Among the many contributing factors in addictions there are also those describing the individual characteristics and ways of dealing with various life challenges. Despite numerous studies in this area, there is still no unambiguous data on the nature and specificity of this relationship in different age groups. The aim of the study was to assess the relationship between personality dimensions and strategies of coping with stress and the level of Internet addiction. The study was funded by the Ministry of Health under grant no. 93/HM/2015. The study was carried out in a group of 383 persons aged 15 to 19 (M = 16.6, SD = 0.77) attending secondary schools. The following research tools were used: Ten Item Personality Measure, Brief Cope and Internet Addiction Test. Both specific personality traits and styles of coping with stress are related to the addiction to the analysed medium. The personality traits most strongly associated with the risky Internet use were conscientiousness and emotional stability. An association was demonstrated between Internet addiction and the use of coping strategies, such as disengagement, substance use and self-blame. The results obtained demonstrate a major role of personality-related factors in the development of Internet addiction. The attitude to difficulties seems to be the key issue. The findings presented also make it possible to delineate the areas for improvement (e.g., through psychoeducational interventions) to protect young people from the risk of developing the addiction.
The Strategic Approach to Coping Scale (SACS) is a tool designed to measure coping strategies in terms of the Multiaxial Model of Coping. The aim of this article is to present our work towards adapting the SACS to the Polish cultural context. The Polish translation of this measure and the Rotter Incomplete Sentence Blank were applied to 1,074 Poles from 11 sample groups at risk of social exclusion. Principal component analysis performed on the data showed six components rather than the original nine. Second-order factor analysis carried out on the subscale scores revealed three factors partially consistent with the original theoretical assumptions. Convergences and discrepancies of the resulting structure versus the original one are discussed, along with reliability and the preliminary theoretical validity of the method.
The paper presents the first part of the results of a planned longitudinal survey. Researchers asked the question: What is people’s quality of life during the COVID19 pandemic in its growth, peak, and subsidence phases. The survey was conducted based on a sample of adult Poles in electronic form. Three hundred fifty-three comprehensive responses were collected. Respondents were asked about the quality of life, coping with the objectively difficult situation, and about resource gains and losses over the past six months. The results obtained indicate that a high global quality of life correlates with higher gains and minor losses, as well as coping with the difficult situation through planning, positive reframing, emotional support seeking and reduced substance use tendency, low self-blaming, avoidance, and disengagement. Factors that may reduce people’s quality of life during the COVID 19 pandemic are low resource gains and losses experienced over the last six months preceding the pandemic, and coping strategies that are characteristic of those experiencing helplessness. Also, helplessness-based coping strategies were found to mediate both the relationship between resource gains and quality of life and resource loss and quality of life.
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