Coping with stress: Divergent strategies of optimists and pessimists.

Previous research has shown that dispositional optimism is a prospective predictor of successful adaptation to stressful encounters. In this research we attempted to identify possible mechanisms underlying these effects by examining how optimists differ from pessimists in the kinds of coping strategies that they use. The results of two separate studies revealed modest but reliable positive correlations between optimism and problem-focused coping, seeking of social support, and emphasizing positive aspects of the stressful situation. Pessimism was associated with denial and distancing (Study 1), with focusing on stressful feelings, and with disengagement from the goal with which the stressor was interfering (Study 2). Study 1 also found a positive association between optimism and acceptance/resignation, but only when the event was construed as uncontrollable. Discussion centers on the implications of these findings for understanding the meaning of people's coping efforts in stressful circumstances. (42 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Priming relational schemas: Effects of contextually activated and chronically accessible interpersonal expectations on responses to a stressful event.

The authors used a relational schemas approach to test the effects of interpersonal expectations on responses to a stressful event. In Study 1, a subliminal priming technique was used to demonstrate the causal influence of experimentally activated interpersonal expectations on affect, support seeking, and coping responses to a hypothetical unplanned pregnancy. Activation of positive interpersonal expectations increased reports of seeking emotional support and decreased the use of self-denigrating coping. Activation of negative interpersonal expectations decreased reports of positive affect and tended to impede growth-oriented coping. Chronically accessible interpersonal expectations, assessed by an attachment questionnaire, were also associated with affect, seeking of support, and coping. Study 2 undermined the possibility that the experimental findings obtained with this priming procedure resulted from a mood manipulation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A multidimensional approach to the study of the structure of coping with stress

This article described a study in which the responses of 199 respondents to measures of coping with stress were submitted to multidimensional scaling. The three-dimensional solution suggests that respondents' perceptions of coping with stress are best explained along the following dimensions: (a) active coping versus denial/escape, (b) turning to interpersonal support versus seeking religious comfort, and (c) instrumental/cognitive disengagement versus affective/spiritual engagement.     

Daily stress, coping, and well-being in parents of children with autism: A multilevel modeling approach.

This study used a repeated daily measurement design to examine the direct and moderating effects of coping on daily psychological distress and well-being in parents of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Twice weekly over a 12-week period, 93 parents provided reports of their daily stress, coping responses, and end-of-day mood. Multilevel modeling analyses identified 5 coping responses (e.g., seeking support, positive reframing) that predicted increased daily positive mood and 4 (e.g., escape, withdrawal) that were associated with decreased positive mood. Similarly, 2 coping responses were associated with decreased daily negative mood and 5 predicted increased negative mood. The moderating effects of gender and the 11 coping responses were also examined. Gender did not moderate the daily coping?mood relationship, however 3 coping responses (emotional regulation, social support, and worrying) were found to moderate the daily stress?mood relationship. Additionally, ASD symptomatology, and time since an ASD diagnosis were not found to predict daily parental mood. This study is perhaps the first to identify coping responses that enhance daily well-being and mitigate daily distress in parents of children with ASD. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Culture and Social Support: Who Seeks It and Why?

Are Asians and Asian Americans more or less likely to seek social support for dealing with stress than European Americans? On the one hand, the collectivist orientation of Asian countries might favor the sharing of stressful problems; on the other hand, efforts to maintain group harmony might discourage such efforts. In 2 studies, Koreans (Study 1) and Asians and Asian Americans in the United States (Study 2) reported using social support less for coping with stress than European Americans. Study 3 examined potential explanations for these effects and revealed that relationship concerns accounted for the cultural differences in use of support seeking. Discussion centers on the potential benefits and liabilities of seeking social support. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personal goals of older adults: Issues in assessment and prediction.

Identifies dimensions of individual difference in the content of older adults' personal goals and examines demographic, loss-related, and contextual influences on these goals. Results are based on the responses of 179 elders to a 112-item inventory designed to tap achievement, maintenance, disengagement, and coping goals in 16 life domains. Factor analyses yielded 10 dimensions that describe themes of global motivation, concerns about support and desired pace, and complexity of life. Demographic disadvantages and age-related transitions were related to greater desire for disengagement, support, and stability. Elders who were married and healthy were more likely to report a desire for an energetic lifestyle. Results are discussed in terms of implications for future research on elders' goals as a context for understanding the meaning of self-evaluation and environmental influences on aging. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Illness perceptions, coping and functioning in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and psoriasis

