The self-perception of flexible coping with stress: A new measure and relations with emotional adjustment

Abstract

Objective: To develop a theoretically grounded measure of self-perceived ability to cope with stress in a flexible (i.e. non-rigid) manner and test associations with well-being. Method: Participants in Study 1 (N = 395, 17-56 years) completed surveys to report flexible coping with stress and well-being. In Studies 2 (N = 645, 17-27 years) and 3 (N = 558, 12-19 years), youth completed surveys with the 18-item Self-Perception of Flexible Coping with Stress (SFCS), and coping and well-being measures. Results: Three SFCS factors were supported, which aligned to the conceptualization including multiple coping strategy use (multiple CSU), coping rigidity, and situational coping. The SFCS subscales had good reliability and were modestly correlated with each other. Also, multiple CSU and situational coping were linked to better mental health, emotion regulation, greater use of adaptive coping strategies, and better self-worth. Coping rigidity was linked with more symptoms of anxiety and depression, more emotion dysregulation, greater use of problem-coping behaviors, and lower self-worth. Older participants reported they were higher in flexible coping and sex differences in multiple CSU and situational coping were found. Conclusions. The SFCS, a measure of the deployment of a coping "toolbox" that could allow individuals to respond adroitly to stressors, is reliable, valid, and associated with well-being.

The Predictive Value of Emotional Intelligence for Internet Gaming Disorder: A 1-Year Longitudinal Study

“…Those negative consequences are likely to be associated with more depressive symptoms and thoughts, which would then result in higher IGD tendency due to the various mechanisms that we discussed above. Such speculation is consistent with the findings of some previous studies [59,60,61,83]. For examples, Kato [59] found that coping flexibility was significantly associated with a lower risk of depressive symptoms in a Japanese sample, while Zimmer-Gembeck et al [83] found that coping rigidity was linked to more symptoms of anxiety and depression and more emotion dysregulation among an ethnically diverse sample of adolescents and young adults.…”

COVID-19: Psychological flexibility, coping, mental health, and wellbeing in the UK during the pandemic

“…The ability to respond successfully is therefore dynamic and situated, requiring an openness (to experience difficult situations without habitually deploying avoidance strategies) and an awareness (sensitivity to context) that discriminates when behaviour change may be necessary to achieve a valued outcome. This coheres with theoretical and empirical coping literature that highlights the need to gauge overarching coping flexibility (capacity to select from a broad repertoire of coping strategies as apt to each situation), and the observation made by others that traditional coping measures are limited in their sensitivity to such flexibility ( Zimmer-Gembeck et al, 2018 ).…”

COVID-19 Related Daily Stressors, Coping, and Suicidal Ideation in Psychiatrically Hospitalized Youth

“…Responses were rated on a Likert scale from 1 (Not at all true) to 7 (Totally true). We administered the 6-item Multiple Coping Strategy Use scale of the Self-Perceived Flexible Coping with Stress Scale to assess adolescents' repertoire of coping skills (Zimmer-Gembeck et al, 2018). The items assessed whether adolescents report having multiple skills to draw from when faced with a stressor (e.g., "I can easily find new ways of coping with stress if needed."…”