The relative strength of both neuroticism and affect in predicting common physical symptoms was tested. An event-sampling design was used to overcome methodological limitations of past research in the area. Contrary to much previous research, neuroticism was not related to reports of physical symptoms, although it was related to unpleasant affect. Unpleasant affect bore a strong concurrent relation to the frequency of reported symptoms. Temporal relations between experiences of unpleasant affect and subsequent symptoms were found for some individuals, but wide individual variability was seen in both the strength and direction of this linkage. The findings suggest that when individuals are asked to report their subjective experiences of physical illness without the necessity to retrospect over significant periods of time, unpleasant affect is more strongly related to experience of symptoms than is neuroticism.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.22722 |
| Date | January 1995 |
| Creators | Brown, Kirk Warren |
| Contributors | Moskowitz, D. S. (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Science (Department of Psychology.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001467543, proquestno: MM05536, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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