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PubMed1989

Age differences in coping: does less mean worse.

Previous research suggests that elderly people utilize fewer coping strategies than younger people. Some researchers suggest that these quantitative changes reflect decreases in the use of maladaptive strategies; others contend that they reflect decreases in the use of adaptive strategies by older adults. The present article reports the findings of three studies of coping in older people, two addressing coping with health problems, and the other addressing coping with moving. In all three studies, the number of self-reported coping strategies decreases with age. Results do not support the idea that decreases in the number of strategies imply decrements in the quality of coping, however: in two studies, age was unrelated to the effectiveness of strategies, in the third, effectiveness ratings were higher for older subjects. The need for evaluation of specific outcomes of coping strategies is discussed, along with the need for task-specific measurement of coping. It is proposed that decreases in the number of coping strategies reflect improved coping efficiency, rather than a deterioration of adaptational skills.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed2005

Dispositional and situational coping and mental health status of university students.

The results of stress coping studies do not clearly demonstrate whether dispositional and situational coping can predict health status or whether dispositional coping can predict situational coping. The present study used structural equation modeling to test proposed directional relationships. 292 Japanese university students completed questionnaires concerning dispositional and situational coping and mental health status. Analysis showed that dispositional coping predicted situational coping for some coping strategies. In women, an increase in dispositional Problem-solving predicted a reduction in mental distress via situational Problem-solving. The results suggest that, only for Problem-solving by women, dispositional coping is related to mental health status, but only through situational coping.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed1999

Pain, psychological distress, health status, and coping in patients with breast cancer scheduled for autotransplantation.

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES: To describe pain, psychological distress, health status, and coping that patients with breast cancer who were scheduled for autotransplantation experienced; the strength and direction of relationships among pain, psychological distress, health status, and coping; and the percentage of variance within the concept of health status that age, pain, psychological distress, and coping. DESIGN: Descriptive, correlational. SETTING: An urban, National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center located in the eastern United States. SAMPLE: A convenience sample of 83 female patients with breast cancer scheduled for autotransplantation. The population age ranged from 22-59 years (X = 44.47 years) and was comprised of 72 (88%) Caucasians, 6 (7%) African Americans, and 4 (5%) from other minorities. METHODS: An oncology clinical nurse specialist in the outpatient medical oncology clinic collected the data during a regularly scheduled visit approximately 20 days prehospitalization for high-dose chemotherapy and autotransplantation. Data were collected using a demographic data from and self-report instruments (Gaston-Johansson Painometer, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, Beck Depression Inventory, Medical Outcomes Study Short-Form General Health Survey, and Coping Strategies Questionnaire). MAIN RESEARCH VARIABLES: Pain, psychological distress, health status, and coping. FINDINGS: Although the subjects experienced low pain intensity, the range of reported pain intensity ratings was wide. Pain locations varied but were reported mainly in the vagina, chest, shoulder, and arm. Although subjects reported primarily mild depression and mild state anxiety, the range of depression and state anxiety scores was wide. Coping strategies used most frequently to deal with pain included positive coping statements, diverting attention, praying and hoping, increasing activity level, and ability to control and decrease pain. Subjects reported moderate total health status and low role functioning. Moderate, positive correlations were seen between state anxiety and depression and physical functioning and role functioning. Sixty-five percent of the variance in health status was explained by sensory pain depression, and catastrophizing. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with breast cancer who are scheduled for autotransplantation may experience pain, psychological distress, and alterations in coping and perceived health status. Total pain intensity, sensory pain, depression, and catastrophizing appear to be important variables related to the patient's perceived health status. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING PRACTICE: Oncology nurses need to include assessment of pain, psychological distress, health status, and coping in their routine patient assessment prior to autotransplantation to provide appropriate care and make necessary multidisciplinary referrals. Future nursing research should be directed toward the implementation and evaluation of interventions that promote the use of comprehensive coping strategies to decrease pain, anxiety, and depression.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed2001

Coping with stress during childhood and adolescence: problems, progress, and potential in theory and research.

