Hi Brittany - I'll answer this question using the same explanation that I gave to Emily in another forum post. Hopefully this is helpful in addressing your question.

In the passage, we are told about a relationship between upward mobility (increasing SES) and systolic BP whereby higher SES during infancy is associated with a reduced systolic blood pressure at age 18. As you noted, the passage uses systolic BP as a marker of physiologic stress - so we can conclude that increasing SES is associated with reduced stress.

However in the question stem, we are asked to postulate an alternate situation whereby SES during infancy is positively associated with systolic blood pressure. As you noted, this relationship now suggests that higher SES during infancy is associated with higher stress. Therefore, we are going to look for the answer that best links high SES with high stress, or low SES with low stress.

The appraisal view of stress refers to the process by which individuals evaluate and cope with a stressful event. When stressful events are evaluated as being a threat, individuals are more likely to experience negative psychological and physiological effects of stress.

Answer D is the only answer choice that links high SES with high stress as it states that individuals are less likely to believe that they can handle threatening situations (ie. they have a more severe appraisal of stressful events and subsequently experience more of the negative physiologic effects of stress).

Answers A and B both associate low SES with high stress (as they appraise events as being more threatening). Answer C is incorrect because it doesn't directly answer the question pertaining to the appraisal view of stress, whereby your stress response differs based on how evaluate a potentially threatening situation