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Original Papers
Polish Psychological Bulletin
2009, vol. 40 (1), 1-5
DOI - 10.2478/s10059-009-0001-7
Jolanta Życińska*
Irena Heszen*
Resources, coping with stress, positive emotions and health. Introduction
In the search for psychological determinants of health
the focus is on resources, coping with stress, and positive
emotions. These issues, out of necessity in a fragmentary
form only, are dealt with in this PPB issue. Among the
notions listed in the title, that of resources is the most
fundamental and of the broadest character.
The notion of resources is pivotal in the description of
the stress phenomenon, the course and outcome of coping
with stress, as well as in understanding the determinants
of health maintenance and promotion (cf. Bishop, 2000;
Heszen & Sęk, 2007; Snyder & Lopez, 2002; Taylor, 1995).
Most authors agree that the notion of resources denotes
internal characteristics of the individual, as well as external
conditions beneicial for his/her adaptation and health level
(Antonovsky, 1995; Hobfoll, 2006; Heszen & Sęk, 2007).
External resources, or properties of the physical, natural and
civilizational environment, include e.g. supportive social
networks, culture and religion, as well as useful objects
or accumulated material wealth. Internal (subjective)
resources, or the individual’s competences are the most
extended group of resources, including e.g. positive beliefs
and attitudes, life competences, or self-regulation skills.
By participating in cognitive appraisals and coping they
serve protective and stress-moderating functions. Finally,
outcomes of these processes may provide feedback
affecting (and changing) resources of the individual (cf.
Poprawa, 2008). Since resources are something valuable,
the individual strives for their development, maintenance
and restoration over the lifetime (Heszen & Sęk, 2007).
Such a broad deinition of resources, going beyond the
framework of health psychology, allows to adopt a holistic
approach to human functioning and to embed health-related
activities of man into the socio-ecological model of health.
Moreover, according to the idea proposed by S. Hobfoll
(2006), it seems possible to determine objective resources
not only of a particular individual, but also of whole social
groups. The notion of resources has also enriched the
previous understanding of the phenomenon of stress and
coping, as a counterpart to the notion of deicits or defects in
biological and socio-psychological structures. In this sense
it provided grounds for integration of knowledge inherent
in the salutogenic approach with the classical approach to
stress and coping that represents rather a pathogenic model
(Heszen & Sęk, 2008). In consequence, the psychological
theory of stress and coping becomes more palatable to
representatives of other disciplines of science and practice,
as well as closer to the laymen’s experience.
Apart from the above-mentioned positive
consequences, some dificulties should be noted resulting
from the application of the notion of resources in health
psychology
1
. First and foremost, the notion is subject to the
process of modiication and adaptation to the needs of the
discipline in question. Initially, characteristics beneicially
inluencing the processes of coping with requirements
or overload were called resistance traits of the organism,
mind, or social structures. These terms seem to have been
more precise, but on the other hand, limited to a certain
group of traits manifested in dificult situations. The
introduction of a more comprehensive notion of resources
allows to deal with a wide range of properties, but leads
to an intuitive and even quite arbitrary usage of the term.
The way of selecting variables by the researcher on the
grounds of the existing knowledge and empirical indings
seems to determine their deinition of resources (especially
personal resources) important for stress appraisal, the
course of stress transaction, effective coping, and health
as an outcome of resources use. Variables regarded by one
author as resources are often included in the deinition of
health in another approach. E.g. according to Keyes (2002,
2006, 2007) mental health manifestations include a sense of
mastery over the environment and a sense of belongingness
(or social integration). The former resembles self-eficacy
(Bandura, 1977), while the latter is measured in the same
1 The notion of resources was borrowed by psychology of health
from other disciplines of science and practice, such as macroeconomy,
management and organization theories, and ecology (cf. Mudyń, 2003).
* Warsaw School of Social Psychology
2
Jolanta Życińska, Irena Heszen
way as the perception of social support networks. These
properties are considered by many authors as resources
(cf. Zwoliński, 2008; see also the papers by Ostrowski and
Wojtyna & Stawiarska in this issue).
Dificulties associated with a precise application of
theory may lead to methodological problems typical of
health psychology research. The problems pertain above all
to cross-sectional studies using self-report (questionnaire)
techniques to measure both constructs under consideration,
i.e. resources and health. This type of measurement
produces common variance resulting from the individual’s
subjective rating tendencies. Such tendencies may be the
source of apparent correlations or markedly overrated
associations between resources and health. This problem
is shared with other areas of psychology where self- report
cross-sectional approach is also appllied. But in health
psychology attempts are made to overcome this dificulty by
objectivization of the concept of health, by introducing the
notion of physical health and related phenomena including
longevity, physical itness or health-promoting lifestyle.
