Assessing coping flexibility in real-life and laboratory settings: A multimethod approach.

This research sought to formulate a theoretically based conceptualization of coping flexibility and to adopt a multimethod approach in assessing this construct. A self-report daily measure and an experiment were designed geared to theoretical and empirical grounds. The new daily measure was used in Study 1 to examine coping flexibility in a life transition. Findings showed individual differences in patterns of coping flexibility across different real-life stressful events. In Study 2, coping flexibility was examined in both real-life and laboratory settings. Results replicated those of Study 1 and further revealed consistency between the self-report and the experiment data. Study 3 extended previous studies by adopting a longitudinal design over a 3-month time span. Participants' flexibility in coping with laboratory tasks was found to predict how flexible they would be in handling real-life stressful events. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Working memory capacity and self-regulatory behavior: Toward an individual differences perspective on behavior determination by automatic versus controlled processes.

In the present research, the authors investigated how individual differences in working memory capacity moderate the relative influence of automatic versus controlled precursors on self-regulatory behavior. In 2 studies, on sexual interest behavior (Study 1) and the consumption of tempting food (Study 2), automatic attitudes toward the temptation of interest had a stronger influence on behavior for individuals who scored low rather than high in working memory capacity. Analogous results emerged in Study 3 on anger expression in a provoking situation when a measure of the automatic personality trait of angriness was employed. Conversely, controlled dispositions such as explicit attitudes (Study 1) and self-regulatory goals (Studies 2 and 3) were more effective in guiding behavior for participants who scored high rather than low in working memory capacity. Taken together, these results demonstrate the importance of working memory capacity for everyday self-regulation and suggest an individual differences perspective on dual-process or dual-system theories of human behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Coping with sexual harassment: Personal, environmental, and cognitive determinants.

A multidimensional coping typology and a process model of coping were used to examine coping strategies in response to sexual harassment, the personal and environmental determinants of these strategies, and the cognitive processes underlying strategy choice. Survey responses of 15,404 military members who reported unwanted sex-related attention were analyzed. Strong support was found for the usefulness of both the typology and the model. Choice of specific coping strategies used in response to sexual harassment varied significantly depending on occupational status, gender, climate, harassment severity, and power differential. Cognitive appraisal mediated the determinant-coping relationship. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Coping strategy use following computerized cognitive-behavioral therapy for substance use disorders.

Coping strategies are emerging as a predictor of treatment outcome for substance users and may be particularly important among computerized and self-change approaches. We used data from a randomized clinical trial of a computer-based version of cognitive–behavioral therapy (CBT4CBT) to: (1) examine the association between observer ratings of coping skills and self-reported coping strategies; (2) evaluate whether participants assigned to the CBT4CBT program reported greater use of coping strategies compared with those not exposed to the program; and (3) examine the differential effect of coping strategies by treatment group on drug-related outcomes. Individuals (N = 77) seeking treatment for substance dependence at a community-based outpatient substance abuse treatment facility were recruited and randomized to receive treatment-as-usual (TAU), or TAU plus CBT4CBT, with the Coping Strategies Scale administered at baseline and posttreatment. Self-reported coping strategy use was strongly correlated with observer ratings on a role-play assessment of coping skills. Although no significant group differences were found across time for coping strategy use, results suggested that as coping strategy use increased, drug use decreased, and this relationship was stronger for participants who received CBT4CBT. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Coping Strategies Among Swedish Female and Male Managers in an International Context.

This work was part of the Collaborative International Study of Managerial Stress. Swedish managers (N=288) from the 3 highest levels in the organizations were included. Swedish results were compared with managerial coping data from 4 other nations. Cross-national differences in support and control coping were found. Covert coping seemed to be a predominantly female strategy. In general, however, female and male managers are more alike with regard to coping patterns than men and women in the population. Some of the coping behavior of managers was associated with health risks. These data imply that coping strategies should be improved in organizational settings, particularly for females. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attachment in Coping With Bereavement: A Theoretical Integration.

Researchers have deplored shortcomings in theoretically based models of coping with bereavement. Integration of cognitive stress with attachment theory is proposed to predict adjustment to bereavement, describe different forms of effective coping, and resolve ongoing debates about continuing versus relinquishing bonds. These 2 generic approaches are integrated within a bereavement-specific perspective, the dual-process model of coping (Stroebe & Schut, 1999). Accordingly, (a) different coping styles are adopted by, and are differentially efficacious for, bereaved people according to their style of attachment; (b) bereaved people's ways of continuing bonds differ according to their attachment style; and (c) grief complications are associated with insecure attachment styles. The authors conclude that it is better for some bereaved individuals to work toward retaining ties and for others to work toward loosening ties. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relations between personality and coping: A meta-analysis.