The present cross-sectional study analyzed the extent to which illness perceptions and coping strategies (as measured by the Illness Perception Questionnaire and the Utrecht Coping List, respectively) are associated with levels of daily functioning, as indicated by the Medical Outcomes Study SF-20, and disease-specific measures in 244 adults: 84 with rheumatoid arthritis (RA); 80 with chronic obstructive lung disease (COPD); and 80 with psoriasis. The results of stepwise regression analyses indicated that a strong illness identity, passive coping, belief in a long illness duration, belief in more severe consequences, and an unfavorable score on medical variables were associated with worse outcome on disease-specific measures of functioning and on general role and social functioning. Coping by seeking social support and beliefs in controllability/curability of the disease were significantly related to better functioning. The implications of these findings for future interventions and research are discussed.     

MMPI performance, response set, and the "self-concept hypothesis."

The MMPI can be viewed as communicating information about the self to a tester or institution. It is suggested that self-information is organized by self-concepts and that these more abstract self-concepts mediate specific responses to inventory items. This self-concept hypothesis provides an alternative to explanations emphasizing acquiescence response set, social desirability response set, or deviation set. In Study 1, replicated self-concept scales were constructed to index varied content dimensions of the MMPI. These scales, as well as the MMPI and the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale, were administered to 83 neuropsychiatric (NP) patients and the results factor analyzed. Inclusion of self-concept markers produced an unusually differentiated factor solution, with self-concept dimensions accounting for two-thirds of the explained MMPI variance. In Study 2 these procedures were replicated with a larger (201 Ss) and more heterogeneous group of respondents (NP patients, participants in alcoholism programs, and college students) and additional self-concept measures. Results support the conclusions that no evidence exists for additional and important self-concept dimensions within the MMPI item pool and that the MMPI acts mainly as a medium for the transmission of self-concept information and that self-concepts mediate and organize specific item responses. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development of the quality of life in epilepsy inventory

We developed an instrument to measure health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in epilepsy. A 99-item inventory was constructed from the RAND 36-Item Health Survey (generic core), with 9 additional generic items, 48 epilepsy-targeted items, and 6 other items concerning attitudes toward epilepsy and self-esteem. We administered the 99-item inventory to 304 adults with epilepsy at 25 epilepsy centers. Patients and patient-designated proxies completed the inventory and were retested 1-91 days later. A multitrait scaling analysis of these data led to retention of 86 items distributed in 17 multiitem scales (Cronbach's alpha ranged from 0.78 to 0.92). Factor analysis of the 17 multiitem scales yielded four underlying dimensions of health: an epilepsy-targeted dimension, a cognitive factor, mental health, and physical health. Construct validity was supported by significant patient-proxy correlations for all scales and correlations between neuropsychologic tests and self-reported emotional and cognitive function (all p values < 0.05). There were significant negative correlations between the four factor scores derived from the HRQOL scales and neurotoxicity, systemic toxicity, and health care utilization (except for the correlation between mental health factor and health care utilization; all p values < 0.05). Patients who were seizure-free in the preceding year reported better HRQOL for the overall score, three of the four factor scores, and 8 of the 17 scale scores than did patients with a high frequency of seizures. Relative validity analysis showed that the epilepsy-targeted factor and three of its four component scales were more sensitive to categorization of patients by severity of seizure frequency and type than scales tapping physical health, mental health, or cognitive function. These cross-sectional data support the reliability and validity of this measure of HRQOL in epilepsy. The addition of an epilepsy-targeted supplement to the generic core improved the sensitivity to severity of epilepsy. The 86 items included in the field testing were supplemented by three additional items to form the Quality of Life in Epilepsy (QOLIE-89) inventory.     

Coping through emotional approach: Problems of conceptualizaton and confounding.

Two studies supported hypotheses that (1) published scales tapping coping through processing and expressing emotion are confounded with psychopathology; (2) previously demonstrated relations between emotional approach coping (EAC) and maladjustment are partially spurious; and (3) EAC, when tapped by items uncontaminated by distress, is beneficial under specific conditions. In Study 1, 194 psychologists rated a majority of published items, but no author-constructed EAC item, as indicative of pathology. Study 2 assessed relations of confounded and unconfounded EAC scales to 171 young adults' adjustment during stressful events. Confounded items evidenced weaker discriminant validity with distress measures than did unconfounded items, and they were weaker predictors of later maladjustment when initial adjustment was controlled than when it was not. Unconfounded EAC predicted improved adjustment for women and poorer adjustment for men over time. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cross-sectional studies of personality in a national sample: I. Development and validation of survey measures.

