Identity-relevant events and psychological symptoms: a cautionary tale

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Sociology
• Social Psychology

Background:

• Individuals
• often
• define
• themselves
• through
• roles
• they
• play
• in
• life
• (e.g.
• ,
• spouse
• ,
• parent
• ,
• employee).
• The
• salience
• (importance)
• of
• these
• role-identities
• can
• influence
• how
• people
• respond
• to
• life
• events.

Purpose of the Study:

• This
• study
• investigated
• whether
• the
• psychological
• impact
• of
• negative
• and
• positive
• life
• events
• is
• stronger
• when
• they
• occur
• in
• domains
• that
• are
• highly
• important
• to
• an
• individual's
• self-concept.

Main Methods:

• The
• research
• utilized
• interview
• data
• from
• a
• two-wave
• panel
• study
• of
• 532
• urban
• adults
• (married
• and
• divorced).
• Participants
• reported
• on
• life
• events
• and
• their
• psychological
• symptoms.

Main Results:

• Contrary
• to
• the
• hypothesis
• ,
• the
• study
• found
• that
• the
• influence
• of
• life
• events
• on
• changes
• in
• psychological
• distress
• and
• substance
• use
• did
• not
• depend
• on
• the
• perceived
• importance
• of
• the
• role-identity.

Conclusions:

• The
• identity-relevant
• stress
• hypothesis
• may
• need
• revision.
• Qualitative
• analyses
• suggested
• that
• contextual
• details
• of
• events
• are
• crucial
• for
• understanding
• their
• impact.
• Further
• research
• should
• explore
• how
• stressors
• affect
• perceptions
• of
• identity
• salience.