Personality may directly facilitate or constrain coping, but relations of personality to coping have been inconsistent across studies, suggesting a need for greater attention to methods and samples. This meta-analysis tested moderators of relations between Big Five personality traits and coping using 2,653 effect sizes drawn from 165 samples and 33,094 participants. Personality was weakly related to broad coping (e.g., Engagement or Disengagement), but all 5 traits predicted specific strategies. Extraversion and Conscientiousness predicted more problem-solving and cognitive restructuring, Neuroticism less. Neuroticism predicted problematic strategies like wishful thinking, withdrawal, and emotion-focused coping but, like Extraversion, also predicted support seeking. Personality more strongly predicted coping in young samples, stressed samples, and samples reporting dispositional rather than situation-specific coping. Daily versus retrospective coping reports and self-selected versus researcher-selected stressors also moderated relations between personality and coping. Cross-cultural differences were present, and ethnically diverse samples showed more protective effects of personality. Richer understanding of the role of personality in the coping process requires assessment of personality facets and specific coping strategies, use of laboratory and daily report studies, and multivariate analyses. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Anosognosia and denial: Their relationship to coping and depression in acquired brain injury.

Objective: To evaluate relations among denial, anosognosia, coping strategies, and depression in persons with brain injury. Study Design: Correlational. Setting: A Midwest residential, post-acute brain injury rehabilitation center. Participants: Twenty-seven adults with brain injury. Measures: Clinician's Rating Scale for Evaluating Impaired Self-Awareness and Denial of Disability After Brain Injury, COPE, Beck Depression Inventory-I. Results: Denial and anosognosia were related and co-occurred. Use of process coping strategies was associated with greater use of problem-focused coping strategies. Higher levels of denial were associated with greater use of avoidant coping strategies, and greater use of these coping strategies was related to higher levels of depression. Conclusions: Individuals primarily in denial and individuals primarily anosognosic differ in the coping strategies they institute. Avoidant coping strategies are used more frequently by individuals in denial, and use of these strategies is associated with higher levels of clinical depression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attachment working models and the sense of trust: An exploration of interaction goals and affect regulation.

Five studies examined the association between adult attachment style and the sense of trust in close relationships. Study 1 focused on the accessibility of trust-related memories. Studies 2–5 focused on trust-related goals and coping strategies, while using different data collection techniques (open-ended probes, diary methodology, lexical decision task). Findings showed that secure persons felt more trust toward partners, showed higher accessibility of positive trust-related memories, reported more positive trust episodes over a 3-week period, and adopted more constructive strategies in coping with the violation of trust than insecure persons. In addition, whereas intimacy attainment was the main trust-related goal for all the attachment groups, security attainment was an additional goal of anxious-ambivalent persons, and control attainment was an additional goal of avoidant persons. Findings are discussed in terms of attachment working models. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Understanding Responses to Political Conflict: Interactive Effects of the Need for Closure and Salient Conflict Schemas.

Two studies examined the relationship between the need for cognitive closure and preferences for conflict-resolution strategies in 2 different samples of elite political actors. Although research has suggested that high need for closure should be associated with competitiveness, the authors argue that this relationship should be strongest among political actors with a hostile conflict schema, or representation of what a conflict is and how it should be dealt with. The authors provide evidence for this hypothesis using archival survey data on American foreign-policy officials' attitudes toward international conflict at the height of the Cold War (Study 1) and their own data on the relationship between the need for closure and conflict-strategy preferences among samples of activists from 2 political parties in Poland: a centrist party with a reputation for cooperativeness and an extremist party with a reputation for confrontation (Study 2). The broader implications of these findings are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

A set-intersection model of letter recognition in the spatial probe task.

Proposes a dual-process model involving 2 interacting identification processes. The set-intersection model can explain the predominance of mislocations, but, contrary to independent dual-process models, predicts that mislocations and intrusions can be affected by the same variable. Results of 2 experiments conducted with 24 undergraduates support the set-intersection model but are difficult to explain using independent dual-process models. Computer simulations comparing a single-process identification model to the set-intersection model isolated the advantages of a new identification process in the set-intersection model. Only the set-intersection model successfully reproduced the results of the 2 experiments. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Coping Strategies as Mediators of the Relations Among Perceived Control and Distress in Sexual Assault Survivors.

Two studies assessed whether coping strategies mediate the relations among 2 forms of perceived control (past and present control) and postassault distress among female sexual assault survivors. In Study 1, longitudinal data were gathered from 2 weeks to 1 year postassault (N=171). Past control (behavioral self-blame) was associated with more distress partly because it was associated with greater social withdrawal. Present control (control over the recovery process) was associated with less distress partly because it was associated with less social withdrawal and more cognitive restructuring. In Study 2, cross-sectional data were gathered from a community sample of nonrecent survivors of sexual assault (N=131). Coping strategies again mediated the relations among the measures of past and present control and distress. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Testing Theories of Recognition Memory by Predicting Performance Across Paradigms.

Signal-detection theory (SDT) accounts of recognition judgments depend on the assumption that recognition decisions result from a single familiarity-based process. However, fits of a hybrid SDT model, called dual-process theory (DPT), have provided evidence for the existence of a second, recollection-based process. In 2 experiments, the authors tested predictions of DPT and SDT by comparing the invariance of parameter estimates between yes/no (Y/N) and 2-altemative forced-choice (2AFC) testing paradigms. Both experiments showed DPT recollection estimates in Y/N to be poorly correlated with recollection estimates in 2AFC. In Experiment 2, SDT predictions explained more variance than DPT predictions. The authors evaluate and discuss the extent to which each model possesses theoretical validity versus computational flexibility in curve fitting. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Coping patterns of African American adolescents: A confirmatory factor analysis and cluster analysis of the Children's Coping Strategies Checklist.