Developed and validated 3 personality scales that were included in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey Epidemiologic Follow-up Study conducted by J. Cornoni-Huntley et al (1983). Items to measure neuroticism were selected rationally from a general well-being schedule developed by A. J. Dupuy (1978) and items to measure extraversion and openness to experience were selected by multiple regression from a personality inventory developed by the present authors (see record 1984-00201-001). In a sample of 654 20–96 yr old men and women from the Augmented Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging, all 3 short scales showed clear evidence of convergent and discriminant validity against full scales in self-reports, and against peer and spouse ratings. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A factor analysis of experimental social desirability and response set scales.

Intercorrelations between 19 response set scales, based upon the scores of 110 students, were factor analyzed and the factors rotated orthogonally. Edwards' SD scale and 6 experimental social desirability scales had their highest loadings on the 1st factor. 3 scales containing neutral items in which the probability of a True response to the items varied between scales were found to have their highest loadings on 3 different factors. Scales designed to measure the tendency to give deviant True responses to items with socially undesirable scale values, to items with socially desirable scale values, and to items with neural scale values were found to have their highest loadings on 3 different factors. The tendency to give deviant True responses to items with socially undesirable scale values was found to be related to the tendency to give deviant False responses to items with socially desirable scale values. The tendency to mark items as doubtful and the tendency to answer items marked doubtful as True were identified as 2 factors unrelated to social desirability tendencies. (31 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Coping styles predict change in personality disorders

The present follow-up study is the first to investigate whether dispositional coping styles prospectively influence change in the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (MCMI-II) personality disorders. The sample consisted of 155 psychiatric outpatients who where investigated twice--namely six and seven years after their admission to the clinic. Coping styles prospectively predicted change in most of the MCMI-II personality disorders, whereas sex and age did not affect the outcome. The use of problem-focused coping and the seeking of social support improved the patient levels on the MCMI-II personality disorder scores. Dysfunctional coping styles such as selfdistraction, disengagement, use of alcohol or drugs, and venting of emotions, however, aggravated the patient MCMI-II personality disorders. Furthermore, the effects of coping patterns tended to be specific for single personality disorders.     

Coping in context: Sociocultural determinants of responses to sexual harrassment.

The authors investigated coping responses to sexual harassment across 4 samples of working women from 3 cultures and 2 occupational classes. Complete-link cluster analyses provide preliminary support for D. E. Knapp, R. H. Faley, S. E. Ekeberg, and C. L. Z. Dubois's (1997) coping framework, suggesting that avoidance, denial, negotiation, advocacy seeking, and social coping are universal responses to sexual harassment. Further, L. F. Fitzgerald's (1990) internal-extemal dichotomy appears to capture higher order relationships among coping responses. In addition, regression analyses suggest that Turkish and Hispanic American women engage in more avoidance than Anglo American women, and Hispanic women also use more denial but less advocacy seeking. No differences emerged in social coping. The authors discuss these results in the context of coping theory, individualism-collectivism, power distance, and patriarchal gender norms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Factor structure of the Social Interaction Anxiety Scale and the Social Phobia Scale

In the study of social anxiety, it is common to differentiate between social interaction versus performance anxiety. The Social Interaction Anxiety Scale was designed to assess social interaction anxiety, and the Social Phobia Scale to assess fear of scrutiny by others (Mattick and Clarke, 1989). In common use, these scales are typically administered together and treated as subscales of a larger measure. However, the joint factor structure of these instruments has never been examined; therefore, it is unclear whether or not the items on these scales actually represent distinct aspects of social anxiety. In the present study, a confirmatory factor analysis of the pooled items from the SIAS and SPS failed to adequately fit the data. An exploratory factor analysis yielded three factors: (1) interaction anxiety, (2) anxiety about being observed by others, and (3) fear that others will notice anxiety symptoms. However, hierarchical factor analysis suggested that these factors all load on a single higher-order factor, social anxiety. Relationships of the first-order factors to other measures of social and performance fear and avoidance are examined, and implications of our findings for the assessment of social phobia are discussed.     

Frame-of-reference effects on personality scale scores and criterion-related validity.

Increased use of personality inventories in employee selection has led to concerns regarding factors that influence the validity of such measures. A series of studies was conducted to examine the influence of frame of reference on responses to a personality inventory. Study 1 involved both within-subject and between-groups designs to assess the effects of testing situation (general instructions vs. applicant instructions) and item type (work specific vs. noncontextual) on responses to the NEO Five-Factor Inventory (P. T. Costa & R. R. McCrae, 1989). Results indicated that a work-related testing context and work-related items led to more positive responses. A second study found differences in the validity of a measure of conscientiousness, depending on the frame of reference of respondents. Specifically, context-specific items were found to have greater validity. Implications for personnel selection are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Coping with identity threat: The role of religious orientation and implications for emotions and action intentions.