Progress and issues in the study of coping with stress during childhood and adolescence are reviewed. Definitions of coping are considered, and the relationship between coping and other aspects of responses to stress (e.g., temperament and stress reactivity) is described. Questionnaire, interview, and observation measures of child and adolescent coping are evaluated with regard to reliability and validity. Studies of the association of coping with symptoms of psychopathology and social and academic competence are reviewed. Initial progress has been made in the conceptualization and measurement of coping, and substantial evidence has accumulated on the association between coping and adjustment. Problems still remain in the conceptualization and measurement of coping in young people, however, and aspects of the development and correlates of coping remain to be identified. An agenda for future research on child-adolescent coping is outlined.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed2002

The role of coping with disease in adherence to treatment regimen and disease control in type 1 and insulin treated type 2 diabetes mellitus.

BACKGROUND: Coping is defined as the behavioral and cognitive efforts used in an attempt to deal with stressful events. The objective of this study was to explore the relationship between coping with diabetes and the following outcome variables in type 1 and insulin treated type 2 diabetes mellitus: glycemic control, microangiopathic complications, adherence to self monitoring of blood glucose, adherence to insulin injections, and adherence to diet. METHODS: Subjects were 196 insulin treated adult diabetes patients visiting an outpatient clinic at a government university hospital in Istanbul, Turkey. Coping with disease was measured with the Turkish version of the Diabetes Coping Measure and adherence to treatment regimen was measured with a questionnaire adapted from the subscales of the Summary of Diabetes Self-Care Activities Questionnaire. Data on patients' HbA(1c) levels and severity of microangiopathic complications were obtained from their medical records. RESULTS: Partial correlations controlling for background variables suggested that coping was a good predictor of outcome for both type 1 and insulin treated type 2 diabetes mellitus. These associations were more pronounced for type 1 patients when compared to type 2 patients. Regressing the outcome variables on the two second-order coping factors (obtained by a factor analysis) also supported the hypothesis that coping is an important construct in explaining the outcome variables. Finally, the effect of coping on HbA(1c) was only partially mediated by adherence. CONCLUSION: Coping with diabetes-related issues is an important factor in both types of diabetes, with type 1 patients showing slightly stronger associations. Therefore, training and education programs for diabetic adults might benefit from including a component that is aimed at improving coping with issues specific to diabetes.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed2003

Measuring coping at a university using a Rasch model.

Coping with academic difficulties at a university was based on six aspects: Motivation and Planning, Friends and Planning, Studying and Planning, Emotions, Spiritual Help and Coping by Doing Nothing. Stem-items for each aspect were conceptually ordered by difficulty. Each of the stem-items was answered from three perspectives, Good Coping Strategies, Actual Coping Strategies, and Stress Reduction Strategies. The three response categories were No, not on any occasion this semester; Yes, on 1 to 3 occasions this semester, and Yes, on 4 or more occasions this semester. The convenience sample was 337 students studying education at an Australian university and data were analysed with a Rasch measurement model. A scale was created in which the difficulties of the items were ordered from easy to hard and the student measures of Coping were ordered from low to high. Coping by Doing Nothing and Using Spiritual Help stem-items didn't fit the measurement model and were deleted. This left an effective item sample of 21 (7 stem-items times 3). The proportion of observed student variance considered true was 0.88. The results supported the theory behind the construct of Coping as using Motivation and Planning, Friends and Planning, Studying and Planning, and Emotions, in which Expected Good Coping Strategies are easier than Actual Coping Strategies which, in turn, are easier than Stress Reducing Coping Strategies.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed1997

[Parents' coping with a diabetic child].