However, studies using objective health indicators usually
fail to demonstrate any relationship between resources and
health (cf. happiness and objective indicators of health -
Czapiński, 2004; Lyubomirsky, King & Diener, 2005).
The relationship between social support and somatic
symptoms may be an example of a problem involving
similar dificulties and at the same time providing
inspiration to many studies. An attempt at solving such
dificulties is presented in this issue, among others, by
Ostrowski in his paper on “Self-esteem and social support
in the occupational stress-subjective health relationship
among medical professionals”. The attempt consisted in an
appropriate sample selection and deining the way of the
sample categorization, i.e. in analyzing separately subgroups
of doctors representing different medical specialties.
The same problem emerged also in interpretation of the
research indings presented by Sęk and Ziarko in their
paper on “Utilization of resources in coping with chronic
illness”. The authors are considering possible effects of
such variables associated with the course of chronic illness
as severity of symptoms or their stabilization level (also
objectively assessed) on differences in social support
(and other resources) perceived by patients suffering from
cancer, cardiovascular conditions, or rheumatoid diseases.
The concept of resources implies also the use of
subjective assessments made by respondents. The resulting
dificulties cannot be resolved on the grounds of the
conservation of resources (COR) theory by Hobfoll (2006).
Although according to the author’s assumptions, the COR
theory is to describe objectively both stress and resources,
his assumptions seem to remain in the sphere of declarations
only, since in the deinition of stress he directly refers to
the “perceptual” approach by Kaplan, and the proposed
category of resources includes the notion of values
(resources are “valued”) as well as the means allowing to
attain these resources. Therefore, in Hobfoll’s formulation
resources are of a relative nature, since it is a subjective
evaluation that decides whether something is a resource
“directly or indirectly needed for survival”. In other words,
something regarded as a resource by somebody, can have
no value whatsoever for someone else (cf. Heszen & Sęk,
2008).
Relativity of resources is the cause of still other
dificulties with deining the concept. In the previously cited
approach to resources in health psychology, their value is
assumed to motivate human striving to develop, maintain
and restore resources over the lifespan. However, research
indings evidence that there are properties whose value
for health - even in the same individual - is not stable, but
determined by the context. The studies by Strelau (2000,
2006) indicate that a positive effect of temperamental traits
on health depends not only on their speciic coniguration,
but also on the type of dificult situation, and more
precisely – on the intensity of situational stimulation. Thus,
low-reactivity individuals, generally regarded as more
resistant, show a decrease in the effectiveness of action in
situations characterized by a very low stimulating value
(including deprivation) and no potential for stimulation
enhancement. This means that some resources may either
serve beneicial adaptive functions or be a source of health
risks – depending on the type of situation. In the light of
the above-cited research indings a question arises whether
we should regard as a resource a property whose value is
situationally determined, or only a property of a universal
value?
The above example illustrates that an individual property
generally regarded as a resource in certain situational
conditions may lose its adaptive value. Thus, a question
arises whether the opposite is possible, i.e. whether a
property regarded as a deicit (e.g. depression leading to
many negative outcomes) can play the role of a resource
under certain circumstances? According to the theory by
Antonovsky, a lack, or in other words, deicit of resources
may be a source of speciic stress, so-called endemic stress
(cf. Heszen & Sęk, 2007)
2
. However, how can we it into
the picture the studies, already classical, showing that
depressive persons are characterized by realism in perceiving
their social competences and reality, in contradistinction to
their non-depressive counterparts (cf. Seligman, 1993)?
The inding implies that pessimism as an attributional
style (being a predictor of depression severity, cf. Spence,
Shefield & Donovan, 2002), may protect the individual
against too risky behaviors and lead to the choice of more
2 Hobfoll (2006) proposes a more extensive use of the notion
of resources in deining stress, assuming that stress experience occurs un-
der the following conditions: 1. threatened resource loss; 2. actual loss
of resources; and 3. a lack of resource gain following the investment of
resources.
Resources, coping with stress, positive emotions and health. Introduction
3
rational behavioral strategies. A similar function is probably
served by defensive pessimism (Norem, 2002), a cognitive
strategy that consists in lowering expectations concerning
upcoming performances, despite positive experiences with
such situations in the past. Defensive pessimism would be
then a strategy for coping with anxiety protecting people
against excessive stress. It seems interesting also whether
the so-called “black humor” serves a similar function
among medical professionals who experience occupational
burnout? An answer to this question is provided by the
paper by Wojtyna and Stawiarska: “Humor styles and
psychosocial working conditions in relation to occupational
burnout among doctors”, where the use of various humor
styles as coping strategies is analyzed.
