Theses and Dissertations at Montana State University (MSU)
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Item Putting the vital in vitality: establishing the link between the phenomenological experience of vitality and patterns of blood pressure in the laboratory and daily life(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2020) Tintzman, Courtney Suzanne; Co-Chairs, Graduate Committee: Neha John-Henderson and Ian M. HandleyHistorically, much attention has been paid to the potentially harmful effects of unhealthy behaviors and poorly regulated emotion on cardiovascular health, but a growing area of research focuses on whether positive psychological states, such as vitality, may also affect cardiovascular risk. Vitality--characterized by feelings of aliveness and energy--has been theorized to reduce risk for development of cardiovascular disease by a) directly regulating biological systems, and indirectly, by regulating negative emotional states that may lead to poor physiological responses. Existing literature focuses on prospective cardiovascular outcomes, but the current studies examine ways in which vitality may relate to cardiovascular health prior to development of cardiovascular disease. The current project extends existing literature by assessing the relationship between vitality and blood pressure, an informative, short-term indicator of cardiovascular health. Two studies hypothesized that vitality would provide more effective regulation of blood pressure in two different contexts. Study I (N = 126) examined the hypothesized relationship between vitality and blood pressure within the context of a laboratory stress paradigm. Vitality was measured upon entrance to the laboratory, and blood pressure was measured before, during, and after a speech task. Following a model proposed by Kuzbansky and Thurston (2007), vitality was hypothesized to directly, and also 'indirectly' through the reduction of cognitive and somatic anxiety about the stress task, predict more highly regulated reactivity and faster recovery from a psychosocial stressor. Results failed to support predictions: vitality did not predict patterns of blood pressure reactivity and recovery to a stressor, directly nor indirectly. Study II (N = 100) utilized ecological momentary assessment to investigate the hypothesized relationship between vitality and blood pressure in daily life. Participants completed daily measures of vitality and perceived stress, and ambulatory blood pressure was captured every four hours. In support of the hypotheses, vitality and perceived stress emerged as a significant predictors of blood pressure across time, suggesting that vitality may directly and indirectly affect blood pressure. These findings add to a growing area of research that suggest vitality as an important factor in cardiovascular health. Limitations and implications for future research are discussed.Item On life and death: vitality, mortality salience, and worldview defense(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2018) Sanders, Courtney Suzanne; Co-Chairs, Graduate Committee: Jessi L. Smith and Ian HandleyHuman experience is most notably characterized by feeling or being 'alive.' However, according to Terror Management Theory (TMT), humans possess the awareness of their own mortality, and the resulting potential for existential anxiety produced by mortality salience might interact with vitality, or the subjective experience of enthusiasm and aliveness. The construct of vitality includes attributes such as resilience and self-esteem, which is why vitality was predicted to be a more holistic approach to dealing with the potential death anxiety triggered by mortality salience. TMT operates under the notion that anxiety from the realization of one's mortality is managed in part by embracing cultural worldviews, or psychological systems that provide life with meaning. When one fails to employ such a psychological buffer in the face of mortality concerns, this results in an increased defensiveness toward those who threaten or violate cultural worldviews. As such, Study 1 hypothesized that, under mortality salience, those low in a self-report measure of vitality would react more defensively to a moral transgressor than those high in vitality. To test this prediction, 176 individuals completed a self-report measure of vitality and were randomly assigned to provide a written response to two open-ended questions about their own death or to two parallel questions about watching television. Then, following a necessary delay, all participants provided judgments of moral transgressors; previous work shows that reminders of death lead to harsher judgments on this scale. No evidence for buffering was found in the results of Study 1, and findings failed to replicate past TMT research. To better understand vitality as a construct, Study 2 randomly assigned 90 individuals to view photos of either natural, outdoor scenes, or photos of built, outdoor scenes and were subsequently measured on vitality. Results of Study 2 conceptually replicated findings of previous work illustrating that those exposed to photos of nature reported higher levels of vitality than those exposed to photos of built environments. These findings strengthen evidence of the vitalizing effects of nature and supports contact with nature as a potential factor in future studies on vitality. Alternative explanations and implications are discussed.Item Perception of hardiness in rural men(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Nursing, 1996) Wirtz, Ellen Frances