Interrelationships among stressful life events, general mental health, and temperament were investigated with a sample of 133 late adolescent females. Three different stressful life event schemes were used to explore these interrelationships, including a categorization based on contextual or social domain, a categorization-based source of control for event occurrence, and a unit-weighted summation of life events. Differential relations between the disaggregated social domain and source of control dimensions and general mental health were found. Contrary to previous findings on stress-mental health relationships in adolescence, a socially-interactional stress dimension, and not a family stress dimension, was most highly correlated with general mental health. Alternative explanations were proposed to account for these discrepant findings, one of which suggested the need to consider differences in contextual "press" factors which may differentially influence early and late adolescents. Moderate to strong support was found for the relationships of temperament to general mental health and to stress. Eight of ten temperament-mental health correlations were statistically significant. Similar to the mental health-stress relation findings, differential relations were found between temperament attributes and the disaggregated social domain and source of control dimensions. Temperament attributes were generally more highly associated with the occurrence of socially-interactive, peer, and controllable stressful life events. Multiple regression analysis indicated that temperament and stress made statistically reliable contributions to general mental health.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Berndt, T. J.
(1982). The features and effects of friendships in early adolescence. Child Development, 53, 1447-1460.
2.
Billings, A. G.
, & Moos, R. H. (1981). The role of coping responses and social resources in attenuating the stress of life events. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 4, 139-157.
3.
Burks, J.
, & Rubenstein, M. (1979). Temperament styles in adult interaction: Applications in psychotherapy. New York: Brunner/Mazel.
4.
Chess, S.
, & Thomas, A. (1984). Origins and evolution of behavior disorders from infancy to early adult life. New York: Brunner/Mazel.
5.
Coddington, R. D.
(1972). The significance of life events as etiologic factors in the diseases of children: II. A study of a normal population. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 16, 205-213.
6.
Coelho, G. V.
, Hamburg, D. A., & Adams, J. E. (Eds.) (1974). Coping and adaptation. New York: Basic Books.
7.
Dohrenwend, B. S.
, & Dohrenwend, B. P. (Eds.) (1974). Stressful life events: Their nature and effects. New York: Wiley.
8.
Dohrenwend, B. S.
, & Dohrenwend, B. P. (Eds.) (1981). Stressful life events and their contextsNew York: Prodist; New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
9.
Dunn, J. F.
(1980). Individual differences in temperament. In M. Rutter (Ed.), The scientific foundations of developmental psychiatry (pp. 101-109). London: Heinemann Medical Books.
10.
Folkman, S.
(1984). Personal control and stress and coping processes: A theoretical analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 46, 839-852.
11.
Forman, B. D.
, Edison, K., & Hagan, B. J. (1983). Measuring perceived stress in adolescents: A cross validation. Adolescence, 18, 573-576.
12.
Graham, P.
, Rutter, M., & George, S. (1973). Temperamental characteristics as predictors of behavioral disorders in children. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 43, 328-339.
13.
Holmes, T. H.
, & Rahe, R. H. (1967). The Social Readjustment Rating Scale. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 11, 213-218.
14.
Hultsch, D. F.
, & Plemons, J. K. (1979). Life events and life-span development. In P. B. Baltes & O. G. Brim, Jr. (Eds.), Life-span development and behavior (Vol. 2, pp. 1-36). New York: Academic Press.
15.
Hurst, M. W.
, Jenkins, C. D., & Ross, R. M. (1978). The assessment of life change stress: A comparative and methodological inquiry. Psychosomatic Medicine, 40, 126-141.
16.
Johnson, J. H.
, & Sarason, I. G. (1978). Life stress, depression and anxiety: Internal-external control as a moderator variable. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 22, 205-208.
17.
Keough, B.
(1986). Temperament and schooling: Meaning of "goodness of fit"? In J. V. Lerner and R. M. Lerner (Eds.), New Directions for Child Development (Vol. 31) Temperament and social interaction in infants and children (pp. 89-108). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
18.
Kessler, R. C.
, Price, R. H., & Wortman, C. B. (1985). Social factors in psychopathology: Stress, social support, and coping processes. In M. R. Rosenzweig & L. W. Porter (Eds.), Annual Review of Psychology, (Vol. 36, pp. 531-572). Palo Alto, CA: Annual Reviews.
