PERSONALITY FACTORS AND STRESS RATINGS OF LIFE CHANGES IN A COLLEGE POPULATION By CHARLES HERMANN MORGAN, JR A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE COUNCIL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 1979 Copyright 1979 By Charles Hermann Morgan, Jr To the memory of Charles H. Morgan, M.D But those who trust in the LORD for help will find their strength renewed. They will rise on wings like eagles. Isaiah 40:31 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank Dr. Vernon D. Van De Riet, Chairman of my doctoral committee, friend, and colleague, for his intellectual and emotional support throughout ray graduate career and creation of this dissertation. His gentle guidance and tolerance of my many wild ideas and "false starts" have made the graduate learning experience one of great personal growth, as well as intellectual development. I would also like to thank the remaining members of my doctoral committee. Dr. Ben Barger, Dr. Gerald Leslie, Dr. Paul Schauble, and Dr. Robert Ziller, whose encouragement and support have aided me greatly throughout this endeavor. Valuable statistical and computer consultation was provided by Charles E. Holzer. He helped me see how I could do what I wanted with the "mystical, magical" computer of the Northeast Regional Data Center. Keypunch services were performed by the Center for Instructional and Research Computing Activities. I also wish to acknowledge the general support of concern and encouragement which has come from so many of my friends, fellow students, and professors. A few, like . Mary H. McCaulley, Richard I. Kainz, and Harry Grater, stand out as having helped me cope with the stress of studying stress, but there are many more than can be mentioned Finally, to my typist, confidant, nurse, lover and wife, Ruth-Anne, I wish to express my deep thanks and love To my daughter, Jennifer, who, with Ruth-Anne, suffered through my effort at producing this dissertation, and my absence from normal family life, and who would always, so easily, bring me back to the real world: "Thanks, Max." TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS iv LIST OF TABLES viii ABSTRACT ix CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1 The Problem 3 II LITERATURE REVIEW 7 History and Early Research 8 Quantifying Life Change Stress 11 Current Research and Problems 16 Theoretical Models and the Concept of Demand 27 Personality Factors Related to Demand 37 Hypotheses 41 III METHODOLOGY 48 Subjects 48 Procedure 50 Data Reduction and Analysis 54 IV RESULTS 55 Standardization 56 Personality Factors 63 V DISCUSSION 79 Standardization 79 Personality Factors 82 Theoretical Discussion 91 Directions for Future Research 94 TABLE OF CONTENTS (continued) APPENDIX I BACKGROUND INFORMATION 97 APPENDIX II COLLEGE-MODIFIED SOCIAL READJUSTMENT RATING SCALE 99 APENDIX III I-E SCALE 101 APPENDIX IV R-S SCALE 105 APPENDIX V THE LEARNING STRATEGIES QUESTIONNAIRE 112 BIBLIOGRAPHY 117 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 124 vii LIST OF TABLES Table Zi££ 1, Demographic Characteristics of the Sample 49 2. Comparison of "Readjustment " and "Upset" 57 Ratings for Events 3. Correlation Coefficients of Readjustment ,65 Ratings with Upset Ratings 4. Correlations of Each of the Events and the Personal Average of All Events with Scores ,68 on Each of the Personality Scales 5. Event-Group Mean Ratings and Correlation ,78 with Personality Factors 1 f Abstract of Dissertation Presented to the Graduate Council of the University of Florida in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy PERSONALITY FACTORS AND STRESS RATINGS OF LIFE CHANGES IN A COLLEGE POPULATION By Charles Hermann Morgan, Jr. August, 1979 Chairman: Vernon D. Van De Riet, Ph.D. Major Department: Clinical Psychology Recent research by Wershow and Reinhart and others has called into question the utility of standard weightings of life change events. Research by Hinkle and others has emphasized the importance of individual differences in the perception of and attachment of meaning to life change events in determining the outcome level of distress experienced by the individual. This research focused on the relationship between three measures of personality factors and ratings assigned to the events of the co lege -mod i ied form of the Social Readjustment Rating Questionnaire. The personality factors theoretically related to event perception were locus of control of reinforcement, response to threat, and preferred mode of information processing. Locus of control of rein- forcement was measured by Rotter's I-E Scale. It was s hypothesized that sensitization would correlate positively with event ratings. Preferred mode of information proces- sing was measured by the Learning Strategies Questionnaire. It was hypothesized that LSQ scores would correlate signifi- cantly with event ratings. In addition, the events were divided into three groups based on judged degree of control of the subject over the occurrence of the event. The groups were subject-controlled, fate-controlled, and unassigned. It was hypothesized that the occurrence of fate-controlled events would threaten an internal i zer ' s belief in internal locus of control in addi- tion to threat of the event itself. Likewise, subject- controlled events would present a double threat to ext ernal i zer It was hypothesized that locus of control would correlate positively with the difference between subject-controlled and fate-controlled event-group sums. These hypotheses were tested using a survey design with the subjects being 274 undergraduate students enrolled in an introductory psychology course. Analysis of the data show that fourteen of the forty-six events have ratings which correlate in the expected direction with I-E Scale scores. Twenty-six of the forty-six have ratings correlating in the expected direction with R-S Scale