Positive Psychological States and Anxiety: The Mediating Effect of Proactive Coping

Abstract

The current study examined the mediating role of proactive coping in the relationship between positive psychological states like optimism and self-esteem and trait anxiety. 204 undergraduate students completed measures of optimism, self-esteem, and trait anxiety, together with the proactive coping subscale of the Proactive Coping Inventory (PCI). Mediated effects were explored using a series of regression analyses and were confirmed through bootstrapping procedures. Results revealed that proactive coping was a partial mediator in the relationship between both optimism and self-esteem and trait anxiety. Findings indicated that proactive coping enhances a perspective on life that involves a positive attitude toward future events in the form of optimistic expectancies and enhanced feelings of self-worth. Implications of the findings for clinical practice and mental health promotion are discussed.

Coping, Personality and the Workplace

“…These results are consistent with existing research, demonstrating that positive, approach types of coping can have beneficial impacts on outcome variables by transmitting the positive effects of personality. For example, proactive coping was found to carry the effects of optimism to psychological strain, similar to Griva and Anagnostopoulous (2010) and Stanojevic et al (2013). Goal orientation was also found to have a beneficial outcome by increasing proactive coping, supporting research by Porath and Bateman (2006) who reported that learning and performance goal orientations increased performance by increasing proactive behaviour, and Parker, Martin, Colmar, and Liem (2012) who found that mastery goal orientation decreased burnout by increasing problem-focused coping.…”

“…In comparison to reactive coping, limited research has examined the mediating effects of proactive and preventive coping with personality, and none of these studies have employed longitudinal designs. For example, Griva and Anagnostopoulous (2010) found that proactive coping mediated the relationship between optimism and anxiety, and between self-esteem and anxiety, thereby modelling optimism and self-esteem as preceding proactive coping. Similarly, Chang and Chan (2013) reported that proactive coping mediated the relationship between optimism and burnout, while Albion, Fernie, and Burton (2005) found support for the mediating role of proactive coping between proactive attitude and self-efficacy.…”

The optimistic brain: Trait optimism mediates the influence of resting‐state brain activity and connectivity on anxiety in late adolescence

“…Importantly, we found that trait optimism mediated the influence of the fALFF in the right OFC and OFC‐SMC connectivity on anxiety. Previous investigations have consistently suggested that trait optimism is strongly associated with anxiety among different populations (Dooley et al, ; Griva et al, ; Morton et al, ; Rajandram et al, ; Schweizer et al, ; Sheridan et al, ; Siddique et al, ; Yu et al, ; Zenger et al, 2010). In our dataset, we confirmed the association between trait optimism and anxiety ( r = −0.34, p < .001).…”

Effect of Self-Esteem in the Relationship between Stress and Substance Abuse among Adolescents: A Mediation Outcome

“…Comparatively, result emanating from a recent study reveals a pattern suggesting the reduction of stress through high self-esteem [14]. Self-esteem is not only the fundamental element of mental health, the scholars argued that it also protects and contributes to improved health and confident social behavior, because it buffers harmful effects [15].…”