Opening Act Practising Philosophy
Navigating Quarter-Life Crisis: A Journey of SelfReflection and Coping How the Transactional Stress Model can teach us empowering Self-Discovery through Conscious Reappraisal
by Luise Meerheim
Understanding the Quarter-Life Crisis
The transition from youth to adulthood often
brings forth a myriad of challenges, leading many individuals to experience what is commonly known as a quarter-life crisis. This period is marked by feelings of helplessness, indecision, and psychological stress.
To overcome this roadblock in the journey of life, exploring Lazarus’s and Folkman’s Transactional Stress Model can provide valuable insights.
active role of the individual, who isn’t merely subjected to stressors but can actively respond to them. Thereby, the psychologists underline that everybody’s own way of reacting and interpreting an event has way more influence on the personal stress-level than the situation itself. Based on this discovery, they created the Transactional model of Stress serving as a scheme to aid people navigating stressful situations by applying certain coping strategies and objective appraisal.
Unravelling the Transactional Stress Model
The Two Phases of Appraisal
chological stress when a situation’s demand oversteps our capacity to deal with it. It is the internal response of our body to any external stimulus perceived as harmful.1 Stressors can include immense concerns such as career uncertainty, relationship challenges or societal expectations, but also small irritations such as missing a bus and being late for work. Instead of regarding stress as solely imposed by external factors, Lazarus and Folman highlight the
ors. According to the model, this process occurs in two phases: the primary and secondary appraisal. During the primary appraisal, the severity of a situation is assessed. It can be categorised as either a challenge or a threat. While challenging situations offer potential for growth, mastery, and gain, threatening situations may lead to harm or loss.2 If a person possesses inherent confidence and has faith in their capability to influence outcomes, they
1 Cf. Lazarus, R., & Folkman, S., in Stress, Appraisal, and Coping. New York Springer, 1984
2 Cf. David W. Putwain, Richard Remedios, in Advances in Motivation Science, 2021
Whenever we face a stressful situation, our A ccording to the model, we experience psy- reaction starts with the evaluation of stress-
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