Resources, life events, and changes in psychological states: a prospective framework

A framework is presented that examines resources, environmental changes, and time in relation to one another and to changes in psychological affect. Resources in the aggregate are assumed to have both main effects and interactive effects on changes in psychological states. With undesirable life events, the resource interaction is assumed to be a buffer function, with resources making their strongest contribution at moderate levels of undesirable events. With desirable events, the resource interaction is assumed to be a multiplicative booster function, the effect of resources increasing as the level of desirable events increases. Cumulative undesirable demand is a variable with broader context than life events and is assumed to directly increase negative changes in psychological states. Time is considered a passive moderator, reducing the impact of either desirable or undesirable changes on psychological states. Alternative paths leading to positive change, status quo, and negative change in psychological states are then described, including the "false hope" hypothesis, and relations among variables are specified.