Events
Positive and negative events are an inevitable part of life. They vary in their frequency, intensity, and controllability, and both can have a significant effect on wellbeing. Here, we discuss the nature and consequences of positive and negative life events. Moreover, we discuss the relationship of resilience with positive and negative life events.
POSITIVE EVENTS
Positive events happen daily. Some positive events are routine, like telling a bedtime story to your kid, enjoying a cup of coffee, or watching an interesting program on television. Daily positive events are important, as they have been found to be strongly linked to well-being and mental health [1]. For instance, daily positive events are negatively associated with depressive symptoms [2] and positively associated with daily self-esteem and perceived control (e.g., [3]).
Other positive events that are considered to be major, such as getting married, getting a new job, or becoming a parent, are relatively uncommon. In a study by Diener, Sandvik, and Pavot [4], participants were asked to write down the best thing that happened to them each day. Next, coders rated the events in terms of how good they were on a 5-point scale ranging from neutral to extremely good. The results showed that only one of the 3,214 events was rated as extremely good and only thirty-seven or 1.2% were rated as very good. Most events were rated as slightly or moderately good. The authors speculated that subjective well-being is not likely to be built on experiences that occur seldom.
NEGATIVE EVENTS
At some point in their lives, most people are confronted with stressful, challenging events [5]. More specifically, research findings have revealed that 60.7% of men and 51.2% of women experience at least one traumatic event during their lifetime [6]. In fact, it is common for most people to experience more than one traumatic event in life [6]. Experiencing a higher number of stressful life events has predicted incrementally greater psychological problems (e.g., [7,8]).
However, not only major negative events but also everyday events seem to have an effect on well-being. For example, in one study [9], daily hassles and stressors accounted for up to 20% of the variance in daily mood changes. In another study by Rowlinson and Felner [10], daily hassles and major life events were found to be associated with adjustment, with hassles predicting adjustment beyond the effects attributable to major life events. Rowlinson and Felner thus concluded that “daily hassles and major life events represent conceptually distinct sources of life stress, each of which can make an independent contribution to the individual’s overall level of functioning” (p. 441).
Stressful life events have also been referred to as external stressors. Examples include assault, death of a peer, physical injury, poor work conditions, negative feedback from others, and externally imposed deadlines. According to Wolpe [11], three categories of external stressors include (1) intensely unpleasant events, (2) situations where there is ambiguity about what is expected, and (3) situations where the consequences are uncertain.
THE INFLUENCE OF LIFE EVENTS
Three factors strongly affect the influence of events; their duration, intensity, and controllability. In the following sections, these factors are discussed in detail.
DURATION
Time is an important dimension along which life events can be categorised. While some events are relatively acute and short (e.g., deaths, job loss), others are more chronic and defy precise temporal specification (e.g., chronic financial or marital difficulties).
In the context of negative events, consistent evidence suggests poorer mental health outcomes among individuals exposed to repeated traumatic events over a prolonged period compared to those exposed to separate instances of trauma [12]. Moreover, the experience of repeated traumatic stress renders a person more vulnerable to develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in a cumulative manner [13, 14]. These findings suggest that repeated or prolonged exposure to negative events contributes significantly to poorer mental health. Although, to our knowledge, no research has investigated the link between well-being and the duration of positive events, it seems likely that the above-described effects are also true for positive events in that positive events that last longer may have a stronger effect on well-being compared to positive events that are relatively short-lived.
INTENSITY
Intensities of both positive and negative events can vary. Negative events may for instance range from being caught in a traffic jam to unemployment. A more demanding external stressor is likely to strain one’s resources for dealing with the stressor satisfactorily. Indeed, major negative life events are rated as more stressful compared to daily hassles [15], and research has shown that major negative events, like physical/sexual assault, unemployment, and parental loss, can have long- lasting negative implications for mental health and well-being (e.g., [16,17]). More specifically, major life events, such as the death of loved ones, serious illness, or job loss, have been found to precede most types of mood disorder [18]. Likewise, severe major events that signify loss or departures from one’s social field have been found to predict the onset of depression while events that signify danger have been reported to precede episodes of anxiety disorders [19,20]).
