Missed opportunities: Psychological ramifications of counterfactual thought in midlife women
dc.contributor.author | Landman, Janet | en_US |
dc.contributor.author | Vandewater, Elizabeth A. | en_US |
dc.contributor.author | Stewart, Abigail J. | en_US |
dc.contributor.author | Malley, Janet E. | en_US |
dc.date.accessioned | 2006-09-11T15:04:46Z | |
dc.date.available | 2006-09-11T15:04:46Z | |
dc.date.issued | 1995-04 | en_US |
dc.identifier.citation | Landman, Janet; Vandewater, Elizabeth A.; Stewart, Abigail J.; Malley, Janet E.; (1995). "Missed opportunities: Psychological ramifications of counterfactual thought in midlife women." Journal of Adult Development 2(2): 87-97. <http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/44634> | en_US |
dc.identifier.issn | 1068-0667 | en_US |
dc.identifier.issn | 1573-3440 | en_US |
dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/44634 | |
dc.description.abstract | Counterfactual thinking entails the process of imagining alternatives to reality—what might have been. The present study examines the frequency, content, and emotional and cognitive concomitants of counterfactual thinking about past missed opportunities in midlife women. At age 43, nearly two-thirds of the sample of educated adult women reported having missed certain opportunities at some time in their lives. Most of the counterfactual thoughts concerned missed opportunities for greater challenge in work. Emotional distress at age 33 did not predict later counterfactual thought. Instead, counterfactual thinking at age 43 was associated with concurrent emotional distress. However, acknowledging counterfactual thinking about the past was also associated with envisioning ways to change things for the better in the future. This suggests the possibility that the negative appraisal often entailed in counterfactual thinking may be associated with emotional distress in the short run but with motivational benefits in the long run, at least for middle-aged women. | en_US |
dc.format.extent | 1057475 bytes | |
dc.format.extent | 3115 bytes | |
dc.format.mimetype | application/pdf | |
dc.format.mimetype | text/plain | |
dc.language.iso | en_US | |
dc.publisher | Kluwer Academic Publishers; Plenum Publishing Corporation ; Springer Science+Business Media | en_US |
dc.subject.other | Psychology | en_US |
dc.subject.other | Counterfactual Thought | en_US |
dc.subject.other | Cognitive Psychology | en_US |
dc.subject.other | Work | en_US |
dc.subject.other | Clinical Psychology | en_US |
dc.subject.other | Aging | en_US |
dc.subject.other | Personality & Social Psychology | en_US |
dc.subject.other | Psychology, General | en_US |
dc.subject.other | Emotion | en_US |
dc.subject.other | Midlife Women | en_US |
dc.subject.other | Motivation | en_US |
dc.title | Missed opportunities: Psychological ramifications of counterfactual thought in midlife women | en_US |
dc.type | Article | en_US |
dc.subject.hlbsecondlevel | West European Studies | en_US |
dc.subject.hlbsecondlevel | Southeast Asian and Pacific Languages and Cultures | en_US |
dc.subject.hlbsecondlevel | Social Work | en_US |
dc.subject.hlbsecondlevel | Latin American and Caribbean Studies | en_US |
dc.subject.hlbsecondlevel | Germanic Languages and Literature | en_US |
dc.subject.hlbsecondlevel | Communications | en_US |
dc.subject.hlbtoplevel | Humanities | en_US |
dc.subject.hlbtoplevel | Social Sciences | en_US |
dc.description.peerreviewed | Peer Reviewed | en_US |
dc.contributor.affiliationum | Department of Psychology, The University of Michigan, 525 E. University St., 48109-1109, Ann Arbor, Michigan | en_US |
dc.contributor.affiliationum | Department of Psychology, The University of Michigan, 525 E. University St., 48109-1109, Ann Arbor, Michigan | en_US |
dc.contributor.affiliationother | Murray Research Center, Radcliffe College, 02138, Cambridge, Massachusetts | en_US |
dc.contributor.affiliationother | St. Lawrence University, 13612, Canton, New York | en_US |
dc.contributor.affiliationumcampus | Ann Arbor | en_US |
dc.description.bitstreamurl | http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/44634/1/10804_2005_Article_BF02251257.pdf | en_US |
dc.identifier.doi | http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF02251257 | en_US |
dc.identifier.source | Journal of Adult Development | en_US |
dc.owningcollname | Interdisciplinary and Peer-Reviewed |
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