Abstract
Perceived personal control, cognitive accommodations such as finding benefits in adversity, and causal attributions have all been implicated in how individuals adapt to threatening events. In this study, we examined the independent contributions to well-being of these three aspects of cognitive adaptation among 65 women with impaired fertility. Appraisals of personal control were not associated with psychological symptomatology. However, believing that the impaired fertility had strengthened one's marriage and attributing the experience to biomedical causes each made an independent contribution to psychological symptoms, thus supporting the conceptual distinctions among primary control, secondary cognitive accomodations, and causal attributions. We interpret these findings in the light of current theories of adaptation to threatening events.
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This study was supported by a grant from the University of Connecticut Research Foundation. We thank John Chapman, Donald Schmidt, Emmy Fast, and Kathy Wolinski for their assistance in data collection and participant recruitment.
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Mendola, R., Tennen, H., Affleck, G. et al. Appraisal and adaptation among women with impaired fertility. Cogn Ther Res 14, 79–93 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01173526
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01173526