Personal and Situational Variables That Describe Coping With Acute Stress in Competitive Sport

Abstract

The authors examined the degree to which competitive basketball players in Australia were consistent in their cognitive appraisals and coping strategies in response to 4 types of stressful situations that they had experienced during previous basketball games as functions of perceived stress intensity. The authors predicted that both approach and avoidance coping strategies would be dependent on the type of stressful event, in accord with the transactional model. The results supported that prediction: Approach strategies were more prevalent than avoidance strategies following 3 of the 4 events. Cognitive appraisals and perceived stress intensity also strongly influenced the participants' use of coping strategies, accounting for 34% of the variance.     

Application of a stress and coping model to antenatal depressive symptomatology

This study examined the utility of a stress/coping model of antenatal depressive symptomatology. The direct and moderating effects of appraisal, coping resources and coping strategies on depression were explored. A total of 242 primiparous women completed questionnaires during the third trimester of pregnancy. Predictors included life events, coping resources (social support, quality of women's earlier relationships with parents), appraisal (threat, self-efficacy) and coping strategies (wishful thinking, positive reappraisal, problem solving, emotional approach). Results of regression analyses indicated that higher depression was related to higher stressful life events, threat appraisal and wishful thinking coping, and lower positive reappraisal coping. The expected stress exacerbation effects of wishful thinking on depression were supported. There was no support for the expected stress buffering effects of coping resources and coping strategies on depression. Findings provide preliminary support for the use of a stress/coping model to guide future research into psychosocial predictors of antenatal depression.     

Abortion and Mental Health

Abstract

Unwanted pregnancy and abortion are common life events, and therapists are likely to work with clients who experience them. Legal abortion currently entails little physical or mental health risk; most women currently cope effectively with these life events without need of clinical intervention. But current abortion politics include efforts to make abortion a more threatening, stressful, and stigmatized experience and to create a “postabortion syndrome.” Using a stress and coping framework, we examine how antiabortion activists spread myths and misinformation aimed at women's appraisal processes, and discuss approaches therapists can use to enhance women's strategies for coping with abortion. We also discuss specific issues and useful techniques for counseling about abortion concerns, including cultural sensitivity and strategies for promoting positive sexual health.     

Coping Mechanisms of Unemployed African Men with Dependents

The primary objective of the study was to evaluate the efficiency of the coping mechanisms of 82 unemployed African men with dependents. Results revealed significant relationships between perceived stress and stressful life events, as well as between perceived stress and four groups of coping mechanisms, the strongest relationships being reported for stressful life events, psychological coping resources, and family resources. Only four of the fifteen identified coping mechanisms could reduce the relationship between stressful life events and perceived stress. These were an internal locus of control, extended family social support, mastery and health within the family, and the utilization of community resources.     

Theoretical note: When is a coping strategy not a coping strategy?

Abstract

This paper discusses the issue of differentiating between cognitive coping behaviors and appraisal processes. Although these can be separated in theory, and experimental procedures can manipulate appraisals independantly of coping, it is difficult to separate these constructs in naturalistic studies on appraisal and coping responses to real life stressors. The ability to separate these constructs requires knowledge of an individual's precise motivation, an age-old stumbling block in psychological research. It is proposed that, at least in naturalistic studies on stress, appraisal and coping, perhaps the best that can be achieved is to record a particular behavior and report it as such, without attempting to guess at the motivation underlying it.     

