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Is waiting bad for subjective health?
Jennifer L Howell1, Kate Sweeny2
1Department of Psychology, Ohio University, 200 Porter Hall, Athens, OH, 45701, USA. Howellj@ohio.edu.
Journal of Behavioral Medicine
|March 13, 2016
Summary
Waiting for important results, like bar exam outcomes, negatively impacts subjective health and sleep. Distress and emotion regulation efforts during these periods are linked to poorer health trajectories.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Health Psychology
- Longitudinal Studies
Background:
- Waiting periods can induce stress and affect well-being.
- Subjective health and sleep disruption are key indicators of psychological distress.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the impact of waiting on subjective health.
- To examine longitudinal trends in health, sleep, distress, and emotion regulation.
Main Methods:
- Longitudinal study design.
- Multilevel analyses of self-reported data.
- Focus on law school graduates awaiting bar exam results.
Main Results:
- Waiting negatively affected self-reported health and sleep disruption, especially at the start and end of the waiting period.
- Higher distress and emotion regulation efforts correlated with poorer subjective health.
- Increases in distress and emotion regulation paralleled worsening health and sleep disruption.
Conclusions:
- Waiting periods pose a risk to subjective health and sleep quality.
- Individual differences and temporal changes in distress and emotion regulation influence health outcomes during waiting periods.
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