The dimensionality of coping among Chinese health care workers

The transactional model defines coping as a process that changes on the basis of the context of an environmental encounter. An instrument used to investigate coping in diverse person-environment interactions is the Ways of Coping Questionnaire (WOC; S. Folkman & R. S. Lazarus, 1988). Although evidence exists to support the basic underlying structure of the WOC in Western societies, no research has been conducted on the instrument's dimensionality in non-Western societies. The authors identified 14 factors for the WOC administered to a sample of health care workers in Beijing, China. The 14 factors identified in the present study were similar to the 8 factors identified in the original validation study (S. Folkman, R. S. Lazarus, C. Dunkel-Schetter, A. DeLongis, & R. J. Gruen, 1986), but they were more content specific.     

The Dimensionality of Coping Among Chinese Health Care Workers

Abstract

The transactional model defines coping as a process that changes on the basis of the context of an environmental encounter. An instrument used to investigate coping in diverse person-environment interactions is the Ways of Coping Questionnaire (WOC; S. Folkman & R. S. Lazarus, 1988). Although evidence exists to support the basic underlying structure of the WOC in Western societies, no research has been conducted on the instrument's dimensionality in non-Western societies. The authors identified 14 factors for the WOC administered to a sample of health care workers in Beijing, China. The 14 factors identified in the present study were similar to the 8 factors identified in the original validation study (S. Folkman, R. S. Lazarus, C. Dunkel-Schetter, A. DeLongis, & R. J. Gruen, 1986), but they were more content specific.     

压力情境认知评价与工作倦怠的关系

为探讨压力情境认知评价与工作倦怠的关系,选取北京、河南两家公司的303名员工进行了调查。分层结果分析发现,在控制了人口统计学因素之后,挑战评价对玩世不恭存在显著正向预测作用,控制评价对情绪衰竭、玩世不恭和成就感低落存在显著负向预测作用;进一步分析发现,控制评价在情绪中心应对和情绪衰竭、问题中心应对与成就感低落之间按的关系上具有调节作用。结果表明,压力情境认知评价是影响员工工作倦怠的重要因素。     

Person-centred coping research

In this concluding article we discuss the three approaches to biographical stress and coping research presented in this issue, under four main headings. The first topic comprises the comparison of the three approaches with regard to their biographical features. In a second part we turn to the issue of coping and examine differences as well as similarities between the coping concept of Hans Thomae, on the one hand and that of Lazarus and Folkman on the other hand. The third and fourth of our discussion points deal with two central topics, that are accentuated in present personality psychology: the person-situation issue and the idiographic-nomothetic debate. With regard to both topics, we discuss the ideas and research findings which Lazarus and Folkman, as well as Thomae are contributing to these issues. We conclude our discussion of biographical approaches to stress and coping by proposing a person-centred approach, that can be regarded as a further development of theoretical conceptualizations contained in the approaches of Lazarus and Thomae.     

The relation of coping, appraisal, and burnout in mental health workers.

This study was undertaken as an attempt to determine the relationship between individual coping (in response to stressful work events) and concomitant symptoms of burnout and the relationship between coping and burnout as moderated by secondary cognitive appraisal. Professional mental health workers (N = 234) employed by a state psychiatric facility completed the Ways of Coping Checklist (revised) (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984) and a measure of secondary appraisal, after reporting a typical stressful work event. They also completed the Maslach Burnout Inventory (Maslach & Jackson, 1986) and a demographic questionnaire. Results suggested that individual coping was related to burnout. Escape-avoidance was the primary coping strategy related to all three symptoms of burnout: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and lack of personal accomplishment. Secondary appraisal did not moderate the relation of coping and burnout.     

The Moderating Effect of Interaction Avoidance Between Abusive Supervision and Subordinates' Job Promotions

While abusive supervision is shown to have negative stress-related effects on targets, less is known about the factors capable of mitigating these negative effects and their career-related outcomes. In this paper, we drew on the transactional model of stress and coping (Lazarus & Folkman, 1986) and the upward mobility theory (Turner, 1960) to explore the moderating effect of subordinates' interaction avoidance between abusive supervision and job promotions. To test this moderating effect, we collected data from 604 full-time employees at three points in time over a 12-month time period in Japan. The findings suggest that interaction avoidance moderates the relationship between abusive supervision and promotions, such that this relationship will be less negative as interaction avoidance increases.     