Experimentally testing Taylor's stress,coping and adaptation framework

Abstract

Taylor (1995) constructed a comprehensive framework of stress and adaptation, which considers internal and external resources/impediments as moderators, based on previous studies and models. However, most past research used correlation designs and has not taken into account all of the framework's components within one study. This study tested the effects of the event (minor, major), primary appraisal (benign, severe), coping (problem-focused coping (PFC) versus emotion-focused coping), external resources (with/without social support), and internal impediments (hostility), on estimated distress (dependent variable) in written imagined stressful daily scenarios. All components except hostility were experimentally manipulated within subjects in the scenarios. The scenarios were rated by 281 Dutch students. The variables event, appraisal, and social support significantly and independently affected estimated distress. Event and appraisal synergistically interacted in relation to estimated distress. Finally, appraisal interacted with coping such that the distress-reducing effects of PFC occurred only in benign events, while coping did not affect estimated distress in severely appraised events. This study experimentally tested most components of Taylor's framework, and showed that events, appraisal, and social resources were independent determinants of estimated distress, and that appraisal interacts in a complex manner with the event and with coping.     

Distinguishing Source of Autonomy Support in Relation to Workers' Motivation and Self-Efficacy

ABSTRACt

The purpose was to investigate the relationship between autonomy support by managers and co-workers and employees' work motivation and self-efficacy in two studies. In Study 1, a sample of 343 Swedish workers completed surveys, and in Study 2, we followed up with a subsample of 98 workers one year later. As in previous studies, managers' support of autonomy was significantly positively related to workers' outcomes. However, the results of Study 1 also showed that co-worker autonomy support was related to these outcomes over and above the effects of manager support. Study 2 showed that changes in autonomy support from co-workers during one year significantly predicted motivation and self-efficacy one year later, while change in support from managers was unrelated to outcomes later. These findings provide evidence for the importance of both vertical and horizontal sources of support.     

Coping strategies and quality of life in women with advanced breast cancer and their family caregivers

Abstract

This study examines the effects of personal resources of both heart patients and their close social partners on patients' coping and quality of life. Generalized personal resources (self-efficacy beliefs, dispositional optimism, self-regulation competence) and outcomes were assessed by questionnaire 1–3 days before surgery (n = 122) and again six months later (n= 50). Outcome variables were coping styles, social resources (social support and social integration), emotional states, and further measures of quality of life. Patients' personal resources were dominant in the prediction of most of the outcomes. Partners' resources were uniquely related to social support, social integration, and quality of life as perceived by the patients. Further, partners' personality resources predicted changes in patients' loneliness and energy levels during the six-month interval.     

Group identification and self-efficacy associated with quality of life in emergency medical services volunteers: A cross-sectional investigation

Volunteering in emergency medical services (EMS) plays a fundamental role in the improvement and maintenance of collective and community health. However, this work often requires rescuers to deal with very stressful situations with consequences in terms of decreased quality of life and psychological well-being. The aim of this work was to analyze the resources that can be positively associated with volunteers’ quality of life. In particular, based on social identity and social cure approaches, we tested the effect of self-efficacy and identification with a volunteer category on both positive and negative aspects of the volunteers’ professional quality of life. A self-report questionnaire was administered to 203 EMS volunteers (53.7% men) from a large nonprofit volunteer association. Results are mostly supportive of predictions from the social identity (and specifically the “social cure”) approach, and show that professional identification and self-efficacy were differently linked to the dimensions of the volunteers’ quality of life. More precisely, professional identification was negatively associated with burnout and positively associated with compassion satisfaction, and both effects were mediated by self-efficacy. On the contrary, self-efficacy and volunteer identification were not associated with secondary traumatic stress. Practical implications for volunteers’ wellbeing are discussed in the light of the policies of volunteer associations to improve collective resources.     

Personal factors related to compassion fatigue in health professionals

This study examines the role of some personal and professional factors in compassion fatigue among health-care professionals. Research participants included 182 (89 mental and 93 medical) health-care professionals who completed an assessment battery measuring compassion fatigue, emotion management, trait emotional intelligence, situation-specific coping strategies, and negative affect. Major findings indicate that both self-report “trait” emotional intelligence and ability-based emotion management are inversely associated with compassion fatigue; adaptive coping is inversely related to compassion fatigue; and differences exist between mental and medical professions in emotional intelligence, coping strategies, and negative affect. Furthermore, problem-focused coping appears to mediate the association between trait emotional intelligence and compassion fatigue. These findings shed light on the role of emotional factors in compassion fatigue among health-care professionals. Beyond enhancing our knowledge of practitioners' professional quality of life, the current study serves as a basis for the early identification of groups of practitioners at risk for compassion fatigue.     