Research on hedonic adaption suggests that the effect of major positive life events is limited. For instance, a study by Brickman, Coate, and Janoff-Bulman [21] found that lottery winners were no happier compared to those who had experienced no such an event 1 month to 18 months after the news. Similar findings have been obtained in the context of marriage. Two years after marrying, German residents reverted to their baseline level of happiness after a significant initial boost ([22]; see also [23]). Likewise, managers who changed their job experienced a burst of satisfaction immediately after the move but reverted to initial satisfaction levels within one year [24]. These findings suggest that the magnitude of the influence of major positive events on subjective well-being is surprisingly modest and short- lived. Interestingly, research on negative life events reveals that people may find it difficult to recover from major negative events. For example, 1 month to 1 year after becoming paralysed, accident victims reported being significantly less happy compared to a control group [25]. In a study on highway noise, Weinstein [26] interviewed a group of residents four months and sixteen months after a highway was opened. After 16 months, residents reported still not being adjusted to the noise. Similar patterns of non-adjustment to major negative life events have been found in the context of unemployment [27], divorce [28], and widowhood [22]. In sum, these findings imply that more intense negative events may have a stronger effect on well-being compared to more intense positive events.
CONTROLLABILITY
Some life events are more controllable compared to others. For example, events such as an upcoming examination are typically more controllable, unlike stressors such as the unexpected death of a peer or the side effects of medical treatment. Likewise, positive events, like a birthday party can be planned beforehand, but winning the lottery is unlikely to be under personal control. The controllability of events has important consequences for well-being. Aversive events are perceived as less stressful when they are perceived as controllable [29,30]. Moreover, an accumulation of recent life events experienced as both undesirable and uncontrollable has been found to be most likely to predispose people to subsequent illness [31,32]. In fact, scholars have argued that the helplessness stemming from the lack of control is an important factor in the development of psychiatric disorders such as depression and schizophrenia [33,30]. In sum, research findings suggest that it is more difficult for people to deal with events that are perceived as uncontrollable, especially when these events frequently take place. Over time, people may lapse into what has been referred to as “learned helplessness,” a state in which they become passive and unresponsive to difficult events because they believe that there is no sense in trying to change something that is unchangeable [34].
Research on behavioural activation stresses the effect of the controllability of positive events. Behavioural activation is a technique often used in the context of depression where people deliberately engage in activities that are associated with the experience of pleasure or mastery. In other words, this technique involves people planning and engaging in positive events, thereby gaining more control over positive events. The rationale behind behavioural activation stems from research showing a significant relationship between mood and the number of pleasant activities [35,36,37]. Behaviour activation has been found to be an effective way to decrease depressive symptoms (for a review, see [38]).
The controllability of life events can be reflected in the sailboat metaphor by the efforts of the captain to influence the boat’s exposure to the weather. In some cases, for instance, by careful planning (see the illustration), the captain may reduce the chance of encountering bad weather circumstances. In other cases, bad weather turns up unexpectedly, even in contradiction with the weather forecast, which is comparable to uncontrollable life events. Just like uncontrollable life events are out of the control of the individual, bad weather can be out of the control of the captain.
RESILIENCE
People react to life events in different ways. While some individuals become overwhelmed by everyday hassles [39], others react positively to the most challenging experiences [5]. The study of psychological resilience aims to understand why some people can withstand – or even thrive on – difficult life events. Psychological resilience has been defined as “a dynamic process encompassing positive adaptation within the context of significant adversity” [40
- 543]. In other words, a resilient person can quickly bounce back from adversity and positively adapt to the novel demands of the situation [41,42].
Psychological resilience has been conceptualised both as a personality trait and as a process that changes over time. From a trait perspective, people differ in their general ability to deal with adversity. Over the course of a lifetime, some people may develop a personality trait to better deal with life challenges. From a process perspective, resilience is conceptualised as a dynamic process that is dependent on circumstances. Thus, while a person may react positively to adversity at one point in his or her life, it does not mean that this person will react the same resilient way in other adverse moments of his or her life (cf. [43,44,45]). In other words, resilience may alter if circumstances change.
Although resilience is typically associated with the individual’s ability to effectively deal with negative life events, resilience can also result from effective dealing with positive events [46]. For instance, research has found that a higher capacity to savour the moment predicted lower levels of work-family conflict [47], suggesting that savouring may be a helpful way to cope with work and family demands. During stressful events, the positive emotions that emerge from savouring can help offset the experience of negative emotions [48]. In fact, savouring positive experiences has been suggested to be the most beneficial for people who experience fewer daily positive events [49,50].
In the upcoming sections, we describe several key determinants of resilience, namely the extent to which attention is directed at positive and negative events, the interpretation of these events, the ways in which individuals deal with them, and the motivation for dealing with them in a particular way.