A study of stressful life events, coping resources, and health status

Typescript (photocopy).The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between stressful life events and health status and to assess the effects of coping resources as mediators of life stress. While much cross-sectional research has focused on this relationship, the causal significance of stressful life events on physical health has not been unambiguously established. Using a longitudinal design, this study incorporated three types of coping resources in the stress-illness model to causally evaluate the direct and indirect effects of social, psychological, and behavioral resources on physical health outcome. The study focuses on differences between a general population sample of approximately 1200 men and women in three age groups: young adults 20-34 years of age, middle-aged adults 35-49 years of age, and older adults 50-64 years of age. Two sets of research findings are discussed in this study. The first focuses on similarities and differences between men and women in three age categories with respect to physical health status, exposure to stressful life events, social network ties, health locus of control orientation, and certain health practices. The second set focuses on the causal model and the direct and indirect effects of the variables in the model for each of the age/sex groups. Path analysis of the model indicates that it performed differently for each of the age/sex groups. These data indicate that men and young adults are more likely to be in better health than women and older adults. They show that more women than men experience stressful life events and that stressful life events had a negative effect on health for middle-aged men and women and older women. Age was also a significant factor for social ties and health locus of control orientation. Women and young adults follow the most good health practices. In terms of the causal model, prior health was the most important factor in explaining subsequent health status. After controlling for the effects of prior health, the effects of stressful life events on subsequent health were small. The explanatory power of the three types of coping resources was low