Reappraisal inventiveness: impact of appropriate brain activation during efforts to generate alternative appraisals on the perception of chronic stress in women*

Background and objectives: Previous research indicated that more left-lateralized prefrontal activation during cognitive reappraisal efforts was linked to a greater capacity for generating reappraisals, which is a prerequisite for the effective implementation of cognitive reappraisal in everyday life. The present study examined whether the supposedly appropriate brain activation is relevant in terms of more distal outcomes, i.e., chronic stress perception.

Design and methods: Prefrontal EEG alpha asymmetry was recorded while female participants were generating reappraisals for stressful events and was correlated with their self-reported chronic stress levels in everyday life (n?=?80).

Results: Women showing less left-lateralized brain activity in the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex during cognitive reappraisal efforts reported experiencing more stress in their daily lives. This effect was independent of self-efficacy beliefs in managing negative emotions.

Conclusion: These findings underline the practical relevance of individual differences in appropriate brain activation during emotion regulation efforts and the assumedly related basic capacity for the generation of cognitive reappraisals to the feeling of being stressed. Implications include the selection of interventions for the improvement of coping with stress in women in whom the capability for appropriate brain activation during reappraisal efforts may be impaired, e.g., due to depression or old age.     

Comparison of Job Satisfaction,Life Satisfaction,and Performance of Overeducated and Other Workers

Abstract

It is becoming increasingly necessary for college graduates in the United States to take jobs requiring only a high school diploma. In the present study, the effects of employing such overeducated workers were assessed for a sample of city and county government workers. The sample included both overeducated workers and a cohort matched on job, sex, age, tenure, and supervisor. The hypotheses predicted lower job satisfaction over the six dimensions for the overeducated workers, and also that various worker perceptions would influence the predictions of the job satisfactions. None of the direct correlations between education and the six dimensions of job satisfaction were significant. The relationships between workers' perception variables and aspects of job satisfaction, however, were significant. There were no differences between the overeducated and their cohorts in general life satisfaction. On supervisory ratings, overeducated workers' performance was only slightly different from other workers.     

Interrole conflict and self-efficacy to manage work and family demands mediate the relationships of job and family demands with stress in the job and family domains

Background and objectives: This study derives from Work–Home Resources model (ten Brummelhuis, L. L., & Bakker, A. B. (2012). A resource perspective on the work–home interface: The work–home resources model. American Psychologist, 67(7), 545–556. doi:10.1037/a0027974) and Social Cognitive Theory (Bandura, A. (1986). Social foundations of thought and action: A social cognitive theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ, US: Prentice-Hall, Inc.) to investigate mechanisms responsible for the effect of job and family demands on work- and family-related perceived stress. We hypothesized that interrole conflict and self-efficacy to manage work and family demands operate either independently or sequentially transmitting the effects of demands on perceived stress. Design: A sample of 100 employees of various occupations participated in the study conducted online in two waves: Time 1 (T1) and Time 2 (T2) with a three-month interval. Method: Regression analysis with bootstrapping was applied. Results: Interrole conflict (T1) did not mediate the relationships between demands (T1) and perceived stress (T2), whereas self-efficacy (T1) mediated only those between family demands (T1) and stress (T2). However, data supported the sequential mediation hypotheses: Demands (T1) were associated with increased interrole conflict (T1) which in turn decreased self-efficacy (T1) and ultimately resulted in the elevated perceived stress at work and in the family (T2). Conclusions: Demands originating in one domain can impact stress both in the same and other life areas through the sequence of interrole conflict and context-specific self-efficacy.     