Religiosity is typically related to positive outcomes following distress, yet it remains unclear how religiosity may alter responses when one's religious identity itself is challenged. The present investigation examined the role of appraisal-coping processes in the relations between religious orientations, emotions, and action intentions following identity threat. Study 1 (N = 63) assessed associations with religious orientations (intrinsic and extrinsic) following a threat targeting one's religion. Although both orientations evoked a broad array of responses, those related to an intrinsic orientation were stronger and included more negative reactions (e.g., sadness, confrontation). Study 2 (N = 59) evaluated the impact of a nonreligious identity threat, which elicited only adaptive responses (i.e., problem-focused coping, support seeking) that were associated with an intrinsic orientation. Appraisal-coping processes mediated relations between religiosity and responses to an identity threat in both studies but were most evident following religious threat. Taken together, these findings suggest that whereas an extrinsic religious orientation may function as a social identity in response to religious threats, the positive effects of an intrinsic religious orientation appear to be undermined by threats targeting the social group and belief system therein. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relationship between social desirability and internal consistency of personality scales.

3 hypotheses concerning the relationships between psychometric characteristics of 61 personality scales were tested. A measure of internal consistency (Kuder-Richardson Formula 21) was found to be positively correlated (.62) with the degree of imbalance in the social desirability keying of the scales. Internal consistency was also negatively correlated (-.46) with the proportion of neutral items in the scales. The mean probability of a keyed response to the items in a scale was positively correlated (.83) with the proportion of items keyed for socially desirable responses. These results are consistent with predictions based upon social desirability considerations. (19 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A brief spiritual beliefs inventory for use in quality of life research in life-threatening illness

This paper reports on the initial efforts to validate a brief self-report inventory, the Systems of Belief Inventory(SBI-15R), for use in quality of life (QOL) and psychosocial research studying adjustment to illness. The SBI-15R was designed to measure religious and spiritual beliefs and practices, and the social support derived from a community sharing those beliefs. The authors proposed this scale to address the need for greater exploration of spiritual and religious beliefs in QOL, stress and coping research. Phase I: Item generation. The research team identified four domains comprised of 35 items that make up spiritual and religious beliefs and practices. The instrument was piloted in a structured interview format on 12 hospitalized patients with varying sites of cancer. Phase II: Formation of SBI-54. After these initial efforts, the research team increased the number of items to 54 and adopted a self-report format. To assess patients reactions to the questionnaire, the new version was piloted on 50 outpatients with malignant melanoma. Phase III: Initial validation. To begin establishing validation, 301 healthy individuals with no history of cancer or serious illness in the prior year were asked to complete the SBI-54 and several other instruments. A principal components analysis with varimax rotation of the SBI-54 identified two factors, in contrast to the four which were hypothesized, one measuring spiritual beliefs and practices, the other measuring social support related to the respondent's religious community. Phase IV: Item reduction of the SBI-54. A shortened version of the SBI-54 with 15 items, five from the items identifying factor I and ten from those identifying factor II, was developed to lessen patient burden. The new SBI-15 correlated highly with the SBI-54, and demonstrated convergent, divergent, and discriminant validity. Revision of SBI-15. The investigators rephrased one statement in order to broaden the applicability of the SBI-15 to patients other than those with a diagnosis of cancer, and to healthy individuals. DISCUSSION. The SBI-15R met tests of internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and convergent, divergent, and discriminant validity in both physically healthy and physically ill individuals. The SBI-15R may have value in measuring religious and spiritual beliefs as a potentially mediating variable in coping with life-threatening illness, and in the measurement of QOL.     

Coping through emotional approach: Scale construction and validation.

Four studies demonstrate the psychometric adequacy and validity of scales designed to assess coping through emotional approach. In separate undergraduate samples, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses of dispositional (Study 1) and situational (Study 3) coping item sets yielded 2 distinct emotional approach coping factors: emotional processing (i.e., active attempts to acknowledge and understand emotions) and emotional expression. The 2 scales yielded high internal consistency and test-retest reliability, as well as convergent and discriminant validity. A study (Study 2) of young adults and their parents established the scales' interjudge reliabilities. Longitudinal (Study 3) and experimental (Study 4) research supported the predictive validity of the emotional approach coping scales with regard to adjustment to stressful encounters. Findings highlight the utility of functionalist theories of emotion as applied to coping theory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)