ABSTRACT
Severely stressful life events can have a substantial impact on those who experience them. Mounting evidence suggests that these reordered priorities may translate into changes in activities. An additional positive effect of traumatic life events, understudied but potentially important, is the experience it may give people to draw from in appraising and dealing with subsequent stressful life events. More extreme negative responses to traumatic events have been chronicled in posttraumatic stress disorder, a syndrome characterized by extensive, long-lasting, and severe responses to stress. Janoff-Bulman’s (1992) assumptive world theory is an alternative cognitive theoretical perspective for understanding the negative impact of traumatic events. Janoff-Bulman’s research suggests that traumatic life events such as bereavement, incest, rape, and disaster can and do shatter these beliefs, and leave individuals with a less positive self-concept and less likely to believe in a benevolent and meaningful world.