Must coping options be severely limited during stressful events: Testing the interaction between primary and secondary appraisals

Abstract

It is assumed that psychological stress develops in personally relevant events when situational demands tax or exceed coping resources (i.e., when coping options are severely limited). Despite the central role of this proposition in defining stress, it has been little investigated due to conceptual overlap in definitions of primary and secondary appraisals. In the present work, the interaction between primary and secondary appraisals was used in order to test this proposition, employing non-overlapping definitions of appraisal components. Appraisals were manipulated independently, using written scenarios of stressful occupational episodes, each with three levels of personal stakes and three levels of coping options. Results indicated that the appraisal factors exerted main, but not interaction, effects on negative and positive moods. This means that emotional response increases in proportion to the level of personal stakes in the encounter, with coping potential acting as independent predictor, rather than moderator variable. Contrary to expectations, therefore, emotional distress might develop under conditions where situational demands fall short of exerting all the available resources for coping. The theoretical implications of these results are discussed.     

Stress appraisals influence athletic performance and psychophysiological response during 16.1 km cycling time trials

ObjectivesWe examined how stress appraisals were associated with emotions, coping behaviours, as well as subjective and objective measures of performance.DesignProspective field- and laboratory-based studies.MethodsIn Study 1, 192 athletes completed process-oriented psychometrics pertaining to the aforementioned constructs throughout a sporting competition. Study 2 utilised an experimental design to assess the causal influence of stress appraisals on performance, cortisol, and psychological variables. Thirty gender-matched athletes were randomly assigned to either a stress appraisal (e.g., challenge, threat, benefit, or harm/loss) or the control group. Participants completed three 16.1 km cycling time trials (TT) on a cycle ergometer, with their appropriate stress appraisal engendered via falsified performance feedback throughout the final TT. Salivary cortisol samples and psychometrics (e.g., appraisals, emotions, and coping) were collected before and after each TT.ResultsThe results of Study 1 revealed a sequential link between challenge stress appraisals and perceived goal attainment via pleasant emotions and task-oriented coping behaviours. Threat stress appraisals inversely related to goal attainment via unpleasant emotions and both distraction- and disengagement-oriented coping. In Study 2, no significant psychophysiological or performance differences were found across genders. The temporal orientation of stress appraisals influenced objective cycling TT performance. Benefit and harm/loss stress appraisals significantly facilitated or inhibited performance, respectively. Cortisol spikes were observed in the stress appraisal group’s threat, challenge, and benefit, with a decline detected within the harm/loss group. Whilst the process of winning is physiologically stressful, the fear of defeat may be more stressful than losing itself.ConclusionStress appraisals influence subjective and objective performance, as well as neuroendocrine and psychological responses to stress.     

Exploring teenagers' adaptive and maladaptive thinking in relation to the threat of hiv infection

Abstract

Teenagers' HIV-preventive cognitions were explored within a protection motivation theory framework. Five hundred and seven adolescent men and women from two cohorts (sixteen and eighteen) completed a confidential postal questionnaire. The effect of demographic variables, previous sexual experience and appraisal of threat and coping resources upon HIV-relevant cognitions was investigated using path analysis. Cognitions promoting (adaptive) and inhibiting (maladaptive) preventive behaviour were considered. Anticipated condom use, intention to limit number of sexual partners and willingness to consider an HIV antibody test were included as adaptive HIV-preventive cognitions. Coping appraisal measures were strongly associated with anticipated condom use but threat appraisal measures were not. Gender, previous sexual experience, coping appraisal measures and denial accounted for 33% of the variance in anticipated condom use. Overall the results provided qualified support for Protection Motivation Theory. Implications for health education are highlighted.     

