The Power of Stress: Perceived Stress and Its Relationship with Rumination, Self Concept Clarity, and Resilience

College students frequently encounter stressors while adapting to their new educational and social environments (Misra Castillo, 2004; Ross, Niebling, Heckert, 1999) which, if perceived negatively, may have an adverse effect on academic performance, increase vulnerability to psychological distress, and negatively impact physical health (Campbell Svenson, 1992; Caplan, 1981; Lazarus Folkman, 1984; Pancer, Hunsberger, Pratt, Alisat, 2000; Pearlin, 1999; Struthers, Perry, Menec, 2000; Thoits, 1995) Lazarus (1966) and Lazarus and Folkman (1984, 1987) posited a transactional model of stress and coping which suggests that one's appraisal of a stressful event will result in the implementation of a coping reaction to the stressor as a way to maintain psychological or physical well being. Prolonged exposure to the stressful event or its appraisal as being unmanageable can elicit the development of self destructive behaviors, such as rumination or a poor concept of self, that may lead to depression (Lynn Flynn, Pomaki, DeLongis, Biesanz, Puterman, 2011; McCollough, Bono, Root, 2007; Mezo Baker, 2012; Park Folkman, 1997) However, one's ability to manage and adapt to adverse experiences may play a role in ameliorating the effects of stress (Bonanno Mancini, 2008; Kumpfer, 1999) It is therefore important to gain a better understanding of how the perception of stress among college students is associated with the variables of rumination, self concept clarity, and resilience, in order to implement appropriate intervention strategies to foster academic, physical and psychological well being. Transactional Model of Stress and Coping The transactional model of stress and coping conceptualizes stress as an interactive process between the person and the environment that takes into account the nature of the stressful event (Lazarus, 1966; Lazarus Folkman, 1984, 1987) An important aspect of the theory involves the cognitive process of primary and secondary appraisals after exposure to the stressful event. Primary appraisals (also referred to as the motivational relevance; Smith Lazarus, 1990) concern "what is at stake for the person" while secondary appraisals focus on the "person's evaluation of coping options" in order to change conditions that are perceived as negative or undesirable (Lazarus Folkman, 1984, p. 315) Within the transactional model coping is considered a choice that is affected by these two cognitive appraisals and is determined by a person's perception of how much control he or she has over the stressful event (Folkman Lazarus, 1985) The reappraisal process of the model is the feedback process wherein changes to the primary and secondary appraisals are the result of the interactive reactions between the person and the environment based on the implemented coping behavior (Lazarus, 1993, 1994) Research has supported the transactional model's assertion that psychological stress and its intensity is the result of a person's evaluation of the stressful event in the context of how it affects his or her well being and the chosen method of coping (e.g. Lazarus, 1993, 1999; Lazarus Folkman, 1984, 1987; Perrewe Zellars, 1999) Perceived Stress and College Students The stressfulness of an event is dependent on a perceptual process of how one perceives the level of threat that the stressor poses and his/her ability to cognitively and behavioral manage/adapt to it (Caplan, 1981; Lazarus Folkman, 1984, 1987; Thoits, 1995) As mentioned earlier, college students often encounter various stressors that can negatively impact their academic performance, mental health and physical well being. Pierceall and Keim (2007) found that 75% of students in their study fell in the moderate stress category, 12% in the high stress category, 13% in the low stress category, with women students feeling more stressed then male students.