Social support and coping strategies as mediators of adult adjustment following childhood maltreatment.

Recent evidence suggests a larger role for personality determinants of the coping response than has been traditionally held. In the two studies presented here, we examined the influence of personality on the use of social support and other coping strategies in samples of undergraduate students. The first study surveyed a range of coping responses to naturally occurring stressors and found that Extraversion was related to social support seeking, optimism (identified as germane to coping in prior research) was related to problem solving, and both dispositions were negatively related to avoidance. The second study used an experimental approach and multiple personality measures to correct for possible methodological problems in the first. Extraversion again proved to be associated with help seeking; moreover, this relationship accounted for that of another disposition, self-esteem--a construct considered crucial in the literature. The utility of personality variables, particularly Extraversion, in predicting and explaining the choice of a coping strategy is discussed.

Extraversion: A “Hidden” Personality Factor in Coping?

Problems with anger management after traumatic brain injury are one of the most frequent changes in the long term reported by relatives of injured people. In spite of their impact there have been few reports either describing therapy procedures for this disorder or examining their efficacy. The present study evaluated a cognitive-behavioural intervention for anger management difficulties following acquired brain injury. Participants were screened and randomly allocated to either a Treatment Group (TREAT) or Waiting List Group (WAIT). Each participant in TREAT received approximately six, hourly individual sessions of anger-management therapy while those in WAIT monitored their anger daily. Sixteen participants proceeded through to the final stages of the study. A significant decrease in anger on the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory (STAXI) was found for TREAT in comparison with WAIT at post-treatment. Repeated-measures analyses for TREAT showed significant improvements between pre-treatment and post-...

Evaluation of an Anger management therapy programme following acquired brain injury: A preliminary study

In a sample of 581 homeless or drug-abusing minority women, the relationship of self-esteem, sense of coherence, and support availability to emotional distress, somatic complaints, and high-risk behavior were investigated. Findings revealed that women who were high in self-esteem and stronger in sense of coherence reported significantly less emotional distress, and significantly fewer high-risk behaviors. In addition, women who were high in any of the three resources reported lower somatic complaints. Regression analyses revealed that coherence, self-esteem and support availability jointly accounted for 49% of the variance in emotional distress, 10% of the variance in high-risk activities, and 26% of the variance in somatic complaints. Implications for empowering women at risk for HIV infection are discussed.

Relationship of resources to emotional distress, somatic complaints, and high-risk behaviors in drug recovery and homeless minority women.

A sample of battered women were surveyed regarding their perceived career barriers, self-esteem, locus of control, work-role attitudes, and self-efficacy for making career decisions. In addition, an investigation of these variables with respect to the battered woman's self-reported employment status was provided. Also included was an examination of battered women's beliefs about how the shelters could assist them in their career planning and implementation. Findings revealed that (a) unemployed battered women scored lower on career decision-making self-efficacy and endorsed a more traditional work role attitude as compared to employed battered women, (b) high self-esteem was related to greater self-efficacy for making career decisions, (c) an internal orientation was related to high self-esteem, and (d) higher perceptions of career barriers were related to an external expectancy. Further, self-esteem emerged as the most significant contributor to battered women's self-efficacy for career decision-making t...

Battered Women's Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy: Further Insights and Contributing Factors

Although information relating to the validity of the short form of Coopersmith's Self-esteem Inventory has recently been made available, little has been published regarding the reliability or internal consistency of this new measure. For 103 college students test-retest reliability and KR-20 coefficients are reported. The results present strong support for both the stability and internal consistency of scores on the inventory.

Ralph J. Teague

Papers

Test-retest reliability and internal consistency of short-form of Coopersmith's Self-esteem Inventory.