Coping

Stressors

Stress has been defined in a number of ways, but the most common conception is that stress is any demand that comes from either inside or outside a person that requires the person to respond and/or readjust usual behaviors. The stressors may be major life events such as divorce, illness, death, or trauma or minor daily hassles that require small adjustments over the course of daily activities (interpersonal conflict, fatigue, traffic, etc.). Regardless of the source of stress, a stress response usually generates some attempt to manage the discomfort associated with the perception of a challenging situation. This management of challenging situations is referred to as coping. Leaders in the field of coping define coping in terms of the behavioral, cognitive, and emotional strategies used to manage demands that are experienced by individuals as potentially exceeding their resources.

As depicted in Figure 1, any situation that gives rise to the need for coping begins with some kind of life event or happening. Individuals experiencing such events engage in an appraisal process; that is, they evaluate the degree to which the event may have a negative impact or outcome. If they evaluate the event as nonthreatening, they do not experience stress. If individuals do find the event to be threatening in some way, they will experience stress. The appraisal process also involves an assessment of the skills or resources that individuals have that can be used to manage the situation, reduce the demands, and/or cope with the stress associated with the situation. When the general public think of coping, they typically think of stress management strategies such as problem solving, relaxation techniques, or social support. However, many experts in the field of stress and coping suggest that coping capacity can be enhanced by proactively building resources and strength and thus increasing resistance to stress. For example, research has shown that people who have many social connections, many daily experiences of positive emotion, and a sense of purpose in life are much less likely to perceive life events as stressful, particularly those small daily hassles that are such a part of life. Thus, effective coping involves using personal skills and resources to manage difficult situations and building strength and capacity, so that individuals are less likely to perceive a situation as exceeding their resources.

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