19.
Kobasa, S. C.
, Maddi, S. R., & Courington, S. (1981). Personality and constitution as mediators in the stress-illness relationship. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 22, 368-378.
20.
Lazarus, R. S.
, & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, appraisal, and coping. New York: Springer.
21.
Lerner, R. M.
, & East, P. L. (1984). The role of temperament in stress, coping and socioemotional functioning in early development. Infant Mental Health Journal, 5, 148-159.
22.
Lerner, J. V.
, & Lerner, R. M. (1983). Temperament and adaptation across life: Theoretical and empirical issues. In P. B. Baltes & O. G. Brim, Jr. (Eds.), Life-span development and behavior (Vol. 5, pp. 197-231). New York: Academic Press.
23.
Lemer, J. V.
, Lerner, R. M., & Zabski, S. (1985). Temperament and elementary school children's actual and rated academic performance: A test of a "goodness of fit" model. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 26, 125-136.
24.
Martin, R. P.
, Nagle, R., & Paget, K. (1983). Relationships between temperament and classroom behavior, teacher attitudes, and academic achievement. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, 1, 379-386.
25.
Mechanic, D.
(1983). Adolescent health and illness behavior: Review of the literature and a new hypothesis for the study of stress. Journal of Human Stress, 9, 4-13.
26.
Newcomb, M. D.
, Huba, G. J., & Bentler, P. M. (1981). A multidimensional assessment of stressful life events among adolescents: Derivation and correlates. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 22, 400-415.
27.
Newcomb, M. D.
, Huba, G J., & Bentler, P. M. (In press). Life change events among adolescents: An empirical consideration of some methodological issues. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease.
28.
Rabkin, J. G.
, & Struening, E. L. (1976). Life events, stress, and illness. Science, 194, 1013-1020.
29.
Reese, H. W.
, & Smyer, M. A. (1983). The dimensionalization of life events. In E. J. Callahan & K. A. McCluskey (Eds.), Life-span developmental psychology: Normative life events (pp. 1-33). New York: Academic Press.
30.
Rook, K. S.
(1984). The negative side of social interaction: Impact on psychological well being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 46, 1097-1108.
31.
Sarason, I. G.
, Johnson, J. H., & Siegel, J. M. (1978). Assessing the impact of life changes: Development of the Life Experience Survey. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 46, 932-946.
32.
Siddique, C. M.
, & DArcy, C. (1984). Adolescence, stress, and psychological well-being. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 13, 459-473.
33.
Skinner, H. A.
, & Lei, H. (1980). The multidimensional assessment of stressful life events. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 168, 535-541.
34.
Swearingen, E. M.
, & Cohen, L. H. (1985). Life events and psychological distress: A prospective study of young adolescents. Developmental Psychology, 21, 1045-1054.
35.
Thomas, A.
, & Chess, S. (1977). Temperament and developmentNew York: Brunner/Mazel.
36.
Thomas, A.
, Chess, S., & Birch, H. G. (1968). Temperament and behavior disorders in children. New York: New York University Press.
37.
Veit, C. T.
, & Ware, J. E. (1983). The structure of psychological distress and well-being in general populations. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 51, 730-742.
38.
Vinokur, A.
, & Selzer, M. L. (1975). Desirable versus undesirable life events: Their relationships to stress and mental distress. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 32, 329-337.
39.
Windle, M.
, Hooker, K., Lenerz, K., East, P. L., Lerner, J. V., & Lerner, R. M. (1986). Temperament, perceived competence, and depression in early and late-adolescents. Developmental Psychology, 22, 384-392.
40.
Windle, M.
, & Lerner, R. M. (1984). The role of temperament in dating relationships among young adults. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 30, 163-175.
41.
Windle, M.
, & Lemer, R. M. (1986). Reassessing the dimensions of temperamental individuality across the life span: The Revised Dimensions of Temperament Survey (DOTS-R). Journal of Adolescent Research, 1, 213-230.
42.
Yeaworth, R. C.
, York, J., Hussey, M. A., Ingle, M. E., & Goodwin, T. (1980). The development of an adolescent life change event scale. Adolescence, 15, 91-97.
