emerging research on reappraisal, a type of emotion regulation that involves cognitive reframing emotional events so as to render them less emotional. This research strongly implies reappraisal in mental health and well-being. Individuals' ability to use reappraisal might thus be a key psychological factor that predicts individual variation in outcomes in the face of SLEs. In addition, because reappraisal has powerful effects on the intensity of affective responses, and because the intensity of affective responses is an important risk factor for negative adjustment to SLEs, reappraisal ability points us to a key mediating mechanism in these links, namely decreased intensity of affective responses (affective reactivity). These observations suggest that understanding reappraisal ability can provide a key to forming a scientific model of individual variation in adjustment to SLEs. This knowledge is additionally of crucial applied importance because it could effectively guide interventions and thus help prevent severe mental-health outcomes in many individuals. However, large gaps exist in what we know about (1) the precise psychological processes involved in reappraisal ability, particularly in adults, (2) the role individual differences in reappraisal ability play in adjustment to SLEs, and (3) the mechanisms by which they affect adjustment to SLEs. In order to address the most pressing questions surrounding reappraisal and its role in individuals' adjustment to SLEs, we propose to recruit a community sample of individuals aged 21 to 60 who have recently experienced SLEs. In this sample, we will (1) examine reappraisal ability in a laboratory paradigm, with a particular focus on understanding the cognitive-control processes that might support reappraisal ability, (2) examine, in a longitudinal design, the prospective role that individual differences in reappraisal ability play in adjustment to SLEs, and (3) examine whether these effects are mediated by negative affective reactivity. Together, the proposed studies should advance our understanding of a lynchpin process in individuals' adjustment to SLEs, and thereby make a significant contribution to our understanding of individuals' mental health and well-being. Because we will examine a diverse group of individuals across a large range of ages (21-60) exposed to a variety of SLEs, we will be able to extensively test the specificity and generalizability of the proposed links. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The objective of this research program is to contribute to understanding the vast individual variation in health outcomes in the face of stressful life events. It focuses on a psychological process that theoretical and empirical considerations suggest as crucial, namely individuals' ability to use reappraisal, or, cognitively reframe stressful events so as to render them less emotional. In the longer term, findings from this project will be critical for the development of effective, empirically-based early identification and prevention programs.