Coping

Lessons from Coping

What have scholars learned about coping? They have learned that coping is often context specific, dynamic, complex, and dependent upon personality. Research shows that the way people cope depends upon the specific stressor. For example, if someone is coping with a divorce, how he or she is adapting depends upon the specific aspect of the divorce to which one is referring. Divorce encompasses a plethora of stressors, which can vary depending upon whether the person is an adult or child. Asking individuals how they are coping with the financial stress of divorce is very different than asking them how they are coping with the behaviors of their former spouse. Likewise, research has found that personality plays a significant role in coping. For instance, extroversion and conscientiousness might predict greater use of problem solving and reframing, whereas neuroticism is more indicative of withdrawal and emotion-focused coping. In general, the context and type of stressor, as well as personality, influence perceptions of the severity of the stressor and people's coping ability.

Regardless of the context, personality, and type of stressor, there are certain forms of coping that tend to be more effective than others. Most research on coping has focused on distinguishing between avoidant-focused coping and problem- or action-focused coping. The dominant finding is that people who use more avoidant-focused coping tend to have greater difficulty adapting to stress, which can harm their physical and mental health. For example, avoidant coping can make people more susceptible to a host of diseases, including cancer and cardiovascular diseases. Similar research has focused on emotion-focused coping, which examines how people manage the emotions associated with their stress. People who have too many negative emotions and are unable to effectively regulate them tend to have greater difficulty coping with their stress.

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