Cognitive style and well-being: A prospective examination

This study examines the moderating influence of self-esteem, coping styles, emotion-control and other dimensions of cognitive style on physical and psychological well-being. First-year university students (N = 121) facing a personally relevant Stressor, the arrival and adaptation to university life, were first assessed, at Time 1, with a battery of measures tapping components of cognitive style and baseline physical ailments and levels of psychological distress. At Time 2, approximately 8 weeks later, subjects once again completed a measure of somatic health and psychological well-being. After statistically partialling health status at Time 1, self-esteem, interpersonal locus of control and emotion-oriented coping predicted poor health status and distress. Furthermore, the self-esteem × emotion-oriented coping interaction effect superseded the individual effects, thus suggesting that self-esteem may moderate well-being directly as well as indirectly via coping styles and emotion-control strategies.