Forecasting your Financial Future: A Construal Level Theory Perspective on Economic Stress and Coping

With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, young Canadians are facing an uncertain employment future. This project sought to investigate how mental representations of prospective stressors impact perceptions of threat. Using Construal Level Theory (Trope & Liberman, 2010) and Stress and Coping Theory (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984) as conceptual frameworks, the present research examined the relationship between construal, psychological distance, and stress appraisal in the domain of economic stress. Results indicated that construing a stressor in abstract terms attenuates the relationship between psychological distance and perceived threat. Further, psychological distance from a stressor was associated with predicted future affect and financial resources. There was no significant association between psychological distance and social support resources. Contrary to expectations, no association was found between psychological distance and construal. The implications and limitations of these findings are discussed