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Sick building syndrome (SBS) is an increasingly common problem, although continued skepticism exists regarding its validity. Because of this, the attribution of complaints to psychogenic causes or mas hysteria persists. In this study (N = 111), self-report measures of psychopathology (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory [Hathaway & McKinley, 1983] and SCL-90-R [Derogatis, 1983]) and physical symptom reports failed to discriminate symptomatic from nonsymptomatic workers in an affected building but could more generally differentiate workers in the target building from control subjects. These results suggest that SBS cannot be justifiably attributed to psychological factors alone, although working in a contaminated environment appeared to have deleterious psychological consequences for some workers. Smoking history (in pack/years [packs per day x number of years smoked]) was reliably associated with the development of symptoms in exposed workers. Issues related to the assessment of psychological complaints in SBS are discussed.

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We explored associations between problem-focused, emotional processing, and emotional expression coping strategies and markers of stress including perceived stress, depressive symptoms, and diurnal cortisol profiles among women with gynecologic cancer. Problem-focused coping was associated with less perceived stress, fewer depressive symptoms, and more rhythmic diurnal salivary cortisol profiles. Emotional processing was associated with lower perceived stress and fewer depressive symptoms. Emotional expression was associated with fewer depressive symptoms and elevated diurnal mean and evening cortisol levels. Results point to key differences in coping strategies. In this sample, only problem-focused coping was linked with adaptive differences in both psychological and physiological stress measures.