Economic adversity and psychological health: Does monitoring help?

A survey of 545 respondents showed that daily changes in Hong Kong people's psychological health during the Asian economic crisis were associated with the daily performance of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. In addition, some respondents believed that they could do little to protect their wealth in the face of economic adversity. Consistent with previous research findings, among this group of participants, those who reported a greater tendency to monitor the economic situation also reported poorer psychological health. However, when the respondents felt that they could control their outcomes, the association between monitoring and poor psychological health was greatly attenuated. Taken together, the present study suggests that when the outcome is perceived to be uncontrollable, monitoring danger signals in the environment is linked to poor psychological health.