Social skills training: Behavior rehearsal in groups and dating skills.

Minimal dating, identified as a significant target problem, generally has been thought to result from either conditioned anxiety or negative self-evaluations. In the present study, minimal dating was formulated as the result of a social skills deficit. In accord with this formulation, 2 direct skill-training programs involving behavior rehearsal with and without extrasession tasks were evaluated against attention-placebo and waiting-list controls. 48 college males reporting anxiety and shyness about meeting females were carefully screened and assigned to 1 of 2 groups included in each of 4 treatment conditions. Results indicate that 3 of the 4 skill-training groups showed significant (p     

Parental affect and coping.

Parental affect and coping strategies have been identified as being important for the understanding of the processes involved in the socialization of children. In the present study, 24 fathers (mean age 35.21 yrs old) and 62 mothers (mean age 35.05 yrs) (unrelated) described a stressful incident with one of their children and completed questionnaires addressing their appraisal of the event, their affect, and consequent coping strategy. Both child characteristics (age, birth order, and gender) and parent characteristics (gender, affect intensity, and ego level) were examined in relation to parents' appraisal of the cause of the event, their affect, and their coping strategy. Feelings of being angry, afraid, sad, and guilty, and use of coping strategies are discussed in light of the need for further research on emotion in parenting situations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Causal model of stress and coping: Women in management.

A model of managerial women's stress was tested (N?=?249) with structural equation modeling. The model was developed from R. S. Lazarus's (1966) theoretical framework of stress/coping and incorporated 3 causal antecedent constructs (Demographics, Sex Role Attitudes, and Agentic Traits), 4 mediating constructs (Environment, Appraisals, Engagement Coping, and Disengagement Coping), and 3 outcomes (Work Performance, Distress, and Satisfaction). The final model, found to be most plausible in the sample population, accounted for 56% of the total variance among the constructs. Lazarus's theory of psychological stress, which postulates a central role for cognitive appraisals and coping, was supported. In addition, agentic traits and sex role attitudes had both direct and indirect effects on outcome variables. Implications for career development theory and counseling, as well as limitations of the study, are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Positive affect and the other side of coping.

Although research on coping over the past 30 years has produced convergent evidence about the functions of coping and the factors that influence it, psychologists still have a great deal to learn about how coping mechanisms affect diverse outcomes. One of the reasons more progress has not been made is the almost exclusive focus on negative outcomes in the stress process. Coping theory and research need to consider positive outcomes as well. The authors focus on one such outcome, positive affect, and review findings about the co-occurrence of positive affect with negative affect during chronic stress, the adaptive functions of positive affect during chronic stress, and a special class of meaning-based coping processes that support positive affect during chronic stress. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-critical perfectionism and daily affect: Dispositional and situational influences on stress and coping.

This study of university students (64 men and 99 women) examined both dispositional and situational influences of self-critical (SC) perfectionism on stress and coping, which explain its association with high negative affect and low positive affect. Participants completed questionnaires at the end of the day for 7 consecutive days. Structural equation modeling indicated that the relation between SC perfectionism and daily affect could be explained by several maladaptive tendencies associated with SC perfectionism (e.g., hassles, avoidant coping, low perceived social support). Multilevel modeling indicated that SC perfectionists were emotionally reactive to stressors that imply possible failure, loss of control, and criticism from others. As well, certain coping strategies (e.g., problem-focused coping) were ineffective for high-SC perfectionists relative to low-SC perfectionists. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Order of the acquisition of perspective-taking skills.

Gave 3 groups of 60 children (6, 8, and 10 yrs of age) a perspectives task. Results provide some support for the hypothesis that the acquisition of perspective-taking skills in a Piagetian-type perspectives task follows 3 sequential steps: At first young children can correctly represent only the location of the object nearest another observer; later, they can correctly represent a before–behind relationship between objects as seen by another observer; last, they are able to represent a left–right relationship between objects as seen by another observer. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive preparation and coping self-talk: Anxiety management during the stress of flying.

Investigated the effectiveness of 2 cognitive coping strategies, singly and in combination, in 56 undergraduate females with a reported fear of flying. Ss were assigned to 4 groups: preparatory information training, self-statement training, combined training, and pseudotreatment control and were flown aboard an 11-passenger aircraft for 2 flights. Half of the Ss flew with the door to the cockpit open, and the other half flew with the door closed. Each flight encountered a planned unexpected missed landing. Self-reports of anxiety were obtained before takeoff, during the flight, and after landing. Even though the cognitive-coping strategies were not differentially effective in reducing anxiety during the ongoing stress of flying, under serious threat (unexpected event), with the cockpit door open, self-talk and combined Ss coped better than information and control Ss. With the door closed, all groups increased in anxiety. At the final landing, with the door closed, self-statement-trained Ss increased in their self-reported anxiety. Results of a 4.5-mo follow-up on flight apprehension are discussed in terms of the effects of the treatment manipulations. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Meaning in the context of stress and coping.

