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Journal ArticleDOI

Dynamics of a stressful encounter: Cognitive appraisal, coping, and encounter outcomes.

01 May 1986-Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (American Psychological Association)-Vol. 50, Iss: 5, pp 992-1003
TL;DR: In this paper, an intraindividual analysis of the interrelations among primary appraisal (what was at stake in the encounter), secondary appraisal (coping options), eight forms of problem-and emotion-focused coping, and encounter outcomes in a sample of community-residing adults was performed.
Abstract: Despite the importance that is attributed to coping as a factor in psychological and somatic health outcomes, little is known about actual coping processes, the variables that influence them, and their relation to the outcomes of the stressful encounters people experience in their day-to-day lives. This study uses an intraindividual analysis of the interrelations among primary appraisal (what was at stake in the encounter), secondary appraisal (coping options), eight forms of problem- and emotion-focused coping, and encounter outcomes in a sample of community-residing adults. Coping was strongly related to cognitive appraisal; the forms of coping that were used varied depending on what was at stake and the options for coping. Coping was also differentially related to satisfactory and unsatisfactory encounter outcomes. The findings clarify the functional relations among appraisal and coping variables and the outcomes of stressful encounters.
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A multidimensional coping inventory to assess the different ways in which people respond to stress was developed and an initial examination of associations between dispositional and situational coping tendencies was allowed.
Abstract: We developed a multidimensional coping inventory to assess the different ways in which people respond to stress. Five scales (of four items each) measure conceptually distinct aspects of problem-focused coping (active coping, planning, suppression of competing activities, restraint coping, seeking of instrumental social support); five scales measure aspects of what might be viewed as emotional-focused coping (seeking of emotional social support, positive reinterpretation, acceptance, denial, turning to religion); and three scales measure coping responses that arguably are less useful (focus on and venting of emotions, behavioral disengagement, mental disengagement). Study 1 reports the development of scale items. Study 2 reports correlations between the various coping scales and several theoretically relevant personality measures in an effort to provide preliminary information about the inventory's convergent and discriminant validity. Study 3 uses the inventory to assess coping responses among a group of undergraduates who were attempting to cope with a specific stressful episode. This study also allowed an initial examination of associations between dispositional and situational coping tendencies.

10,143 citations


Cites background from "Dynamics of a stressful encounter: ..."

  • ...~olkman and lazarus (1980, 1985; Folkman et al., 1986 ), for example, have repeatedly emphasized that coping should be thought of as a dynamic process that shifts in nature from stage to stage of a stressful transaction....

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  • ...~olkman and lazarus (1980, 1985; Folkman et al., 1986), for example, have repeatedly emphasized that coping should be thought of as a dynamic process that shifts in nature from stage to stage of a stressful transaction....

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  • ...Research typically finds that responses to the Ways of Coping scale form several factors rather than just two (e.g., Aldwin, Folkman, Schaefer, Coyne, & Lazarus, 1980; Aldwin & Revenson, 1987; Coyne, Aldwin, & Lazarus, 1981; Folkman & Lazarus, 1985; Folkman, Lazarus, Dunkel-Schetter, DeLongis, & Gruen, 1986; Parkes, 1984; Scheier, Weintraub, & Carver, 1986): In general, researchers view factors other than ......

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A new stress model called the model of conservation of resources is presented, based on the supposition that people strive to retain, project, and build resources and that what is threatening to them is the potential or actual loss of these valued resources.
Abstract: Major perspectives concerning stress are presented with the goal of clarifying the nature of what has proved to be a heuristic but vague construct. Current conceptualizations of stress are challenged as being too phenomenological and ambiguous, and consequently, not given to direct empirical testing. Indeed, it is argued that researchers have tended to avoid the problem of defining stress, choosing to study stress without reference to a clear framework. A new stress model called the model of conservation of resources is presented as an alternative. This resource-oriented model is based on the supposition that people strive to retain, project, and build resources and that what is threatening to them is the potential or actual loss of these valued resources. Implications of the model of conservation of resources for new research directions are discussed.

9,782 citations

Book ChapterDOI
01 Jan 1991

3,388 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Comparing comparative analysis, optimal matching analysis, and event-structure analysis are new techniques which may help advance research in these broad topic areas and enhance the effectiveness of coping and social support interventions.
Abstract: I review existing knowledge, unanswered questions, and new directions in research on stress, coping resource, coping strategies, and social support processes. New directions in research on stressors include examining the differing impacts of stress across a range of physical and mental health outcomes, the "carry-overs" of stress from one role domain or stage of life into another, the benefits derived from negative experiences, and the determinants of the meaning of stressors. Although a sense of personal control and perceived social support influence health and mental health both directly and as stress buffers, the theoretical mechanisms through which they do so still require elaboration and testing. New work suggests that coping flexibility and structural constraints on individuals' coping efforts may be important to pursue. Promising new directions in social support research include studies of the negative effects of social relationships and of support giving, mutual coping and support-giving dynamics, optimal "matches" between individuals' needs and support received, and properties of groups which can provide a sense of social support. Qualitative comparative analysis, optimal matching analysis, and event-structure analysis are new techniques which may help advance research in these broad topic areas. To enhance the effectiveness of coping and social support interventions, intervening mechanisms need to be better understood. Nevertheless, the policy implications of stress research are clear and are important given current interest in health care reform in the United States.