The current study examined patterns of coping strategies in a sample of 497 low-income urban African American adolescents (mean age = 12.61 years). Results of confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the 4-factor structure of the Children's Coping Strategies Checklist (T. S. Ayers, I. N. Sandler, S. G. West, & M. W. Roosa, 1996) was not replicated in the current sample. The final model was a 3-factor model that was invariant across gender. The Active Coping factor and Revised Avoidant Coping factor were highly correlated in the present sample. Results of cluster analyses identified 2 coping groups differing on the frequency of coping use and preferred coping methods. The 1st group was more likely to use avoidant coping and less likely to use social support-seeking coping than the 2nd group, which showed more consistent use across coping strategies. There were no significant differences in the association between stressors and symptoms across the 2 groups. The results highlight the importance of examining factor structures of coping measures with underrepresented groups. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

When similarity breeds content: Need for closure and the allure of homogeneous and self-resembling groups.

Four studies explored the relation between members' need for cognitive closure and their feelings toward groups. It was found that high (vs. low) need for closure individuals liked in-groups and out-groups more as function of the degree to which their membership was perceived as homogeneous (Studies 1-4), provided it was also self-similar (Studies 3 and 4). These results are discussed in terms of the relation between need for closure and homogeneous (vs. heterogeneous) groups' apparent potential as "closure providers." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

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)     

Factors underlying expectancies of success and achievement: The influential roles of need for cognition and general or specific self-concepts.

It has been assumed that task-specific self-concepts are more important than general self-concepts in determining expectancies of success and subsequent achievement. The authors argue here that the influence varies depending on need for cognition (NFC). Findings from Study 1 (N = 104) showed that expectancies of success in an academic task could be predicted from specific self-concept for individuals with a high NFC and from general self-concept for individuals with a low NFC. In Study 2 (N = 193), where cognitive load was manipulated, given a high cognitive load, only general self-concept was predictive of success expectancies, independent of NFC. In Study 3 (N = 197), given a high relevance of correct expectancy ratings, only specific self-concept was predictive of expectancies and actual achievement, independent of NFC. In Studies 4 and 5, the results from Study 1 concerning the prediction of expectancies (as well as achievement) reappeared in a physical and a social domain. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Examining the relationships among item recognition, source recognition, and recall from an individual differences perspective.

The authors of the current study examined the relationships among item-recognition, source-recognition, free recall, and other memory and cognitive ability tasks via an individual differences analysis. Two independent sources of variance contributed to item-recognition and source-recognition performance, and these two constructs related differentially to other memory and cognitive ability constructs. The results are in accordance with a dual-process theory of memory retrieval in which a familiarity process can support judgments of previous occurrence and a more strategic recollection process is needed for controlled search of long-term memory. Furthermore, the authors offer additional evidence in favor of a dual-process model by showing validity for these two unique sources of variance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development and validation of a Coping with Discrimination Scale: Factor structure, reliability, and validity.

Four studies were conducted to develop and validate the Coping With Discrimination Scale (CDS). In Study 1, an exploratory factor analysis (N = 328) identified 5 factors: Education/Advocacy, Internalization, Drug and Alcohol Use, Resistance, and Detachment, with internal consistency reliability estimates ranging from .72 to .90. In Study 2, a confirmatory factor analysis (N = 328) provided cross-validation of the 5-factor model as well as evidence for validity of the scale. The validity evidence was similar across racial groups and for males and females. In Study 3, the estimated 2-week test–retest reliabilities (N = 53) were between .48 and .85 for the 5 factors. Education/Advocacy, Internalization, Drug and Alcohol Use, and Detachment were positively associated with active coping, self-blame, substance use, and behavioral disengagement, respectively, providing further support for validity of the CDS. Finally, incremental validity evidence was obtained in Study 4 (N = 220), where it was shown that the CDS explained variance in outcome variables (i.e., depression, life satisfaction, self-esteem, and ethnic identity) that could not be explained by general coping strategies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Influence du processus de coping de l’enfant d’age scolaire sur son adaptation à la séparation parentale et aux conflits entre ses parents.

There exists an abundant literature on the effects of parental separation on children. However, few studies focus on the coping process employed by children to help them deal with this familial restructuring. Eighty-five children and their parents, from intact or separated families, answered questionnaires measuring parental conflicts, the child’s coping process, and the child’s adaptation to validate a theoretical model of child adaptation and to identify the mechanisms by which this process is related to their adaptation. The model takes into account the coping process of children subjected to family-related stress. Path analyses show that threat appraisal influences the choice of coping strategies, and reveal that active strategies influence the perceived efficacy of the coping strategies. The results also show that the children’s coping process is partially tied to their adaptation in various ways. However, avoidance and support seeking coping strategies could have different impacts on the adaptation of the children of each group. This study also draws attention to the direct impact of conjugal conflicts on the child’s adaptation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)