Is Waiting the Hardest Part? Comparing the Emotional Experiences of Awaiting and Receiving Bad News

Abstract

Awaiting uncertain news is stressful, but is it more stressful than receiving bad news? We compared these emotional experiences in two studies. Participants in Study 1 reflected on a personal experience awaiting news that ultimately turned out badly, and participants in Study 2 were law graduates awaiting their results on the bar exam who ultimately failed the exam. In Study 1, participants were ambivalent as to whether awaiting or receiving bad news was more difficult, and emotion ratings in both studies confirmed this ambivalence. Anxiety was higher in anticipation of bad news (at least at the moment of truth) than in the face of it, whereas other negative emotions were more intense following the news than during the waiting period. Thus, whether waiting is "the hardest part" depends on whether one prefers to be racked with anxiety or afflicted with other negative emotions such as anger, disappointment, depression, and regret.

Fulfilling psychological needs predicts less sleep disruption and worry while awaiting uncertain news

“…We used multilevel modelling (via IBM's SPSS 24 Linear Mixed Models package) to investigate three questions: (a) What are the temporal trends in autonomy, competence, and relatedness? Specifically, do they show negative linear trends and positive quadratic trends observed in health and well‐being in other research (Sweeny & Andrews, ; Sweeny & Falkenstein, ; Sweeny & Howell, )? (b) Does experiencing relatedness, autonomy, and competence predict lower levels of worry and sleep disruption as people wait?…”

“…We operationalize worry as a combination of anxiety and repetitive thoughts about a feared future outcome (Sweeny & Dooley, ). Previous work established anxiety as the emotional hallmark of waiting periods (Sweeny & Falkenstein, ), and people report frequent perseverative thinking as they await news about an important outcome (Howell & Sweeny, ; Sweeny et al, ; Sweeny & Falkenstein, ). Worry is an uncertainty‐specific experience, elicited by attention towards an unknown and thus uncertain future state, and thus, it serves as a proxy measure of the intensity of uncertainty in our study.…”

“…Few people feel at their best when they are uncertain about an important future outcome (e.g., Sweeny & Falkenstein, ). Whether facing professional uncertainty (Will I get that job?…”

“…Will they accept our offer on the house? ), people typically report high levels of anxiety and unpleasant, repetitive thoughts as they await uncertain news (Sweeny & Andrews, ; Sweeny & Falkenstein, ). Although these stressful experiences are typically temporary, they are quite common, and the worry that accompanies them can impair functioning, decrease well‐being, and even disrupt health and sleep (Howell & Sweeny, ; Montgomery & McCrone, ; Sweeny, Reynolds, Falkenstein, Andrews, & Dooley, ).…”

Even Optimists Get the Blues: Interindividual Consistency in the Tendency to Brace for the Worst

“…The baseline questionnaire included measures of dispositional optimism (six items from the Life Orientation Test‐Revised [LOT‐R], minus the filler items, Scheier et al, ; 1 = strongly disagree , 5 = strongly agree ; M = 3.59, SD = .60, Cronbach's α = .77) and defensive pessimism (12 items adapted to generalize beyond academic settings; see Norem, , for original items; 1 = not true at all of me , 7 = very true of me ; M = 4.80, SD = .83, α = .77), and the final two questionnaires included the measure of outcome predictions (“Please estimate the probability that you will pass the bar exam, between 0% and 100%”; M s = 65.36 and 63.14, SD s = 21.31 and 22.70, respectively). Additional methodological details are available in Sweeny et al (), Sweeny and Falkenstein (), and Howell and Sweeny ().…”