3,312 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The contrasts between two approaches to coping are focused on, one that emphasizes style—that is, it treats coping as a personality characteristic—and another that emphasizes process, efforts to manage stress that change over time and are shaped by the adaptational context out of which it is generated.
Abstract: In this essay in honor of Donald Oken, I emphasize coping as a key concept for theory and research on adaptation and health. My focus will be the contrasts between two approaches to coping, one that emphasizes style—that is, it treats coping as a personality characteristic—and another that emphasizes process—that is, efforts to manage stress that change over time and are shaped by the adaptational context out of which it is generated. I begin with an account of the style and process approaches, discuss their history briefly, set forth the principles of a process approach, describe my own efforts at measurement, and define coping and its functions from a process standpoint. This is followed by a digest of major generalizations that resulted from coping process research. The essay concludes with a discussion of special issues of coping measurement, in particular, the limitations of both coping style and process approaches and how these limitations might be dealt with. There has been a prodigious volume of coping research in the last decade or two, which I can only touch on very selectively. In this essay, I also ignore a host of important developmental issues that have to do with the emergence of coping and its cognitive and motivational bases in infants, as well as a growing literature on whether, how, and why the coping process changes with aging.

3,082 citations


Cites background from "Dynamics of a stressful encounter: ..."

  • ...For example, in one study we explored five major stressful encounters in the same persons, one per month over 5 months ( 44 , 45)....

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  • ...Thus, what a person does to cope depends on the context in which the disease occurs, and this will change over time because what is attended to, and the threats themselves, also change ( 43-45 )....

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  • ...In another study ( 44 ) subjects reported on a multiple choice scale that the stress had either been a) unresolved or made worse, b) not changed, c) resolved but not to their satisfaction, d) resolved but improved, or e) resolved to their satisfaction....

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  • ...However, there has been little process research generalizing about strategies of coping across different kinds of stressful encounters, using a bottom-up or inductive approach, as it were, an exception being ( 44 )....

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References
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Book
01 Jan 1974
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a detailed theory of psychological stress, building on the concepts of cognitive appraisal and coping, which have become major themes of theory and investigation in psychology.
Abstract: Here is a monumental work that continues in the tradition pioneered by co-author Richard Lazarus in his classic book Psychological Stress and the Coping Process. Dr. Lazarus and his collaborator, Dr. Susan Folkman, present here a detailed theory of psychological stress, building on the concepts of cognitive appraisal and coping which have become major themes of theory and investigation. As an integrative theoretical analysis, this volume pulls together two decades of research and thought on issues in behavioral medicine, emotion, stress management, treatment, and life span development. A selective review of the most pertinent literature is included in each chapter. The total reference listing for the book extends to 60 pages. This work is necessarily multidisciplinary, reflecting the many dimensions of stress-related problems and their situation within a complex social context. While the emphasis is on psychological aspects of stress, the book is oriented towards professionals in various disciplines, as well as advanced students and educated laypersons. The intended audience ranges from psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, nurses, and social workers to sociologists, anthropologists, medical researchers, and physiologists.

37,447 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Results indicate that individuals' coping interventions are most effective when dealing with problems within the close interpersonal role areas of marriage and child-rearing and least effective when deals with the more impersonal problems found in occupation.
Abstract: Coping refers to behavior that protects peoplefrom being psychologically harmed by problematic social experience, a behavior that importantly mediates the impact that societies have on their members. The protective function of coping behavior can be exercised in three ways: by eliminating or modifying conditions giving rise to problems; by perceptually controlling the meaning of experience in a manner that neutralizes its problematic character; and by keeping the emotional consequences of problems within manageable bounds. The efficacy of a number of concrete coping behaviors representing these threefunctions was evaluated. Results indicate that individuals' coping interventions are most effective when dealing with problems within the close interpersonal role areas of marriage and child-rearing and least effective when dealing with the more impersonal problems found in occupation. The effective coping modes are unequally distributed in society, with men, the educated, and the affluent making greater use of the efficacious mechanisms.

7,715 citations


"Dynamics of a stressful encounter: ..." refers background in this paper

  • ...McCrae, 1984; Menaghan, 1982; Pearlin & Schooler, 1978; Stone & Neale, 1984), their impact tends to be evaluated without regard to their context....

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  • ...With few exceptions (e.g., Pearlin & Schooler, 1978 ), researchers have largely bypassed the question of short-term encounter outcomes in favor of long-term outcomes such as depression and somatic health status....

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  • ...... conviction that coping is a major factor in the relation between stressful events and adaptational outcomes such as depression, psychological symptoms, and somatic illness (e.g., Andrews, Tennant, Hewson, & Vaillant, 1978; Baum, Fleming, & Singer, 1983; Billings & Moos, 1981, 1984; Collins, Baum, & Singer, 1983; Coyne, Aldwin, & Lazarus, 1981; Felton, Revenson, & Hinrichsen, 1984; Menaghan, 1982; Mitchell, Cronkite, & ......

