A stress and coping framework for understanding resident responses to tourism development

Abstract

Stress is one of many impacts on host community residents that can result from tourism development. Unmitigated stress can lead to a variety of negative health and behavioral outcomes. Factors like personality, social support, stress appraisal, and coping play a role in how stress affects individuals. This research conceptualizes the psychologically based stress and coping process in a tourism development context. Measurements of each element in the process are tested for construct validity in the context of cruise tourism development in Jamaica. Construct validity was supported for measures of social support and secondary stress appraisal. A measurement of coping was found to have a different factor structure in a tourism context than theoretically predicted. Valid measurement is critical to future research examining relationships within this psychological process and ultimately understanding how individuals' emotional and psychological quality of life is affected by tourism development.