DAILY HASSLES AND COPING STRATEGIES OF DUAL-EARNER AND NONDUAL-EARNER WOMEN

Comparisons were made of dual-earner and nondual-earner women's stress and coping strategies. A questionnaire was developed from the Hassles Scale (Kanner, Coyne, Schaefer, & Lazarus, 1981) and the Ways of Coping Checklist (Folkman & Lazarus, 1980). Dual-earner women reported significantly more hassles than nondual-earner women. However, there were no significant differences on intensity level of these hassles. Several between- and within-group differences on coping strategies were found. Both groups tended to use more problem-focused coping strategies than emotion-focused coping strategies and, contrary to expectations, both groups expressed overall satisfaction with their coping strategies.     

The Influence of Income Level and Ethnicity on Coping Strategies

The Ways of Coping Questionnaire (WCQ) by S. Folkman and R. S. Lazarus (1988) has been used widely; however, few studies have evaluated this assessment tool in research concerning populations from different income levels and ethnic backgrounds. The purpose of this study was to compare the endorsement of the 8 coping strategies as outlined by Folkman and Lazarus's original research with Caucasian, middle class participants to the endorsement of coping approaches in a low income, primary care sample. Results suggest that low income individuals report utilizing greater rates of coping strategies overall and specifically employ emotion-focused coping strategies more than Folkman and Lazarus's original sample. Ethnic differences within the present study's low income sample were also examined and suggest that even within this low income sample, African Americans use certain emotion-focused coping strategies significantly more than Caucasian participants.     

Stress in adolescents

This article describes some of the recent major theoretical frameworks underpinning the study of stress in adolescents and assesses their usefulness to teachers and counsellors in establishing a rationale for school-based intervention. It is argued that for a model to be acceptable in this context, it must allow for the complexities and flexibility of individual behavior. It is further argued that the model described by Lazarus & Folkman (1984) fulfills both these conditions as it incorporates the psychoanalytic along with the cognitive and is also dynamic and phenomenological. Also, one of the premises upon which Lazarus and Folkman build needs further exploration. This premise is that individual's ‘appraisals generally correlate with reality’.     

Travail et épuisement professionnel : le rôle modérateur des traits de la personnalité

This study aims to assess the moderating role of personality traits on the relationship between work conditions and burnout. The stress theories (Lazarus et Folkman, 1984; Marchand, 2004; Pearlin, 1999) argues that the effects of stressors are moderated by the individual perception of stressors, some personality traits may thus moderate the relationship between work stressors and burnout. The main results confirm self-esteem and locus of control moderates the relationship between work conditions and burnout. The results of this study may be useful in some human resource management activities, particularly career management, promotions management and personnel selection.     

Émotions et stratégies d’adaptation de prestataires de soins suite à des décès maternels dans le Nord-Kivu

This qualitative study describes the emotional structure and coping strategies associated with maternal death in North Kivu. Based on a heuristic approach, the methodology is based on an iterative process of explicating the experience of maternal death as experienced by the care teams. In conjunction with the transactional model of Lazarus and Folkman, the results focus on four themes: openness to spiritual values, telescoping age identification, use of hygiene strategies and rationalization. The study suggests the establishment of psychological support mechanisms for providers after a maternal death.     

Coping with threatened identities: Unemployed people’s self-categorizations

This article presents a theoretical argument to explain the way in which unemployed people react to and cope with threats to their identities that derive from perceptions ofstigma and low self-worth. It is argued here that strategies used by unemployed people to cope with such threats are influenced by whether the individuals categorize themselves as “unemployed” or adopt some other categorization (e.g., housewife, retired coal-miner). It is also proposed that the concept of self-categorization can be framed within Folkman and Lazarus’s (1980, 1985) coping model of distress in order to provide a more general framework for understanding these issues. The study reviews literature about stigma and coping with threatened identities with reference to these integrated frameworks, and concludes with a general model for predicting the way in which unemployed people self-categorize and cope with stigma and low self-esteem. This takes into account the role played by situational and individual factors, and suggests that individuals recategorize themselves in order to cope better during different phases of their unemployment.     

