Not All Individuals Who Encounter Stressful Life Events Experience Mental Distress: The Predictive Ability of Rumination, Neuroticism, Extraversion, Social Support, and Stressful Life Events on Mental Distress

Abstract

There is a common belief that experiencing stressful life events can lead to mental distress. However, we wanted to explore whether all individuals who encounter SLEs will also experience mental distress. Also, we were curious to explore the contribution of social and individual characteristics in the prediction of mental distress above or beyond SLEs. The current study investigated if rumination, extraversion, perceived social support, stressful life events, and neuroticism can predict levels of mental distress independently from one another. A sample of 183 university students was recruited, and questionnaires on neuroticism, extraversion, rumination, perceived social support, and stressful life events were completed. A regression analysis was conducted to test whether these variables can predict levels of mental distress. Not all participants who experienced stressful life events would experience mental distress. Also, regression analysis revealed that stressful life events, social support, neuroticism, and rumination all independently predicted levels of mental distress when controlling for age and levels of extraversion. The present study sheds light on how various internal factors, such as neuroticism and rumination, and external factors, such as stressful life events and social support, may and may not contribute to mental distress.