In preparation for my blog…on 'holiday stress' I decided to do what good researchers should do – check the literature first.  So to see what was new, I put in the key words 'stress' and 'impact'…this resulted in over 72, 000 references…thus increasing my stress.  The first article to appear was entitled

“Fracture Mechanisms of Aluminium Alloy AA7075-T651 Under Various Loading Conditions”

I’m guessing that you get the picture.  I had this fantasy that I might read the summary of this article and draw one of those odd-ball, left-field metaphors that I love so much.  However, I soon realized that I would have to invoke the help of a plump little elf from the far north (or my niece - - well technically a cousin by marriage - - who is an aerospace engineer) to pull that one off given that I had no clue as to what 50 to 70 per cent of the words meant. So feeling increasingly stressed, I pursued another line of attack using the words “stress, impact, and children”…somewhat better 8000 articles….still stressful....next….”stress, impact, mental health”….3,340 articles…. which led to this….

“Whatever Does Not Kill Us: Cumulative Lifetime Adversity, Vulnerability, and Resilience”. 

How often have we heard that saying? (well…not the Cumulative Lifetime Adversity, Vulnerability and Resilience part). I’ve heard that phrase a lot in my life…you know…those motivational mass e-mails from some list-serve you didn’t even know you became a part of, as a student willing myself through exams, or grocery-store, check-out line conversations. Lately, I hear it mostly in my own head as I am working out at the gym with Tatiana (a lithe, 26-year-old who looks like an angel, is built like a gymnast, and, I swear, is trying to do me bodily harm). 

Apparently, though, it’s true…to a certain extent.  A recent study by Seery et al. (2010) suggests some adversity or stress in our lives help can help our mental health and well-being -  both in the long-run and in the face of immediate stressors.  In a really, nifty web-based study, they sent surveys to a national research panel.  Over 2,300 people participated in four surveys between 2001 and 2004, with animpressive 83 per cent sticking it out until the end.  The survey asked about major negative life events (e.g., economic problems, death of someone close, disasters, illness and injury), recent adversities (e.g., the same type of events within the last 6 months), and mental health and well-being (i.e., distress, functioning, life satisfaction, and post-traumatic stress).  The researchers found that people with a history of negative events (two to four events) tended to fare better on mental health and well-being measures than those with one or fewer events or those with a significant number of negative events (five or more). These people also tended to report fewer difficulties when exposed to recent negative events. Some theories offered are that a few negative events can help to build coping skills, create a “sense of mastery” or belief in the ability to meet the challenge, and engage social supports etc. Too many negative events, on the other hand, can easily overwhelm of prevent these positive skills from developing.

There’s a lot of data in this report and I will be reading it in much more detail but REMEMBER this is what is called a “correlational study” not a “causal study”. That means that just because  someone may have more than five negative events they didn’t automatically report more difficulty in areas of mental health and well-being....it was more likely that people with higher numbers of negative life events were more likely to report more difficulties.

So as the holiday season approaches and stressors and negative events may start to pile up…remember….whatever doesn’t kill you apparently does make you stronger…to a point. Remember to take a break so those coping skills and social supports can kick in. And, I’ll keep reminding myself of that when I am at the gym with Tatiana in an effort to fit into those holiday clothes and get a jump on my New Year’s Resolution!

REFERENCE:

Seery, M. D., Holman, E. A., & Silver, R. C. (2010, October 11). Whatever Does Not Kill Us:

Cumulative Lifetime Adversity, Vulnerability, and Resilience. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1037/a0021344