Coping in stressful episodes: The role of individual differences, environmental factors, and situational characteristics.

Abstract

Theoretical models emphasize the importance of person and environmental variables in stress and coping processes. This article examines individual differences (extraversion and neuroticism), environmental factors (social support and work demand), and situational characteristics (type of stressful episode and its perceived importance) as predictors of three self-report measures of coping (general coping, direct coping, and suppression) derived from the Ways of Coping Questionnaire. The data analyzed were collected from 135 first-year female student nurses. Individual differences were assessed prior to exposure to the ward environment, and information about stressful episodes was obtained during the initial period of nursing practice. Multiple regression analyses showed that individual differences and environmental and situational factors were significant predictors of the coping scores and that patterns of main and interactive effects were different for each type of coping. For direct coping and suppression, predicted interactions across person, environmental, and situational variables contributed significantly to the explained variance. Curvilinear interactions between work demand and neuroticism were significant for both direct coping and suppression; interactions of social support and extraversion with perceived importance predicted direct coping; and interactions between neuroticism and extraversion and between work demand and importance predicted suppression. These findings are discussed in relation to current substantive and methodological issues in the study of coping and adaptation.

Mensuração de coping no ambiente ocupacional

“…Parkes (1986) procurou evidências da interação entre variáveis individuais, fatores ambientais e características situacionais, interação esta prevista na própria defi nição de coping de acordo com a teoria transacional do estresse (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984, citados por Parkes, 1986. Utilizando análises de regressão hierárquica, seus resultados apoiaram a hipótese transacional: o efeito direto das variáveis independentes não foi verifi cado, enquanto que os módulos interativos foram preditores signifi cativos dos escores de coping.…”

“…Folkman e Lazarus (1980) Relações interativas entre coping, estressores no trabalho e efeitos sobre a saúde e o desempenho nas organizações também têm sido relatadas (Parkes, 1986(Parkes, , 1990(Parkes, e 1994. Em um estudo desenvolvido com 135 estudantes de enfermagem, Parkes (1986) encontrou relações indiretas entre controle, neuroticismo e sobrecarga: sujeitos que apresentaram altos escores em neuroticismo mostraram relação curvilinear (em forma de U invertido) entre sobrecarga e controle, de forma que altos ou baixos níveis de sobrecarga estiveram associados à menor utilização de estratégias de controle. Este padrão não se verifi cou para sujeitos com baixos escores em neuroticismo.…”

The Developmental Importance of Success and Failure Experiences at Summer Camp

“…The Importance of Success and Failure at Camp 31 extent to which a youth program has a supportive culture can be a useful resource or a constraint that may influence the types of coping youth use after stressful events (Aryee, Chu, Kim, & Ryu, 2013;Parkes, 1986). However, whether a camp had a supportive culture (or other unique differences) was not accounted for but could be a line of inquiry in future research.…”

Coping, stress and suicide ideation in the South African Police Service in the Eastern Cape

“…It appears that individuals do have consistent coping preferences or dispositions that are employed across a wide range of situations. Parkes (1986) found that coping may be influenced not only by the nature of the stressful episode but also by the resources, both intra-individual and environmental, available to the person concerned. Callan (1993) defines non-coping as failed efforts to cope, accompanied by various physical and psychosocial disturbances, which result in higher stress.…”