Characterizing stress tolerance: “controllability awareness” and its relationship to perceived stress and reported health

Abstract

Abstract''Controllability awareness'' describes the extent to which an individual's responses to life situations reflect attention to distinctions between controllable and uncontrollable aspects of potential outcomes. The construct recognizes four aspects of controllability: personal control of outcomes, shared control of outcomes, others in responsibility, and uncontrollable/unpredictable outcomes. Lacking a suitable measurement instrument, the Controllability Awareness Inventory (CAI) was developed and used to assess controllability awareness as a characteristic of stress tolerance. Results indicate that individuals with a greater tendency to respond based on an awareness of the controllability of potential outcomes perceive their lives as less stressful, report themselves to be in better health, and think in ways that enable them to manage environmental demands more effectively. Controllability awareness training to help reduce perceived stress and promote health is discussed. #

Controllability Awareness in Professionals Under the Threat of Terror

“…The CAI (Todrank Heth & Somer, 2002) measures the tendency to respond based on an awareness of the controllability of potential outcomes. The CAI measures the extent to which the individual's behavioral and emotional responses to daily life situations, which may or may not be appraised as stressful, reflect awareness of the controllable and uncontrollable aspects of the outcomes of those situations without focusing explicitly on controllability distinctions.…”

“…The CAI measures the extent to which the individual's behavioral and emotional responses to daily life situations, which may or may not be appraised as stressful, reflect awareness of the controllable and uncontrollable aspects of the outcomes of those situations without focusing explicitly on controllability distinctions. Individuals with higher CAI scores perceive their lives as less stressful, report themselves to be in better health, and think in ways that enable them to manage environmental demands more effectively (Todrank Heth & Somer, 2002). The inventory consists of 20 simple statements assessing awareness of various aspects of controllability including personal control (e.g., "I am confident that I can manage all the things I have to do"), shared control (e.g., of an item worded anti-trait "I get upset when someone won't cooperate with me"), others in control (e.g., "I try not to be impatient with inefficient clerks and administrators"), and no one in control (e.g., "I don't worry about things if there's nothing I can do about them").…”

“…Recently, Todrank Heth and Somer (2002), along with various colleagues, have been investigating "controllability awareness" as a characteristic of stress tolerance in healthy young adults, patients suffering from chronic and acute rheumatic diseases (Todrank Heth, Schapira, & Nahir, 2003), and clients seeking psychotherapy for stress-related clinical psychological problems (Somer & Todrank Heth, 2002). "Controllability awareness" refers to the extent to which an individual pays attention to distinctions between controllable and uncontrollable aspects of potential outcomes in responding to life situations.…”

“…Controllability awareness focuses quite specifically on the subtle distinctions among different aspects within (as opposed to across) situations that may or may not be controllable and distinctions among the agents affecting the outcomes. Controllability awareness represents the ability to distinguish which aspects in the environment the individual can control, which others control, which require cooperative efforts to achieve the outcome, and which are not under any human control (Todrank Heth & Somer, 2002).…”

“…Scores on the Constructive Thinking Inventory (CTI; Epstein & Meier, 1989) and the Personal Functioning Inventory (PFI; Kohn, O'Brien-Wood, Pickering, & De Cicco, 2003), which measures adaptiveness, correlated significantly with scores on the Controllability Awareness Inventory (CAI), which was developed to assess controllability awareness (Todrank Heth & Somer, 2002). Controllability awareness, however, is thought to be an explicit factor in stress tolerance because individuals who are mindful of controllability distinctions are more likely to respond confidently and effectively to environmental demands and thus they are more likely to appraise situations as challenging rather than threatening.…”