Although theoretical and empirical work on topics related to meaning and meaning making proliferate, careful evaluation and integration of this area have not been carried out. Toward this end, this article has 3 goals: (a) to elaborate the critical dimensions of meaning as it relates to stressful life events and conditions, (b) to extend the transactional model of stress and coping to include these dimensions, and (c) to provide a framework for understanding current research and directions for future research within this extended model. First, the authors present a framework for understanding diverse conceptual and operational definitions of meaning by distinguishing 2 levels of meaning, termed global meaning and situational meaning. Second, the authors use this framework to review and synthesize the literature on the functions of meaning in the coping process and propose a definition of meaning making that highlights the critical role of reappraisal. The authors specify the roles of attributions throughout the coping process and discuss implications for future research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychological stress and coping in aging.

Examines how the dynamics of stress and coping change with circumstances of living and processes of aging. The answer has remained obscure for 3 main reasons. (1) The state of the art in the measurement of stress and coping is still primitive. (2) Personal beliefs, values, and commitments, which develop from a person's unique history, shape appraisal of stress and manner in which stress is coped with and therefore have profound consequences for morale, social and work functioning, and somatic health. (3) Most of the observations relevant to the central question have been obtained cross-sectionally; however, because the significance of any given event is embedded in the individual's personal, lifelong drama, it is important to examine stress and coping longitudinally as well. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social skills and stress management training to enhance patients' interpersonal competencies.

23 adult male psychiatric outpatients, who showed evidence of marked interpersonal impairment or social isolation and absence of florid psychotic symptoms or organic brain damage, received social-skills training alone (mean age for this group was 48.4 yrs) or in conjunction with stress-management training (mean age for this group was 46.7 yrs) in 9 sessions. Nine additional men (mean age 53.4 yrs) were assigned to a minimal treatment control group. Social-skills training included modeling, coaching, covert and overt rehearsal, corrective feedback, social reinforcement, and homework assignments involving 5 response classes of social behavior. Stress-management training covered applied relaxation and cognitive restructuring procedures aligned with the same 5 response classes. Compared to the control group, Ss in both treatment conditions showed significant improvements on behavioral measures of social skill. Improvements continued during a 4-wk follow-up period and generalized to new situations not addressed in training. Neither treatment condition had an impact on self-reports of social anxiety or self-esteem. (36 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Monitoring and planning capacities in the acquisition of music performance skills.

Investigated changes in cognitive capacities that occur as musicians acquire performance skills. A study is presented of child pianists (aged 6–14 yrs) of beginning and intermediate skill levels who performed well-learned musical pieces. Computer-detected pitch errors in the performances provided evidence for skill-related increases in both monitoring and planning: Children with more musical training showed quicker detection and correction of errors, more anticipatory and less perseveratory behavior, and larger range of planning than children with less training. A study of adult musicians' (mean age 27 yrs) advanced performances, which showed heightened sensitivity to melody and repeated pitch structures is also reported. Results show that planning and monitoring capacities increased most during initial stages of musical skill acquisition, whereas sensitivity to musical structure increased across all skill levels. Lists of beginners, intermediates' and adults' musical pieces performed are appended. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of a workshop fee on women's stress management skills and evaluations.

Investigated the effects of a workshop fee on stress-management skills and workshop evaluations of 34 women (aged 24–62 yrs) who participated in a 2-evening stress-management workshop. Ss were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 groups: $30 treatment fee or no fee (control). At the conclusion of training, all Ss completed the State scale of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory twice (before and after using stress reduction techniques), a cognitive recall test, and a workshop evaluation. Two weeks after training, Ss responded to a scale measuring their present level of experienced stress. Significant differences were found between the groups: Those paying for the workshop scored significantly higher in content recall of stress reduction techniques and significantly lower in follow-up stress levels than Ss who paid no fee. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The acquisition of robust and flexible cognitive skills.

The authors introduce a model of skill acquisition that incorporates elements of both traditional models and models based on embedded cognition by striking a balance between top-down and bottom-up control. A knowledge representation is used in which pre- and postconditions are attached to actions. This model captures improved performance due to learning not only in terms of shorter solution times and lower error rates during the task but also in an increased flexibility to solve similar problems and robustness against unexpected events. In 3 experiments using a complex aviation task, the authors contrasted instructions that explicitly stated pre- and postconditions with conventional instructions that did not. The instructions with pre- and postconditions led to better and more robust performance than other instructions, especially on problems that required transfer. The parameters of the model were estimated to obtain a quantitative fit of the results of Experiment 1, which was then successfully used to predict the results of Experiments 2 and 3. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A coping skills model of psychological diagnosis and treatment.

