Self-attention, life stress, and illness: a prospective study

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Health Behavior
• Psychosomatic Medicine

Background:

• Stressful life events are linked to physical illness.
• Individual differences in self-perception may influence health outcomes.
• Internal monitoring plays a role in coping with stress.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if focusing on internal aspects of the self (private self-consciousness) acts as a stress resistance resource.
• To examine the relationship between private self-consciousness, stressful life events, and subsequent illness.
• To understand the mechanisms by which self-consciousness influences health.

Main Methods:

• Prospective study design with 120 subjects.
• Utilized the Private Self-Consciousness inventory, a schedule of recent life events, and a symptom checklist.
• Employed hierarchical panel analysis to analyze longitudinal data.

Main Results:

• Stressful life events predicted subsequent illness in individuals low in private self-consciousness.
• This predictive relationship was not observed in individuals high in private self-consciousness.
• Findings support the hypothesis that private self-consciousness is a stress resistance resource.

Conclusions:

• High private self-consciousness may protect against illness by facilitating attention to and coping with stress-related reactions.
• Low private self-consciousness may increase illness susceptibility due to a failure to monitor and address psychologic and somatic responses to stress.
• Results align with theories of disregulation, control systems, and internal monitoring in health behavior.