Perceptions of stressful life events as turning points are associated with self-rated health and psychological distress

Abstract

We test the hypothesis that changes in physical and psychological health are associated with construals of stressful life events. At two points in time, approximately 10 years apart, participants (n=1038) rated their physical health and psychological distress. At the second assessment, participants also reported their most stressful life event since the first assessment and indicated whether they considered the event a turning point and/or lesson learned. Lower self-ratings of health and higher ratings of psychological distress, controlling for baseline health and distress, and relevant demographic factors, were associated with perceiving the stressful life event as a turning point, particularly a negative turning point. The two health measures were primarily unrelated to lessons learned. How individuals construe the most stressful events in their lives are associated with changes in self-rated health and distress.

Keywords:

• turning points
• lesson learned
• life story
• physical health
• psychological distress
• stressful life event

Acknowledgements

This research was supported in part by the Intramural Research Program of the NIH, National Institute on Aging. The Baltimore ECA, directed by William Eaton, was supported by NIH grants MH 47447, MH64543, and MH 50616. Paul Costa receives royalties from the Revised NEO Personality Inventory.