Presents a model for psychological diagnosis and treatment of mental health disorders that is based on coping skills rather than on symptoms or pathologies. Coping skills, defined broadly as components of adaptability, are classified into 3 general areas: interpersonal relationships, thinking and feeling, and approaches to self and life. These 3 areas are further divided into 11 coping-skills categories. This model is intended to be applicable to all ages. It requires systematic assessment of an individual's current life situation in relation to that person's coping skills and coping-skills deficiencies. After such an assessment, interventions are directed toward assisting the individual to enhance appropriate coping skills. It is anticipated that this coping skills model may be used both independently and in conjunction with other diagnostic systems. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dynamic differentials of stress and coping.

Dynamic properties aligned with temporal interactions of stress, coping, and related variables are presented. Observations surrounding simple unidimensional systems are used to introduce more comprehensive systems of multidimensional interactions. Dimensions include collective levels of environmental stressors, levels of organismic stress arousal, coping-related cognitive efficiency, and engagement in selected coping activity. Changes in the relative impact of one dimension on another with the progression of time also are accommodated. Important prototypical features of dynamic systems pertinent to the present substantive domain are noted. Relations of dynamic-systems models to other formal treatments of stress-coping variables then are discussed. Finally, avenues and issues of empirical testing are presented. It is concluded that hurdles to crafting valid multidimensional dynamic systems are justified by the obtained explicitness of intervariable structures and specificity of variable trajectories over time. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Age differences in stress and coping processes.

The dramatic increase in the numbers of people who are living into old age has been accompanied by a growing interest among psychologists and health care professionals in their sources of stress and how they cope with them. Despite this interest, little is known about normative stress and coping patterns and the ways in which these patterns differ in older and younger people. This study, which draws on stress and coping theory, compares younger and older community-dwelling adults in daily hassles and eight kinds of coping. Two interpretations of age differences are evaluated: a developmental interpretation, which says that there are inherent, stage-related changes in the ways people cope as they age, and a contextual interpretation, which says that age differences in coping result from changes in what people must cope with. The findings indicate that there are clear age differences in hassles and coping. Overall, the findings tend to support the developmental interpretation, although the contextual interpretation also applies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Situational assessment of alcohol-related coping skills in wives of alcoholics.

A situation-specific inventory (the Spouse Situation Inventory) of problems encountered by wives of alcoholics was developed to measure alcohol-related coping skills in this population. The inventory was administered to 45 middle-aged wives of alcoholics. Generalizability analysis indicated that most of the variance in performance was accounted for by cross-situational differences among Ss. Alanon-experienced Ss scored significantly higher than those with little or no Alanon experience. Situational assessment of alcohol-related coping skills shows promise as a refined method for identifying specific skill deficits in wives of alcoholics. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dispositional affect and work-related stress.

Trait negative affectivity (NA) has been asserted to be a factor that spuriously inflates relationships between self-reported stressors and self-reported strain outcomes. This hypothesis was tested with conventional work stress instrument responses and physiological assessments obtained from 311 fire and police department employees. Confirmatory factor analyses indicated that NA did not measure a factor in common with measures of subjective strain. Latent-variable structural equations analyses, however, found that estimating the effects of NA on strain significantly attenuated the effects of work stressors. NA had no correlation with physiological stress outcomes. Trait positive affectivity did not attenuate relationships between work stressors and either subjective or objective stress outcomes. Implications for work stress research methodology and recommendations are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Issues in the study of stress and coping in rehabilitation settings.

The purpose of this article is to assist rehabilitation researchers in making decisions about the design and conduct of stress and coping research. The authors offer a selective review of the stress and coping literatures, with a focus on rehabilitation-specific work. The authors first address stress, focusing on different definitions and on how it relates to adaptation, and then consider coping, focusing on the levels at which coping operates, its relation to features of the situation, and its influence on adjustment. The authors urge researchers to collect additional data, including assessing changes over time, and to examine multiple aspects of stressful experiences to better capture the complexity of stress and coping processes. Researchers should specify the nature of the coping construct used, use assessment methods clearly linked to the facet of the coping construct being examined, and investigate specific mechanisms by which coping influences rehabilitation outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Commitment and coping in stress resistance among lawyers.

Administered the Schedule of Recent Life Events and the Social Readjustment Rating Scale to 157 general practice lawyers. No simple direct correlation was found between Ss' stressful life event levels and their reports of diagnosable illness. There was a significant relationship between stress experience and complaints of strain symptomatology, but this was mediated by 2 stress-resistance resources. In addition to stress levels, increases in strain were significantly determined by the personality characteristic of alienation as opposed to commitment and the use of regressive coping techniques. Social support and exercise did not significantly affect the degree of strain reported. (48 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)