The purpose of this study is to describe and understand the process of parental coping with diabetic children in early childhood. The parental coping process was followed for a four-week period after the diagnosis of diabetes. The parents of two girls whose diabetes was diagnosed in early childhood served as study subjects. The data were collected by interviewing and observing the parents over four separate periods, first in hospital and later at home. The data were analyzed by the timeseries and content analysis methods. The main categories were formulated on the basis of coping theories. The subcategories were developed inductively from the data. Six phases of the parental coping were identified, which were named: 1). Disbelief, 2). Lack of information and Guilt, 3). Learning of Care, 4). Normalization, 5). Uncertainty and 6). Reorganization. In the different phases of parental coping the parents' experience of stress, coping strategies and sense of control varied. In the phase of Disbelief, parents tried to explain away the child's diabetes by questioning the diagnosis. The initial information given to the parents regarding their child's diabetes proved to be very important for parental coping. In the second phase of Lacking Information and Guilt, the parents sought for a reason for their child's diabetes and they felt guilty about it. As coping responses, the parents sought support from each other and from people who have undergone the same experience. In the Learning of Care phase, they recognized the demands caused by diabetes and took responsibility for the child's care. The parents responded that supervision based on their problems was the best. In the Normalization phase, the parents prepared to go home with the diabetic child. Getting back to normal life was one of the most effective parental coping responses. In the Uncertainty phase, the care to be given to the diabetic child changed the daily routines of the family. In the Reorganization phase, the parents adapted to the diagnosis of diabetes and the care of the diabetic child. The parents felt that the life of the family became normalized and controlled. The important parental coping responses consisted of concrete models of functioning, which they developed to control the demands caused by the child's diabetes.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed1998

[Familial coping with cancer in childhood and adolescence. Possibilities for standardized assessment with a self-assessment method: results of an empirical pilot study].

44 parents of pediatric oncology patients answered mailed questionnaires about their own coping and about their sick children's coping and bodily complaints during oncological therapy. Most of the families coped well from parents' view. The dominant coping style of the parents consisted of active, problem-focused coping strategies in combination with an optimistic basic attitude, maintainance of family cohesion and belief in god or search for a meaning of the illness. The children and adolescents used predominantly adaptive coping strategies. The parental problem-group with a predominantly maladaptive coping-style reported low family cohesion, high depression, high wishful thinking and minimization. The maladaptive children and adolescents were rated as more socially withdrawing, more irritable, less optimistic and competent as well as less compliant. Strong correlations were found between parents' and their children's coping. Problem families with a special need for psychosocial support can early be identified by the coping questionnaires used in this study. Prospective longitudinal studies with multi-methodal and multi-perspective designs should be conducted to reach a better understanding of the family coping process in case of childhood and adolescence cancer.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed2026

Associations of Illness Perception, Resignation Coping, and Social Support With Self-Regulatory Fatigue in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes: A Cross-Sectional Study.

AIMS: To examine the associations among illness perception, resignation coping, social support, and self-regulatory fatigue (SRF) in patients with Type 2 diabetes mellitus. The study specifically explores whether resignation coping and social support exhibit indirect associations with SRF in the context of illness perception. DESIGN: A cross-sectional study. METHODS: From November 2024 to October 2025, a convenience sample of 302 adult patients with T2DM was recruited from a tertiary general hospital in China. Participants completed validated instruments with established psychometric properties, namely the Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire, the Medical Coping Modes Questionnaire, the Perceived Social Support Scale, and the Self-Regulatory Fatigue Scale. Statistical analyses included Spearman correlation and serial mediation analysis using the PROCESS Macro (Model 6) with bias-corrected bootstrapping. RESULTS: SRF was positively correlated with negative illness perception (r = 0.579, p < 0.01) and resignation coping (r = 0.612, p < 0.01), and negatively correlated with social support (r = -0.598, p < 0.01). Serial mediation analysis revealed that illness perception was associated with SRF through indirect pathways involving resignation coping and social support. Resignation coping and social support mediated the association between illness perception and self-regulatory fatigue, both individually and sequentially. CONCLUSIONS: Negative illness perception correlates with higher SRF. This observed correlation is additionally linked to indirect pathways involving resignation coping and lower social support. Collectively, these findings highlight a pattern of interrelated cognitive (illness perception), behavioural (resignation coping), and resource (social support) factors that are associated with self-regulatory fatigue in this cross-sectional study. IMPLICATIONS FOR THE PROFESSION: The findings offer a clear, evidence-based framework for nursing practice. They highlight the potential value of integrated assessment and intervention that simultaneously addresses patients' illness beliefs, maladaptive coping strategies, and social support systems, which are associated with lower SRF and better diabetes self-management. REPORTING METHOD: This study adheres to the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) guidelines for cross-sectional studies. PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION: Patients participated solely as research participants by providing survey data. They were not involved in the study design, implementation, data analysis, interpretation, or manuscript preparation. All patients provided written informed consent prior to questionnaire completion.

