Reaction and Adaptation to Major Life Events

对重大生活事件的反应和适应

基本信息

批准号：
7662262
负责人：
Richard E Lucas
金额：
$ 5.9万
依托单位：
MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
财政年份：
2008
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2008-08-01 至 2011-07-31
项目状态：
已结题

项目摘要

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The life course is characterized by normative transitions that are often associated with major life events. Much existing research suggests that people readily adapt to these events. Based on this evidence, some researchers have argued that people have genetically determined emotional set-points to which they inevitably return after a period of adaptation. If so, that would mean that people who experience extreme emotional reactions to major life changes will inevitably return to their baseline levels of emotions after some period of time (and without intervention). This also means that interventions that are designed to improve levels of emotional well-being may be unlikely to have a lasting effect. However, much of the research on adaptation to life events has been based on less than ideal designs, and thus strong conclusions can often not be drawn. Recently, psychologists have begun to use large-scale, nationally representative panel studies to examine adaptation to major life events. These studies question some of the results obtained using alternative designs. For instance, analyses of panel data show that although people adapt to marriage and widowhood, they seem to be permanently affected by divorce, unemployment, and the onset of disability. However, many of these results come from a single study from a single nation (the German Socio-Economic Panel Study). Thus, the generalizability of these effects is questionable. In addition, few person-level characteristics have been examined as moderators of these effects. The proposed research will use two additional nationally representative panel studies to examine the full course of adaptation to a broader set of major life events than has been studied in the past. In addition, extending past research, the proposed studies will examine a variety of person-level characteristics that might affect people's reaction and adaptation to major life changes. Four specific aims will be addressed using secondary analysis of existing nationally representative panel data. First, the previous study of Germans showed that people adapted to marriage within about two years. However, the cross-sectional effect of marital status is smaller in Germany than in some other nations. Therefore, to determine whether the effect of marriage depends on culture, analyses of adaptation to marriage will be replicated in two additional nations Australia and Great Britain. Second, prospective panel studies have been used to examine a relatively small number of life events. The two datasets that will be examined in the proposed research include a much broader selection of positive and negative life events. Reaction and adaptation to this broader set of events will be examined. Third, existing studies include few person-level moderators of adaptation effects. Both the British and Australian studies included detailed measures of social support and personality constructs that can be examined as moderators of adaptation effects. Finally, because many life events tend to occur during normative periods of the life span (and because resources that one can use to deal with life events change over the life span) the effects of age on adaptation will be examined. Public Health Relevance: The life course is characterized by normative sequences of major life events that have the potential to significantly impact emotional and physical health. This project will use two very large, nationally representative longitudinal datasets to assess psychological reaction and adaptation to a wide variety of major life events. Investigations into the processes that underlie adaptation will inform theory about life span development, along with efforts to promote recovery from trauma and to improve psychological health.

描述（由申请人提供）：生活课程的特征是经常与重大生活事件相关的规范过渡。现有的许多研究表明，人们很容易适应这些事件。基于这些证据，一些研究人员认为，人们在适应一段时间后不可避免地回来了，人们已经在基因上确定了情绪固定点。如果是这样，那将意味着，对重大生活变化的极端情感反应的人不可避免地会在一段时间后（没有干预）恢复其基线情绪水平。这也意味着旨在提高情感健康水平的干预措施可能不太可能产生持久的效果。但是，关于适应生命事件的许多研究都是基于不理想的设计，因此通常无法得出强烈的结论。最近，心理学家已经开始使用大规模的全国代表性小组研究来研究对重大生活事件的适应。这些研究质疑使用替代设计获得的一些结果。例如，对小组数据的分析表明，尽管人们适应婚姻和丧偶，但他们似乎会被离婚，失业和残疾发作永久影响。但是，其中许多结果来自一个国家的一项研究（德国社会经济小组研究）。因此，这些影响的普遍性值得怀疑。此外，很少有人级特征作为这些影响的主持人。拟议的研究将使用两项其他全国代表性的小组研究来研究比过去研究的更广泛的重大生活事件的完整过程。此外，随着过去的研究，拟议的研究将研究各种人级特征，这些特征可能影响人们的反应并适应重大生活变化。使用现有国家代表性小组数据的二级分析将解决四个具体目标。首先，先前对德国人的研究表明，人们在大约两年内适应了婚姻。但是，在德国，婚姻状况的横断面影响比其他一些国家小。因此，确定婚姻的影响是否取决于文化，将在澳大利亚和英国的另外两个国家中复制适应婚姻的分析。其次，前瞻性面板研究已用于检查相对少量的生活事件。在拟议的研究中将检查的两个数据集包括积极和负面的生活事件的更广泛选择。将检查对这一更广泛事件的反应和适应。第三，现有的研究包括适应效应的人级主持人。英国和澳大利亚的研究都涵盖了社会支持和人格结构的详细措施，这些措施可以作为适应效果的主持人进行检查。最后，由于许多生活事件往往发生在寿命的规范时期（以及可以用来处理生活事件在生命周期内发生变化的资源），因此将检查年龄对适应性的影响。公共卫生相关性：生活课程的特征是重大生活事件的规范序列，这些事件有可能影响情绪和身体健康。该项目将使用两个非常大的，全国代表性的纵向数据集来评估心理反应并适应各种重大生活事件。对基于适应的过程的调查将为有关生命发展的理论提供依据，以及促进从创伤中康复并改善心理健康的努力。