Coping

Types of Coping Strategies

In their seminal work on coping and adjustment, Lazarus and Susan Folkman identified two types of coping strategies: problem-focused coping (attempts to directly address the causes of a stressful situation) and emotion-focused coping (attempts to address the emotions elicited in a stressful situation). Subsequent research led to more elaborated formulations, such as one offered by Jennifer Connor-Smith and colleagues. The classes of coping strategies they identified were primary control engagement coping (directly trying to address the causes of stress through strategies such as problem solving); secondary control engagement coping (accommodating to the situation primarily through cognitive strategies such as acceptance and cognitive reframing); and disengagement coping (behaviorally or cognitively moving away from the stressor with strategies such as denial, avoidance, and wishful thinking).

Consistent with these hypotheses, Eve Band and John Weisz showed that engagement strategies, rather than disengagement strategies, are associated with positive mental and physical health outcomes. Moreover, primary control engagement strategies are more effective when the individual has considerable control over a situation, whereas secondary control engagement strategies are more effective in largely uncontrollable situations. Because many situations have controllable and uncontrollable aspects, effective coping often involves some combination of primary and secondary control strategies. Finally, Connor-Smith and colleagues identified several involuntary stress responses (e.g., rumination, intrusive thoughts, emotional arousal) that often interfere with successful coping. Many cognitive behavioral approaches to dealing with stress (e.g., acceptance and commitment therapy) encourage the use of mindfulness techniques to reduce the impact of involuntary stress responses.

Development of Coping Over the Lifespan

Although infants possess a small set of coping skills (e.g., sucking their thumb to self-soothe, closing their eyes to shut out excessive stimulation), infants largely depend on others for coping with stress. Coping in infancy is primarily a dyadic process; the infant communicates through crying or some other means that he or she is distressed and an adult helps the child cope (e.g., feeds a hungry baby or puts a blanket over a baby that is cold). Claire Kopp demonstrated how the development of self-regulation emerges from these interactive processes and how, as infants become toddlers and preschoolers, their coping repertoire develops.

Language acquisition allows children to better communicate their needs and to effectively influence the behavior of others, whereas the development of locomotor skills (from crawling to walking to running) facilitates more effective approach and avoidance behaviors. Even older infants can engage in simple problem-solving behaviors (e.g., procuring a desired object that is out of reach) and aggression (e.g., hitting or biting in response to frustration). David Wood and colleagues argued that parents “scaffold” the development of mature behaviors in their children (i.e., help them engage in more complex behaviors in collaboration with adults than they can perform on their own). Scaffolding clearly occurs in the context of coping.

...