When it Rains, it Pours: The Greater Impact of Resource Loss Compared to Gain on Psychological Distress

Abstract

The authors prospectively investigated stress in 71, mostly European American, pregnant women. Conservation of Resources (COR) theory was applied to assess the impact of resource losses and gains that occur in women’s lives. Resources were defined as those things that people value or that act as a means to obtaining that which they value and include social, personal, object, and condition resources. The authors hypothesized that women’s resource losses would better predict postpartum anger and depression than their resource gains (in the opposite direction). They also predicted that earlier resource loss would accelerate the negative impact of later resource loss on postpartum distress. Resource gain was expected to be most salient when resource losses co-occurred, such that resource gains buffered the negative impact of resource loss. The hypotheses were generally supported and argue for the primacy of resource loss in the stress process.