Humans↗

PubMed2026

Measuring Coping Strategies in Daily Life: A Systematic Review of Experience Sampling Methodology and Daily Diary Studies.

Advances in daily diary methods and experience sampling method (ESM) have improved the study of coping strategies in daily life and their role in shaping health and well-being. In this review, we examine study designs, measurement approaches, and analytical practices used to investigate coping in natural contexts. We performed a systematic review of studies published before 5 December 2025 that used daily diary or ESM to measure coping strategies over multiple days or moments. Studies were examined with regard to sampling schemes, assessment frequency and duration, measurement of coping strategies, incorporation of stressor appraisals, and analytic techniques used to model coping processes. Fifty-five studies met the inclusion criteria. Results indicated that 80% employed end-of-day diary designs, generally lasting 1-3 weeks, whereas higher-frequency ESM protocols were less common and ranged 2-14 days. Coping strategies were often assessed using abbreviated or single-item measures, frequently adapted from established questionnaires. Many studies incorporated appraisals such as perceived stressor intensity or controllability, enabling tests of coping flexibility. Multilevel modelling was the dominant analytic approach, allowing researchers to distinguish within-person dynamics from between-person differences. However, analyses were predominantly concurrent, and temporally ordered models remained comparatively rare. Overall, the literature demonstrates substantial progress in capturing coping in everyday contexts, yet heterogeneity in measurement and limited use of temporal modelling constrain cumulative knowledge about the temporal links between coping and psychological and physiological health outcomes. Future research would benefit from greater alignment between theoretical assumptions, assessment strategies, and analytic methods.

Humans↗

PubMed1996

Coping with osteoarthritis by older adults.

OBJECTIVE: To extend to patients with osteoarthritis (OA) the coping model developed for patients with rheumatoid arthritis. METHODS: Relationship among appraisal, coping, and impact of OA were examined in a prospective study. Older men and women with OA (n = 82) were recruited from the community and were assessed at baseline, 1 month, and 4 months. Appraisal at baseline was measured by an interview addressing patients' beliefs about the intensity of their OA. Active, passive, and behavioral coping were assessed at 1 month, and the impact on OA pain, affective status, and mood was assessed at 4 months. RESULTS: Appraisal of OA as more intense was related to the use of more passive coping at 1 month, and was also related to more negative mood at 4 months. Active coping was predictive of less depressed affective status, whereas passive coping was predictive of subsequent worsening of negative mood. These relationships remained significant after controlling for demographic and medical history variables and functional status measures associated with dependent variables. No relation of either appraisal or coping to pain or positive mood was observed. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggests that as patients' appraisals of the intensity of their OA decrease, less use of passive coping strategies, which are associated with poorer outcomes, should result. It is recommended that interventions to reduce OA impact should include both modification of appraisals of OA and modification of patients' coping strategies.

Activities of Daily Living↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Parental coping with the diagnosis of childhood cancer: gender effects, dissimilarity within couples, and quality of life.

