Sport and Exercise Psychology 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Sport and Exercise Psychology 2 - Essay Example One of the most consistent findings within this vast research literature is the variability in well-being that people exhibit when they experience stressful life events. Constructs like vulnerability and resiliency reflect attempts to identify social, situational, and individual difference variables that either increase or decrease the likelihood that people will exhibit negative reactions to stressful events (Block & Block, 39–101, 2000; Compas, 393–403, 2000; Garmezy, 196–269, 2003; Kessler & McLeod, 620–631, 2003; Rutter, 389–395, 2000). Research on vulnerability and resiliency factors was stimulated in part by low and inconsistent relations between life events and outcome measures. Although statistically significant relations between negative life events and self-report measures of physical and psychological well-being have frequently been reported, seldom has more than 10–15% of the outcome variance been accounted for in studies using prospective designs. When objective outcome measures of physical well-being have been used, thereby eliminating the potential role of self-report biases, the amount of variance accounted for has shrunk to 1–5% (Rabkin & Streuning 389–395, 2004; Schroeder & Costa 389–395, 2003). Faced with a pattern of weak and inconsistent results, researchers have sought to identify psychosocial moderator variables that might affect the nature and magnitude of relations between life stress and well-being. Many studies have demonstrated that taking into account factors suc h as social support and certain personality variables results in stronger relations between life stress and both psychological and medical outcome measures (e.g., Barrera 389–395, 2002; Sarason, Sarason, Potter, & Antoni 389–395, 2003; Smith, Johnson, & Sarason, 188-235, 2003; Stone, Helder, & Schneider 389–395, 2002; Thoits