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THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

Psychological Stress: Lazarus and Folkman

Lazarus and Folkman (1984) view psychologicl stress as a relationship between he person and the environment that is appraised as potentially endangering ton one’s well-being. Two critical processes mediate this person-environment relationship: (a) the cognitive appraisal, which is an evaluative process that determines why and to what extent a particular transaction between the person and environment is stressful; and (b) coping, the process through which the individual manages the demands of the person-environment relationship and the ensuing emotions generated from the situation.

The congnitive appraisal can be seen as the process of categorizing an encounter and its signigicance to one’s well-being. Three appraisals make up this process, the first being the primary appriasal, which serves as a judgement of the encounter as being irrelevant, benign-positive, or stressful. Primary appraisals of stressful situations can take one of three forms: harm/loss (i.e., damage the person has already sustained), threat (i.e., anticipated harms or losses), or challenge (i.e., events that hold potential for mastery or gain). The secondary ap[praisal is a judgement concerning what might be done; it is serves as an evaluation of the benefits and consequences of a particular coping strategy, given the person’s goals and constraints. Finally, the reppraisal is a successive valuation that is based on new information obtained from the environment and/or person during the circumstance. The reappraisal differs from the primary appraisal only in that it follows an earlier cognitive evaluation. In summary, primary appraisals evaluate perceivedcontrol of the situation and resources available to the individual. Secondary appraisals guide the use of specific coping strategies. The effectiveness of these coping strategies determines the reappraisal, as well as the individual’s psychological adjustment....