Everyday Stressors and Sense of Purpose: The Role of Stressor-Related Opportunities for Goal Pursuit

We are proud to share that the First Year Paper of our alumnus Mart Visser has been published in the Journal of Personality. This paper was written under the supervision of Patrick Klaiber (IDA staff), and was later published together with co-authors.

Summary

Not All Stress Is the Same
Why stressful moments linked to important goals may feel different

Feeling that your life has direction and that what you do matters (i.e., having a sense of purpose) has been shown to help people stay healthier, remain active, and cope better with stressful life events. However, a sense of purpose is not something that remains constant at all times; it can shift in response to the experiences we have each day. Most of us might know the feeling of ending a day full of stressful encounters and wondering where our sense of purpose went. In this study, we were interested in understanding the immediate effects that stressful events may have on our sense of purpose. To do so, we used data from the Daily Experiences and Health Study collected in British Columbia, Canada, who followed 236 adults for 14 days and asked them, four times a day, whether something stressful had happened and how purposeful they felt. At first glance, the effect of the stressor seemed straightforward: when people experienced a stressor, they reported slightly lower momentary purpose. But that overall link disappeared once we accounted for negative emotions such as feeling sad, anxious, or angry, that stressors also tend to evoke. In other words, part of the negative momentary association between stressful events and sense of purpose seemed to reflect the negative mood that the stressor introduced.

The more interesting story appeared when we looked at what the stressor meant for the person’s goals. Stressors that offered little or no opportunity to pursue an important goal were still linked to lower momentary purpose, even after accounting for these co-occurring negative emotions. These are the kinds of hassles that feel like interruptions: the problems that get in the way without helping you move forward. By contrast, stressors that were connected to goal pursuit were linked to slightly higher momentary purpose after accounting for co-occurring negative emotions. These stressors likely reflect situations where people actively make progress towards their goal, such as giving an important presentation at work or having a difficult conversation with someone. Further, people even felt slightly more purposeful a couple hours at the next assessment points when reporting such a stressor. These findings raise the possibility that goal-related stressors may carry a delayed benefit: although they are demanding in the moment, successfully working through these challenges may leave people with a stronger sense of purpose afterward.

One practical takeaway is to ask a different question when dealing with an everyday stressor: is this stress pulling me away from what matters to me, or is it part of something I care about? That distinction may shape whether a stressful event drains your sense of purpose or reinforces it.

If this topic piqued your interest, you may read the full paper here, or the abstract below.

Abstract

Objective. This study examined whether everyday stressor occurrence is associated with lower sense of purpose, and whether this association depends on stressor-related goal opportunities, the Big Five personality traits, or trait purpose.

Methods. Data came from the Daily Experiences and Health Study (N = 236, ages 25–87). Participants reported on stressor occurrence and their feelings of purposefulness 4× per day in a 14-day ecological momentary assessment study. Multilevel analyses examined the within-person link between stressor occurrence and sense of purpose, including the Big Five and trait purpose as moderators.

Results. At the momentary level, sense of purpose was lower after encountering a stressor compared to stressor-free moments; however, this association was attenuated after accounting for negative affect. Importantly, stressor-related goal opportunity modulated this association. Low goal-opportunity stressors were associated with lower purpose, whereas high goal-opportunity stressors were associated with slightly higher purpose after accounting for negative affect. The Big Five and trait purpose did not moderate these associations.

Conclusion. Sense of purpose tends to be sensitive to the occurrence of stressful events, but the relationship may depend on whether the stressor is appraised as an opportunity to pursue important goals.

Keywords: daily hassles, ecological momentary assessment, experience sampling, negative affect, personality

Citation

Visser, M., Ong, L. Q., DeLongis, A., Hill, P. L., Sin, N. L., & Klaiber, P. (2026). Everyday Stressors and Sense of Purpose: The Role of Stressor‐Related Opportunities for Goal Pursuit. Journal of Personality, jopy.70087. https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.70087