Nothing is Aversive; It’s About the Quest for Meaning: Addressing the Role of Primary Appraisals for Association Between Locus of Control and Stress Among Media Professionals

The transactional model of stress suggested that appraisal process of individuals highly influence their stress response. Media professionals are very likely to accumulate stress while covering aversive events. However, being able to deal with depressive cognitions is among one of the functions of locus of control. The current study was designed to examine the moderating effect of primary appraisal for the relationship between locus of control and stress among media professionals. Primary appraisals include individual’s evaluation of stressful situations concerning its significance for their well-being. The study was conducted on a national level sample of 625 media professionals. Along with demographic sheet, data was collected on Locus of Control Scale-Revisited (Suárez-Álvarez et al., 2016), Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale (Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995), and Primary Appraisal/ Secondary Appraisal (Gaab et al., 2005). Results indicated that external locus of control has positive whereas internal locus of control has negative association with stress. The moderation analysis showed that significant moderating effect of harm/loss appraisal, threat appraisal, and challenge appraisal for external and internal locus of control respectively. It is concluded that use of harm/loss and threat appraisal increases stress whereas challenge appraisal is effective in decreasing stress with individuals using either internal or externa locus of control.