Risk & Resilience: Self Concept Incoherence Article, Diehl & Hay

Question 1

Risk Factor: Self-concept Incoherence

Answer 1

• Operationally defined in terms of self-concept differentiation, which assess the extent to which a person’s self representations differ across various social roles and situations
• Self representations come into play when a person is confronted with life stress, but they fulfill their self regulatory function optimally only if they are coherently and interpretively organized.
• In terms of self-concept incoherence, the hypotheses are structured in the following manner: greater self-concept incoherence would be associated with
o 1. Higher mean levels of daily negative affect
o 2. Greater intraindividual variability in negative affect
o 3. Greater increases in negative affect in response to daily stress

Question 2

Resilience Factor: Personal Control

Answer 2

• Perceptions of personal control are associated with a variety of positive outcomes and lower reactivity to stressors in daily life.
• The authors hypothesize that perceived daily control would be associated directly with daily affect, and would also buffer the impact of stress on negative affect—this would differ by age and by level of self-concept incoherence.
• Specifically, the buffering effect of perceived control on the stress-affect association would be significantly stronger in younger adults compared with middle-aged and older adults.

Question 3

Results: Self-Concept Incoherence

Answer 3

Self-Concept Incoherence was positively associated with intraindividual variability in daily negative affect both before and after controlling for individuals’ mean level of stress
• Data did not support the hypothesis that a higher level of self-concept incoherence would be associated with a greater increase in negative affect in response to daily stress
o Self-concept incoherence did not increase individuals’ reactivity to daily stress
o This result is at odds with findings from previous studies that have shown neuroticism associated with increased reactivity to daily stressors
• Also age did not moderate the association between self-concept incoherence and activities daily stress as hypothesized.

• The findings regarding the role of chronological age were more consistent with the conceptualization of age as a resilience factor than as a risk factor.
• Not only was the hypothesis that older adults would have lower levels of average daily negative affect supported, but age also moderated the effect of perceived control at the within-person level.
• In contrast to previous studies, age was not shown to moderate the effect of daily stress on adults’ daily negative affect (i.e. older adults did not experience higher negaative affect due to age), nor were older adults were less effective than younger adults in regulating negative affect in response to daily stress.
• Moreover, the association between age and variability in negative affect was not due to age differences in stress exposure.
• Thus, the findings contribute to the growing evidence the chronological age per se may not be a risk factor for becoming more vulnerable to the negative effects of daily stress but that it may be other potentially age-related factors that increase older adults’ vulnerability to the effects of daily stress.

Question 4

Results: Personal Control

Answer 4

Data revealed substantial support for the role of perceptions of personal control as resilience factor in coping with daily stress
• Perceived personal control also buffered reactivity to stress
• Also, the association between daily personal control and daily negative affect was moderated by age
o Daily perceptions of control were more strongly associated with negative affect among younger adults
o Younger adults may be particularly vulnerable to perceiving low personal control in general and in their reactions to interpersonal stressors.

The data did NOT support the hypothesis that the buffering effect of perceived control on the stress-affect association would significantly vary by level of self-concept incoherence
o This result suggests that individuals with high self-concept incoherence are similarly reactive to daily stress as individuals with low self-concept incoherence even though they are more variable in their daily negative affect.
o This also suggests that individuals with a more incoherent self-concept may overall be more psychologically disorganized, especially with regard to their emotions, than individuals with a more coherent self-concept.

Question 5

Dicussion, general

Answer 5

The findings regarding the role of chronological age were more consistent with the conceptualization of age as a resilience factor than as a risk factor.

Not only was the hypothesis that older adults would have lower levels of average daily negative affect supported, but age also moderated the effect of perceived control at the within-person level.
• In contrast to previous studies, age was not shown to moderate the effect of daily stress on adults’ daily negative affect (i.e. older adults did not experience higher negative affect due to age), nor were older adults were less effective than younger adults in regulating negative affect in response to daily stress.
• Moreover, the association between age and variability in negative affect was not due to age differences in stress exposure.
• Thus, the findings contribute to the growing evidence the chronological age per se may not be a risk factor for becoming more vulnerable to the negative effects of daily stress but that it may be other potentially age-related factors that increase older adults’ vulnerability to the effects of daily stress.

Question 6

Overview

Answer 6

• The study observed young, middle-aged, older adults in order to examine the association between daily stress and negative affect, taking into account potential risk and resilience
• Results indicated that younger individuals and individuals with a more incoherent self-concept showed higher average negative affect across the study.
• Study was conducted over 30 day period, which provides a large enough window to assess individuals’ daily stress comprehensively.
• Authors believe it is important to examine whether age is associated with the degree of variability in negative affect, specifically whether age is a factor regardless of daily stress levels.

Question 7

Hypotheses

Answer 7

Hypotheses:

1. Older adults would have lower levels of average daily negative affect
2. Older adults would exhibit less day to day variability in negative affect
3. Age would not moderate the effect of daily stress on negative affect (i.e. age would not be associated with greater reactivity to daily stress).