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Book
01 Jan 1966

6,190 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyzed the ways 100 community-residing men and women aged 45 to 64 coped with the stressful events of daily living during one year and found that coping conceptualized in either defensive or problem-solving terms is incomplete.
Abstract: This study analyzes the ways 100 community-residing men and women aged 45 to 64 coped with the stressful events of daily living during one year. Lazarus's cognitive-phenomenological analysis of psychological stress provides the theoreticalframework. Information about recently experienced stressful encounters was elicited through monthly interviews and self-report questionnaires completed between interviews. At the end of each interview and questionnaire, the participant indicated on a 68-item Ways of Coping checklist those coping thoughts and actions used in the specific encounter. A mean of 13.3 episodes was reported by each participant. Two functions of coping, problem-focused and emotion-focused, are analyzed with separate measures. Both problemand emotion-focused coping were used in 98% of the 1,332 episodes, emphasizing that coping conceptualized in either defensive or problem-solving terms is incomplete-both functions are usually involved. Intraindividual analyses show that people are more variable than consistent in their coping patterns. The context of an event, who is involved, how it is appraised, age, and gender are examined as potential influences on coping. Context and how the event is appraised are the most potent factors. Work contexts favor problem-focused coping, and health contexts favor emotionfocused coping. Situations in which the person thinks something constructive can be done or that are appraised as requiring more information favor problem-focused coping, whereas those having to be acceptedfavor emotion-focused coping. There are no effects associated with age, and gender differences emerge only in problem-focused coping: Men use more problem-focused coping than women at work and in situations having to be accepted and requiring more information. Contrary to the cultural stereotype, there are no gender differences in emotionfocused coping.

5,616 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This natural experiment provides substantial evidence for the following major themes, which are based on a cognitively oriented, process-centered theory of stress and coping: First, a stressful encounter should be viewed as a dynamic, unfolding process, not as a static, unitary event.
Abstract: This natural experiment provides substantial evidence for the following major themes, which are based on a cognitively oriented, process-centered theory of stress and coping: First, a stressful encounter should be viewed as a dynamic, unfolding process, not as a static, unitary event. Emotion and coping (including the use of social support) were assessed at three stages of a midterm examination: the anticipation stage before the exam, the waiting stage after the exam and before grades were announced, and after grades were posted. For the group as a whole there were significant changes in emotions and coping (including the use of social support) across the three stages. Second, people experience seemingly contradictory emotions and states of mind during every stage of an encounter. In this study, for example, subjects experienced both threat emotions and challenge emotions. The complexity of emotions and their cognitive appraisals reflects ambiguity regarding the multifaceted nature of the exam and its meanings, especially during the anticipation stage. Third, coping is a complex process. On the average, subjects used combinations of most of the available forms of problem-focused coping and emotion-focused coping at every stage of the exam. Different forms of coping were salient during the anticipation and waiting stages. Problem-focused coping and emphasizing the positive were more prominent during the former, and distancing more prominent during the latter. Finally, despite normatively shared emotional reactions at each stage, substantial individual differences remained. Using selected appraisal and coping variables, and taking grade point averages (GPA) into account, approximately 48% of the variances in threat and challenge emotions at the anticipation stage was explained. Controlling for variance due to the grade received, appraisal, and coping variables accounted for 28% of the variance in positive and negative emotions at the outcome stage. Including grade, 57% of the variance in positive emotions at outcome and 61% of the negative emotions at outcome were explained. The essence of stress, coping, and adapta- changing meaning or significance of what is tion is change. The emotions one experiences happening as the encounter unfolds. Coping, in a stressful encounter, for example, are too, is characterized by change. One might characterized by flux. At first one may feel at first engage in avoidant or denial-like strat

4,528 citations


"Dynamics of a stressful encounter: ..." refers background or methods or result in this paper

  • ...In previous studies (Aldwin et al., 1980, Folkman & Lazarus, 1985 ), we found that problem-focused forms of coping and positive reappraisal were highly correlated....

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  • ...Based on our previous research on the relation between secondary appraisal (consisting of evaluations of coping resources, constraints, and options) and coping (Coyne et al., 1981; Folkman & Lazarus, 1980, 1985 ), we expected subjects to use more problem-focused forms of coping in encounters they appraised as changeable, and more emotion-focused forms of coping in situations where they saw few if any options for affecting the outcome....

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  • ...These findings highlight the need for microanalyses of coping processes (e.g., Folkman & Lazarus, 1985 ) in order to observe their interplay as a stressful encounter unfolds....

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  • ...Haan, 1977). Conceptualizations that define coping in terms of a value or outcome tend to create a tautology, whereby the coping process is confounded with the outcomes it is used to explain (see Folkman & Lazarus, 1980, 1985; Lazarus & Folkman, 1984a, 1984b)....

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  • ...As we have pointed out ( Folkman & Lazarus, 1985 ), the problem is not that self-report is inherently more fallible than other methods of inquiry—in fact, for certain kinds of psychological processes it may be the only way to obtain certain information—but rather that it ultimately requires verification by other methods such as observation of direct behavior and physiological assessment....

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