However, the presented considerations seem incomplete
in the light of the research into the negativity effect, i.e. a
tendency to focus on negative rather than positive stimuli
(cf. Czapiński, 1988). The essence of human realism and the
individual’s adaptation to the changing reality turned out
to depend on intertwining of optimism with the negativity
effect. The former is an adaptive mode of behavior at the
stage of planning and developing action schemata, while
the latter is appropriate at the stage of implementation of
the action plan. The negativity effect in a sense adjusts
action plans to reality
3
.
Let us consider one more question that seems to deserve
discussion in the context of the individual’s striving to
multiply, conserve and restore resources. The question is
whether there is a place in health psychology for the concept
of “excess resources”? The notion includes such a part of
resources that has “no value” since it does not bring any
positive effects, and even may lead to negative outcomes.
This is illustrated by a longitudinal study (Wojtyna, Dosiak
& Życińska, 2007) evidencing that instrumental support
provided during hospitalization to patients diagnosed with
depressive disorders does not produce any signiicant
beneits. Interestingly, interventions representing this
type of support (instructions, helping, and modeling of
effective behaviors) are most commonly undertaken
during hospitalization both by the medical staff and by the
patient’s family and friends. Moreover, a study conducted
by the research team headed by Sęk (2005) suggests that
persons who come to a crisis intervention center, bear
negative consequences of entering the helping relationship
– namely, their self-esteem is lowered. Similar dificulties
are described by Życińska in her paper entitled „Cognitive
and behavioral predictors in the process of smoking
cessation during pregnancy: Testing for discontinuity
patterns in the Transtheoretical Model”. The level of self-
eficacy, a cognitive variable exerting the most marked
inluence on health behavior engagement, turned out to
decrease across the Transtheoretical Model stages, instead
of increasing from stage to stage, as expected. The author
proposed a number of interpretations of this result, e.g.
taking into account the role of various types of self-eficacy
in successive stages of behavior change.
Associations between the concept of resources and
the issues of stress and coping, and even a fundamental
role of this concept in some theories of stress, repeatedly
referred to in the preceding pages, are clearly exempliied
by the COR theory (Hobfoll, 2006). The theory has been
elaborated in the contemporary approaches to coping (cf.
Schwarzer & Knoll, 2003). As a continuation of the idea
that people strive to increase their resources and protect
those already possessed, Schwarzer (2001) distinguished
two types of coping: preventive and proactive. Both are
oriented towards the future (and not the current situation)
and consist in accumulation of resources that might reduce
negative effects of future stressful events (preventive
coping) or facilitate utilization of future opportunities
(proactive coping). On these grounds a conclusion can be
drawn that it is the goal-setting by the individual himself
(and not by his environment) that constitutes a mechanism
leading not only to enlargement, but also to creation of
resources (cf. Mudyń, 2003).
An important tendency in the contemporary psychology
relected in the contents of this volume is the growing
interest in positive emotions. Their relationship with
resources is bilateral. In this mutual connection the role of
positive emotions in the development of resources seems to
be more interesting. This problem is pivotal to the broaden-
and-built theory of positive emotions by Fredrickson (1998,
2001). The theory has been veriied in many experimental
studies and in natural settings. Positive emotions are evoked
by the individuals’ conscious or unconscious appraisal
and valuation of events and objects as concordant with
their needs and goals of their activity. Broadening refers
to cognition and action, irst and foremost in the form of
creative problem solving that provides conditions for the
development of stable physical, intellectual and social
resources. In this approach the role of positive emotions
for the process of coping with stress consists not only
in modiication of the course of cognitive processes, but
also in stimulation of the subject’s activity which directly
inluences the eficacy of resolving stressful situations.
The role of positive emotions in a stressful situation
was most clearly outlined in the works by Folkman and
Moskowitz, who elaborated the classical approach by
Lazarus and Folkman (Folkman, 1997; Folkman &
Moskowitz, 2000, 2006). The authors proposed, above
all, that positive emotions are universally present in
stressful situations, and corroborated the proposition by
evidence from their extensive research. Among sources
of positive emotions under conditions of chronic stress,
purposeful efforts aimed at eliciting such emotions and
their maintenance seem to be most noteworthy. In other
3 This undoubtedly reminds the assumption by Antonovsky
(1995) about two extremes, with resources on one, and deicits and threats
on the other.