OBJECTIVE: Considering coping as dynamic process within the family, effects of gender and diagnosis are investigated. Dissimilarity within couples in coping with childhood cancer is studied longitudinally in its effects on quality of life of mothers, fathers, and the sick children. METHODS: A total of 108 parents out of 54 complete families participated in a prospective study. Twenty-five families had a child newly diagnosed with cancer, 29 families had a child newly diagnosed with juvenile diabetes or epilepsy. The Coping Health Inventory for Parents, the Trier Coping Scales, and the Ulm Quality-of-Life Inventory for Parents were employed 1-2 weeks after diagnosis and again 10-12 weeks after diagnosis. RESULTS: In face of childhood cancer, parents develop more rumination, defense, and information seeking, and less social support seeking strategies compared to the control group. Mothers report more frequent and more effective coping compared with fathers, but mothers and fathers do not differ in their self-reported quality of life. No convergence within couples could be demonstrated in most of the corresponding coping styles. The strongest correlation between mothers and fathers appeared in the religious coping style (r=0.60, p<0.001). Coping dissimilarity within couples in social support seeking and religion is correlated with an improvement of parental quality of life. Parental dissimilarity in information seeking is correlated with a decrease in the child's quality of life. CONCLUSION: Coping dissimilarities between fathers and mothers have differential effects on the family members. For this reason, psychosocial interventions should support dis-synchrony when it appears adaptive, and they should help parents to overcome those differences that negatively affect their child.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed1993

The Perceived Adjustment to Chronic Illness Scale (PACIS): a global indicator of coping for operable breast cancer patients in clinical trials. Swiss Group for Clinical Cancer Research (SAKK) and the International Breast Cancer Study Group (IBCSG).

Subjective well-being is a major aspect of quality of life and is therefore increasingly used as an endpoint in clinical trials. It is influenced to a great extent by the complex process of coping with the disease and its treatment. Assessment of coping is methodologically demanding, especially in large clinical trials. We therefore developed a single-item measure, the Perceived Adjustment to Chronic Illness Scale (PACIS), as an indicator of coping, complementary to other scales related to quality of life. We sought to validate this instrument in a subgroup of 121 Swiss patients participating in the International Breast Cancer Study Group (IBCSG) adjuvant trials. At months 3 and 6 of adjuvant treatment PACIS showed a distinct pattern of highly significant rank correlations with several disease- and treatment-related problem areas from the Herschbach coping inventory (FBBK); 42% of the variance of PACIS at month 3 was explained by the FBBK (P = .0001). The portion of explained variance was considerably higher for the Italian- (70%) than for the German-speaking (30%) subgroups. Patients who rated more effort to cope with their disease on PACIS indicated more frequent use of 3 of 15 coping strategies in relation to psychological distress. These were "crying and becoming desperate", "taking tranquillizers and alcohol" and "other people are far worse off". These three coping strategies may define a high-risk group for poor psychosocial outcome. Patients whose PACIS scores showed that it required less effort to cope tended to use the strategy "seeing a positive side of the problem". We conclude that PACIS can be used as a global indicator of the coping process in large multicultural clinical trials of adjuvant therapy for breast cancer.

Activities of Daily Living↗

PubMed1989

Coping strategies and psychological distress: prospective analyses of early and middle adolescents.

Administered measures of coping, life events, and anxiety and depression to junior high and senior high school samples on two occasions, separated by a 5-month interval. Factor analyses supported the creation of coping subscales for problem solving, cognitive coping, social entertainment, physical exercise, and peer support. A one-item index of parental support was also included in the analyses. The coping subscales showed moderate temporal stability. Mothers' reports of their children's coping provided only marginal support for the validity of the adolescents' self-reports. Prospective regression analyses of the early adolescent data revealed that problem-solving coping was negatively related to depression, and that social entertainment coping was negatively related to anxiety. The prospective effects for the middle adolescents' coping were nonsignificant. The findings are discussed in terms of their implications for the measurement of adolescent coping strategies and research on the relation between these strategies and psychological functioning.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed1996

Self-regulation as a moderator of the relation between coping and symptomatology in children of divorce.