Compassion satisfaction,compassion fatigue,and burnout in a national sample of trauma treatment therapists

Abstract

For behavioral health professionals working with traumatized clients, continuous and prolonged exposure to the stress of working with the myriad of trauma-related stressors experienced by their clients can lead to various responses including burnout, compassion fatigue, and compassion satisfaction. The present study investigates the impact of using evidence-based practices on compassion fatigue, burnout, and compassion satisfaction in a random, national sample of self-identified trauma specialists (N=532). The 30-item Professional Quality of Life Scale (Stamm, 2005) and the 19-item Trauma Practices Questionnaire (Craig & Sprang, 2009) were included in a survey to licensed social workers and psychologists from professional membership rosters. Age and years of experience proved to be powerful predictors of only two of the three criterion variables, with younger professionals reporting higher levels of burnout and more experienced providers endorsing higher levels of compassion satisfaction. The utilization of evidence-based practices predicted statistically significant decreases in compassion fatigue and burnout, and increases in compassion satisfaction. The utility of these findings in understanding the process of trauma transmission between therapist and client as well as directions for future research are discussed.     

Mothers' and fathers' coping with chronic childhood disease

Abstract

Mothers and fathers with a child with diabetes, asthma, cardiac conditions, epilepsy or leukaemia completed questionnaires to investigate their appraisal of disease-related difficulties and patterns of coping. There were differences both in appraised difficulties and coping patterns as a function of diagnostic group. In general, mothers who perceived more difficulties reported that it was helpful to cope by gaining disease-related knowledge. Fathers who perceived more difficulties reported it was more helpful to adopt strategies to enhance their own personal autonomy. Fathers who perceived more difficulties also reported that contact with medical staff was less helpful. Implications are discussed in terms of the differential implications of coping with chronic childhood diseases for mothers and fathers. Theoretical models need to take into account the differential demands of specific diseases in accounting for parents' stress appraisal and coping patterns.     

Dirty work,dirty worker? Stigmatisation and coping strategies among domestic workers

Domestic work can be perceived to be ‘dirty work’ in several ways: it is associated with dirt handling, low occupational prestige, and domestic workers have a servile relationship to their clients/employers. This stigma may negatively affect domestic workers' sense of self, and thus coping strategies appear to be critical. In this article, we explore the coping strategies that moderate the relation between the stigma of dirty work and domestic workers' sense of self, based on the analyses of 43 interviews with domestic workers in Belgium. By using a social stress approach in which stigma is considered a stressor, our results reveal a range of maladaptive and adaptive coping strategies that contribute to a negative or a more positive sense of self. Four main categories of coping strategies are discussed: confronting or countering perceptions and behaviours, occupational ideologies, social weighting and defensive tactics. The first two categories are adaptive coping strategies; the last two can be adaptive or maladaptive. We also reveal that workers used adaptive and maladaptive coping strategies simultaneously, leading to mixed implications for their sense of self.     

What matters when children play: Influence of Social Cognitive Theory and perceived environment on levels of physical activity among elementary-aged youth

ObjectivesSocial Cognitive Theory (SCT) has often been used as a guide to predict and modify physical activity (PA) behavior. We assessed the ability of commonly investigated SCT variables and perceived school environment variables to predict PA among elementary students. We also examined differences in influences between Hispanic and non-Hispanic students.DesignThis analysis used baseline data collected from eight schools who participated in a four-year study of a combined school-day curriculum and environmental intervention.MethodsData were collected from 393 students. A 3-step linear regression was used to measure associations between PA level, SCT variables (self-efficacy, social support, enjoyment), and perceived environment variables (schoolyard structures, condition, equipment/supervision). Logistic regression assessed associations between variables and whether students met PA recommendations.ResultsSchool and sex explained 6% of the moderate-to-vigorous PA models' variation. SCT variables explained an additional 15% of the models' variation, with much of the model's predictive ability coming from self-efficacy and social support. Sex was more strongly associated with PA level among Hispanic students, while self-efficacy was more strongly associated among non-Hispanic students. Perceived environment variables contributed little to the models.ConclusionsOur findings add to the literature on the influences of PA among elementary-aged students. The differences seen in the influence of sex and self-efficacy among non-Hispanic and Hispanic students suggests these are areas where PA interventions could be tailored to improve efficacy. Additional research is needed to understand if different measures of perceived environment or perceptions at different ages may better predict PA.