4
Jolanta Życińska, Irena Heszen
words, the function of coping with emotions includes not
only reduction of negative emotions, but also stimulation
of positive affect. The latter in turn stimulate coping and
are not only an outcome of this process, but also provide
motivation to coping efforts. Moreover, positive emotions
allow the individual to have a rest, and thus protect his/her
resources engaged in coping and facilitate their restoration
(Heszen, 2008).
Interesting research indings in this area are presented
in two articles in this volume. In the irst, entitled “Coping
after myocardial infarction. The mediational effects of
positive and negative emotions”, Gruszczyńska and
Kroemeke propose to consider the individual’s behaviors in
a dificult situation as an outcome of situational cognitive
appraisals in all the three dimensions distinguished in the
classical theory of stress by Lazarus and Folkman (1984),
i.e. challenge, threat, and harm/loss. This is justiied by
empirical evidence showing that the three types of situation
appraisal by ill persons are inseparable (Lenartowska-Hałoń,
1993). The second article by Kaczmarek: “Resiliency, stress
appraisal, positive affect and cardiovascular activity” seems
noteworthy also due to the experimental procedure used
by the author. In a group of healthy participants affective
regulation was found to be related only to activity-oriented
challenge appraisals. Positive emotions can be measured
in terms of a positive appraisal of not only the situation
itself, but also possibilities of getting involved and facing
the demands posed by the situation.
Summarizing our considerations it should be said that
the presented relationships between resources, positive
emotions, coping and health have been the object of many
studies. The studies are not quite free from weaknesses
resulting mainly from the dificulty in deining the concept
of resources in accordance with the needs of health
psychology so extensively developing in recent years,
especially as regards the role of positive emotions in the
process of coping with stress, or conceptualization of
health. The problems briely outlined in the Introduction
with regard to particular articles included in this volume
have made the authors conduct more extended analyses,
leading mostly to new, explanatory hypotheses.
We hope that this Introduction will facilitate reading of
the articles presented in this volume. They are undoubtedly
based on the state-of-the-art knowledge about resources and
suggest probable solutions to at least some of the dificulties
mentioned above. Hopefully, the articles presented herewith
may also be an inspiration to further research.
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Czapiński, J. (1988).
Wartościowanie - efekt negatywności (o naturze
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Wrocław, Warsaw, Cracow, Gdańsk, Łódź: Zakład
Narodowy im. Ossolińskich.
Czapiński, J. (2004). Czy szczęście popłaca? Dobrostan psychiczny
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Psychological wellbeing as the cause of success in life]. In: J.
Czapiński (Ed.),
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Heszen, I. (2008). Pozytywne emocje w negatywnych sytuacjach: skąd się
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poszukiwaniu pozytywnych inspiracji[Health psychology in search
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Heszen, I., Sęk, H. (2007).
Psychologia zdrowia
.
[Health psychology].
Warsaw: PWN Scientiic Publishers.
Heszen, I, Sęk, H. (2008). Zdrowie i stres [Health and stress]. In: J.
Strelau, D. Doliński (Eds.).
Psychologia. Podręcznik akademicki
[Psychology. An academic manual]
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Hobfoll, S. (2006).
Stres, kultura i społeczność. Psychologia i ilozoia
stresu [Stress, culture and society. Psychology and philosophy of
stress]
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Keyes, C.L.M. (2002). The mental health continuum: From languishing
to lourishing in life.
Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 43,
207-222.
Keyes, C.L.M. (2006). Mental health in adolescence: Is America’s youth
lourishing?
American Journal of Orthopsychiatry
, 76, 395-402.
Keyes, C.L.M. (2007). Promoting and protecting mental health as
lourishing: A complementary strategy for improving national
mental health.
American
Psychologist
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62,
95-108.
Lazarus, R. S., Folkman S. (1984). Stress, appraisal, and coping. New
York: Springer.
Lenartowska-Hałoń, A. (1993).
Wpływ oceny pierwotnej na radzenie
sobie z chorobą [The effect of primary appraisal on coping with
illness].
Unpublished M.A. thesis, Department of Pedagogy and
Psychology, Silesian University, Katowice.
Lyubomirsky, S., Sheldon, K. M..Schkade, D. (2005). Pursuing happiness:
The architecture of sustainable change.
Review of General
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Mudyń, K. (2003). Czy można mieć zasoby, nie mając do nich dostępu?
Problem dostępności zasobów [Is it possible to have resources
with no access to them?]. In: Z. Juczyński, N. Ogińska-Bulik
(Eds.).
Zasoby osobiste i społeczne sprzyjające zdrowiu jednostki
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