Investigated the effects of self-regulation as a moderator of the relations between coping efforts and psychological symptoms of children of divorce. The interactions of two dimensions of self-regulation (task orientation and approach-flexibility) and two dimensions of coping (active and avoidant) predicting children's postdivorce symptoms were tested using a sample of 199 divorced mothers and their children, ages 8 to 12. The approach-flexibility dimension moderated the relations of both active and avoidant coping with children's self-report of anxiety. At higher levels of approach-flexibility, active coping was negatively related to anxiety, while at lower levels of approach-flexibility, active coping was unrelated to anxiety. Avoidant coping was unrelated to anxiety at higher levels of approach-flexibility, whereas at lower levels of approach-flexibility, avoidant coping was positively related to anxiety. The task orientation dimension did not interact with coping, but had direct, independent effects on children's self-report of conduct problems, depression, and parent-report of internalizing and externalizing behavior problems. The implications for understanding children's coping with divorce and future directions for research are discussed.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed1994

Coping with chemotherapy for breast cancer.

Relations among coping, physical symptoms, and affect were investigated in 43 women undergoing adjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer. Patients were assessed at the same point in their treatment so that the time for which coping was reported would be equivalent across individuals. Patients were asked how they coped specifically with chemotherapy, rather than how they coped with cancer in general, to make the domain specific. Positive and negative affect were assessed separately, using a scale free of somatic content. Relations between coping and affect were consistent with prior studies that have employed a general approach to assessing coping. Coping correlates of positive and negative mood differed. When the relations between physical symptoms and affect were examined, physical symptoms were related to negative affect but not to positive affect. Findings are discussed in terms of their implications for coping with cancer as well as their implications for the general coping literature.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed1993

Psychophysiological interactions between smoking and stress coping?

Earlier studies with different types of stressors suggested that cigarette smoking might selectively dampen physiological stress reactions in passive rather than in active coping situations. This hypothesis was tested in the present study using the same task for both types of coping, but with two different instructions. Twenty-four female regular smokers were assigned either to a group requiring active coping or to a group requiring passive coping with ongoing electric shocks, and tested in two sessions where they performed a pre- and a postsmoking/non-smoking trial of the rapid information processing task (RIP). Smoking increased RIP task performance, cardiovascular and electrocortical arousal, and reduced anxiety throughout the session. Active coping, as compared to passive coping, produced greater increases in heart rate and blood pressure, a greater pre- to post-treatment decrease in reaction time and higher pain ratings of the electrical shocks. However, interactions between the effects of smoking and the type of coping were few and did not suggest a plausible concept. Thus, it was concluded that, although the typical effects of smoking as well as the differentiation between active and passive coping seen earlier with the same paradigm were confirmed, cigarette smoking did not affect the effects of the two coping conditions in a differential way.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed2005

Caregiver-coping in bipolar disorder and schizophrenia--a re-examination.

BACKGROUND: The caregiving experience has been extensively investigated in some chronic/severe mental illnesses such as schizophrenia. These studies have suggested that illness variables and situational/personal characteristics of caregivers have a significant influence on how caregivers cope with mental illness. However, other similar conditions, e. g. bipolar affective disorder (BPAD), have been relatively neglected in this regard. This study attempted to compare caregiver-coping in BPAD and schizophrenia and to explore the determinants of such coping. METHOD: Illness variables and coping, burden, appraisal, perceived support, and neuroticism among caregivers were examined in 50 patients each of BPAD and schizophrenia and their caregivers. RESULTS: High levels of patient-dysfunction and caregiver-burden, low awareness of illness and low perceived control over patient's behaviour were characteristic of both BPAD and schizophrenia, with no significant differences between the two groups on these parameters. Coping patterns were also quite alike, though caregivers of patients with schizophrenia were using some emotion-focused strategies significantly more often. Caregiver's gender, patient-dysfunction and caregiver-neuroticism had a significant influence on coping patterns, but explained only a small proportion of the variance in use of different coping strategies. CONCLUSIONS: Coping and other elements of the caregiving experience in BPAD are no different from schizophrenia. The relationship between caregiver-coping and its determinants appears to be a complex one. More methodologically sound and culturally relevant investigations are required to understand this intricate area, with the hope that a better understanding will help the cause of both patients and their caregivers.

Adaptation, Psychological↗