Coping Styles and Affect

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Most stress research has focused on testing the effects of coping strategies on negative outcomes such as distress, anxiety, and pathology. The present study focused on the effects of coping styles on the affective components of subjective well-being. Its main aim was to test differential associations between coping styles and positive and negative affect, using secondary analysis. The data were derived from 3 studies (n = 480) in which various samples-adolescents, university students, and a general population participants-completed trait version questionnaires of coping and affect. The main results, based on correlation and multiple regression analyses, showed that problem-focused coping was positively related to positive affect and negatively related to negative affect, whereas avoidance coping showed the opposite pattern of associations with positive and negative affect. Most important, problem-focused coping was found to be a moderator of avoidance coping effects on both positive and negative affective responses. The conclusions are that coping is an important factor in well-being during normal everyday life, and moreover, the interactive effects of coping styles merit further research.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)87-101
Number of pages15
JournalInternational Journal of Stress Management
Volume16
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - May 2009

Keywords

  • affect
  • coping
  • personality
  • secondary analysis
  • subjective well-being

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Education
  • General Business, Management and Accounting
  • Applied Psychology
  • General Psychology

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