Learned Resourcefulness and Situation-Specific Coping with Stress

This study examined whether individuals who report a broad repertoire of coping skills vary their coping efforts as a function of situational factors. Three weeks prior to their midterm exam, 80 graduate students completed Rosenbaum's (1980b) Self-Control Schedule, which assessed subjects' learned resourcefulness. High (HR) and low (LR) resourcefulness groups were created by using the upper and lower thirds of the distribution. On the day of the exam and a week later, prior to receiving results, subjects completed the Strain Questionnaire (Lefebvre & Sandford, 1985), Ways of Coping Checklist (Folkman & Lazarus, 1985), and other self-report measures. Results showed that HR subjects significantly reduced their problem-focused coping efforts from preparation week to waiting week, whereas LR subjects did not. In contrast, LR individuals reported significantly more wishful thinking, distancing, tension reduction, keeping to self, and self-blame during waiting week. For both measurement weeks, HR individuals reported significantly less stress symptoms than LR subjects.     

Quality of life and benzodiazepine drug use by community-dwelling elderly: a stress and coping perspective

Framed in Lazarus and Folkman theory of stress and coping, a model of onset of long-term benzodiazepine use among community-dwelling older adults is presented within a perspective of quality of life enhancement. We focus on heightened emotional reactivity, and subsequent effect on cognitive appraisal of life circumstances (loss of control over the event and negative appraisal of personal resources). We examine ensuing coping strategy, namely an increased reliance on both emotion-reduction and problem-solving coping strategies. The effects of benzodiazepine use on quality of life are brought forth. Alternatives to benzodiazepine use are suggested.     

Relationships between Teachers' Occupational Stress and Their Burnout and Distress: Roles of Coping and Negative Mood Regulation Expectancies

Teaching school is a highly stressful occupation. Consequences of this stress are burnout, physical and emotional distress, and choosing to leave the profession. Research on teacher stress and burnout has largely focused on environmental and contextual factors while ignoring personality characteristics of teachers that may have an impact on relationships between job stress and its consequences. The current study has a cross-sectional self-report design, focusing on teachers' negative mood regulation (NMR) expectancies as predictors of their coping, burnout and distress, in response to occupational stress. NMR expectancies are people's beliefs that they can control the negative moods they experience. Participants were 86 primary and secondary school teachers, who filled out questionnaire measures of teacher stress, NMR expectancies, coping, burnout, and distress. Simultaneous regression analyses showed that higher stress on the job did indeed predict greater burnout and distress. Additionally, stronger NMR expectancies predicted more active coping. NMR expectancies also predicted less burnout and distress, independent of stress level and coping. Believing one could control one's negative moods was associated with more adaptive outcomes for teachers. Results argue for the value of examining individual difference variables in research on occupational stress, in particular negative mood regulation expectancies.     

中小学教师的工作倦怠与其相关因素的关系研究

本研究旨在探讨中小学教师的工作倦怠与其职业压力应对策略、教学效能感和社会支持的关系。用教师工作倦怠问卷、职业压力应对策略调查表、教学效能感量表和社会支持评定量表对766名中小学教师进行了问卷调查。结果发现：（1）中小学教师的工作倦怠与其职业压力应对策略、教学效能感和社会支持之间存在显著的相关关系;（2）教师的主动应对、被动应对、教学效能感和社会支持分别对教师的整体工作倦怠感及其情绪衰竭、非人性化和低成就感等维度具有显著的预测作用。     

Does coping help? A reexamination of the relation between coping and mental health

