The exam-specific strategic approach to coping scale and interpersonal resources

We addressed the role of interpersonal resources and coping during an oral examination. Assessing exam-specific coping strategies with a German adaptation of the Strategic Approach to Coping Scale (GSACS-Exam), examinees were given the opportunity to rate their individual as well as communal coping efforts facing an oral examination of personal significance. Interpersonal resources of examiner and examinee such as mutual trust and dyadic coping assistance had an impact on individual and communal coping. Examinees who expressed trust in their examiner 8 weeks prior to an oral examination relied more on prosocial than antisocial coping strategies during their oral examination. Supportive and delegated dyadic coping assistance were determinants of both functional and dysfunctional coping. The implications for educational practice are discussed.     

Factors Related to the Long-Term Course of PTSD in Older Ex–Prisoners of War

This study examined relationships between socioenvironmental factors occurring in later-life and current and changing PTSD symptom levels in a sample of 177 community-dwelling World War II and Korean era ex–prisoners of war. Factors examined included negative life events, negative health events, social support, and death acceptance. PTSD was assessed at Time 1. PTSD and the later-life factors were then assessed 4 years later (Time 2). Cross-sectional analysis examined the relationship of the later-life factors to current PTSD symptomatology. Longitudinal analysis examined their relationship to changing PTSD symptomatology over the 4-year interval. Negative health changes, social support, and death acceptance were significantly related to current and changing PTSD symptomatology, but negative life events were not. The authors conclude that health and psychosocial factors that may occur in later-life can be related to PTSD symptom levels even many decades after a traumatic experience.     

Academic Achievement Probes

Academic instruction continues to be an important componenet of curriculum for students with mild mental retardation, although relatively little recent research has been reported on basic skills assessment and programming. In the current study, students in elementary EMR programs were administered a series of two academic probes in spelling and in two computational skill areas in arithmetic to determine their stability of performance and thus the reliability of the measures, indicating that these academic probes were reliable assessment tools. Implications for the use of such curriculum-based measures with handicapped students are discussed.     

The relationship of individual and communal state-trait coping and interpersonal resources as trust,empathy and responsibility

Prior research and theoretical considerations revealed important information about the role of individual state-trait coping and personal resources for coping with an examination. However, the relationship between communal coping strategies and interpersonal resources has yet to be investigated. In order to understand the relationship between state-trait coping and interpersonal resources, several statistical analyses were used. The German Strategic Approach to Coping Scale (GSACS, GSACS-Exam), the Interpersonal Trust Scale (ITS), and exam-specific Empathy and Responsibility Scales (RESP-Exam, EMP-Exam) were combined for collecting data from a sample of 122 examiner-examinee-dyads. Data on empathy and responsibility of examiners were gathered as well as dispositional coping styles and trust of examinees eight weeks prior to an oral examination. Dispositional coping predicted comparable situational coping, reported immediately after the examination at a low-moderate level. Communal coping strategies tended to vary more than individual ones. Interpersonal resources were found to predict specific communal coping responses and a path model revealed the mediating effect of interpersonal trust. The results are discussed in the light of communal coping theory and educational significance.     

Associations Among Smoking,Anhedonia, and Reward Learning in Depression

Depression and cigarette smoking co-occur at high rates. However, the etiological mechanisms that contribute to this relationship remain unclear. Anhedonia and associated impairments in reward learning are key features of depression, which also have been linked to the onset and maintenance of cigarette smoking. However, few studies have investigated differences in anhedonia and reward learning among depressed smokers and depressed nonsmokers. The goal of this study was to examine putative differences in anhedonia and reward learning in depressed smokers (n = 36) and depressed nonsmokers (n = 44). To this end, participants completed self-report measures of anhedonia and behavioral activation (BAS reward responsiveness scores) and as well as a probabilistic reward task rooted in signal detection theory, which measures reward learning (Pizzagalli, Jahn, & O'Shea, 2005). When considering self-report measures, depressed smokers reported higher trait anhedonia and reduced BAS reward responsiveness scores compared to depressed nonsmokers. In contrast to self-report measures, nicotine-satiated depressed smokers demonstrated greater acquisition of reward-based learning compared to depressed nonsmokers as indexed by the probabilistic reward task. Findings may point to a potential mechanism underlying the frequent co-occurrence of smoking and depression. These results highlight the importance of continued investigation of the role of anhedonia and reward system functioning in the co-occurrence of depression and nicotine abuse. Results also may support the use of treatments targeting reward learning (e.g., behavioral activation) to enhance smoking cessation among individuals with depression.     

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.     

The association between gender, coping style and whiplash related symptoms in sufferers of whiplash associated disorder

The aim of the present study was to examine specifically whether the relationship between coping style and symptoms of whiplash injury change as a function of gender. A total of 1709 sufferers of whiplash associated disorder (1349 women, 360 men) belonging to the Danish Society for Polio, Traffic and Accident Victims completed questionnaires measuring demographic and psychological factors (including coping style), and symptoms of whiplash trauma (including pain). Men and women were not found to differ significantly in their use of coping strategies, however emotion focused coping strategies were related significantly more strongly to whiplash related symptoms in men compared to women. Women were found to display more symptoms related to whiplash injury compared to men. Possible reasons for the present findings are discussed in light of related research indicating mood as a potential moderating variable in the relationship between maladaptive coping style and degree of symptoms related to injury in men.