In a longitudinal community survey of 291 adults, we explored the relation between coping strategies and psychological symptoms. Respondents completed the revised Ways of Coping Scale (Folkman & Lazarus, 1985) for a self-named stressful episode. Factor analysis produced eight coping factors: three problem focused, four emotion focused, and one (support mobilization) that contained elements of both. Multiple regression analyses indicated bidirectionality in the relation between coping and psychological symptoms. Those in poorer mental health and under greater stress used less adaptive coping strategies, such as escapism, but coping efforts still affected mental health independent of prior symptom levels and degree of stress. We compared main versus interactive effects models of stress buffering. Main effects were confined primarily to the emotion-focused coping scales and showed little or negative impacts of coping on mental health; interactive effects, though small, were found with the problem-focused scales. The direction of the relation between problem-focused scales and symptoms may depend in part on perceived efficacy, or how the respondent thought he or she handled the problem. Implications for the measurement of adaptive coping mechanisms and their contextual appropriateness are discussed.     

Adolescent Coping and Neighborhood Violence: Perceptions, Exposure, and Urban Youths' Efforts to Deal with Danger

Neighborhood violence is a persistent source of danger, stress, and other adverse outcomes for urban youth. We examined how 140 African American and Latino adolescents coped with neighborhood danger in low, medium, and high crime neighborhoods throughout Chicago. Participants reported using a range of coping strategies (measured via a modified version of the Ways of Coping Scale; R. S. Lazarus & S. Folkman, 1984). In low and medium crime rate areas, using confrontive strategies was significantly correlated with increased exposure to violence, and no strategies were associated with perceptions of safety. Coping strategies were associated with perceived safety to a substantial degree only in high crime neighborhoods, and none were associated with exposure to violence. A k means cluster analysis identified groups that differed in coping profiles and varied in rates of exposure to violence. Moderating effects of gender, ethnicity, and neighborhood were found for both person level and variable level analyses.     

Toward a Multicultural Model of the Stress Process

Stress and coping models are potentially useful frameworks for multicultural counseling and research because of their focus on the effects of social environmental factors on human functioning. This article attempts to expand a “standard” model of the stress process (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984) to include a number of culture-relevant dimensions. Cultural factors are discussed that influence each component of the stress model including (a) the types and frequency of events experienced, (b) appraisals of the stressfulness of events, (c) appraisals of available coping resources, (d) selection of coping strategies, and (e) manifestations of adaptational difficulties. Implications of the expanded model for both research and counseling practice are discussed. Los modelos de estrés y la adaptación al estrés tienen la potencia para ser cuadros útiles en la consejería e investigación multicultural por su enfoque sobre los efectos de factores ambientales sociales en la función humana. Este artículo intenta extender un modelo “normal” del proceso de estrés (Lazarus y Folkman, 1984) para incluir un número de dimensiones culturalmente pertinentes. Se discuten los factores culturales que influyen en cada componente del modelo de estrés, incluyendo: los tipos y la frequencia de los eventos experimentados, la apreciación del nivel de estrés de acontacimientos, la apreciación de los recursos de adaptación disponibles, la selección de estrategias de adaptación, y las manifestaciones de dificultades de adaptación. Se discuten las implicaiones del modelo extendido para la investigación y la práctica de consejeria.     

Perfectionism in school teachers: relations with stress appraisals, coping styles, and burnout

Many school teachers suffer from stress and burnout, and perfectionism is a personality characteristic that has been associated with increased stress, maladaptive coping, and burnout. Recent findings, however, show that perfectionism has both positive and negative facets. To investigate how these facets are related to stress, coping, and burnout in teachers, a sample of 118 secondary school teachers completed multidimensional measures of perfectionism, stress appraisals, coping styles, and burnout. Multiple regression analyses showed that striving for perfection was positively related to challenge appraisals and active coping and inversely to threat/loss appraisals, avoidant coping, and burnout whereas negative reactions to imperfection were positively related to threat/loss appraisals, avoidant coping, and burnout and inversely to challenge appraisals and active coping. Perceived pressure to be perfect showed differential relationships depending on the source of pressure: Whereas pressure from students was positively related to loss appraisals and pressure from students' parents was positively related to burnout, pressure from colleagues was inversely related to threat appraisals and burnout. The findings suggest that striving for perfection and perceived pressure from colleagues do not contribute to stress and burnout in teachers, whereas negative reactions to imperfection and perceived pressure from students and students' parents may be contributing factors.