Coping with stress: Divergent strategies of optimists and pessimists.

Abstract

Previous research has shown that dispositional optimism is a prospective predictor of successful adaptation to stressful encounters. In this research we attempted to identify possible mechanisms underlying these effects by examining how optimists differ from pessimists in the kinds of coping strategies that they use. The results of two separate studies revealed modest but reliable positive correlations between optimism and problem-focused coping, seeking of social support, and emphasizing positive aspects of the stressful situation. Pessimism was associated with denial and distancing (Study 1), with focusing on stressful feelings, and with disengagement from the goal with which the stressor was interfering (Study 2). Study 1 also found a positive association between optimism and acceptance/resignation, but only when the event was construed as uncontrollable. Discussion centers on the implications of these findings for understanding the meaning of people's coping efforts in stressful circumstances.

Emotional coping is a better predictor of cardiac prognosis than depression and anxiety

“…The MINI was administered by a trained interviewer. Emotion-focused, problemfocused, and dysfunctional coping strategies were evaluated with the Brief-Cope, a 28-item self rating measure instrument [15], which was developed as a revised, shortened measure of the 60 item COPE questionnaire [16]. The items of the questionnaire are rated on a 0 ('not at all') to 3 ('a lot') point scale according to how much they pertain to the person, and are combined to form 14 subscales of coping reactions.…”

Felicidade: uma revisão

“…As pesquisas têm demonstrado que a relação entre eventos externos e o bem-estar gerado por estes é pequena (Brickman et al, 1978;Scheier et al, 1986;Scheier et al, 2001;Kahneman et al, 2006). Isto é, semelhante ao que diziam filósofos da Antigüidade, como Demócrito e Epiteto, não é o que acontece com o indivíduo que pode deixá-lo feliz, mas a maneira como ele interpreta esses acontecimentos.…”

Relations between coping responses and optimism–pessimism in predicting anticipatory psychological distress in surgical breast cancer patients

“…One line of research (e.g., Billingsley, Waehler, & Hardin, 1993;Carver, Scheier, & Weintraub, 1989;Scheier, Weintraub, & Carver, 1986) has investigated the possibility that coping responses mediate the effects of optimism and pessimism on distress. Consistent with that possibility, differences in the types of coping responses typically used by "optimists" and "pessimists" have been found in a number of studies (see for review, Taylor & Aspinwall, 1996).…”

“…Consistent with that possibility, differences in the types of coping responses typically used by "optimists" and "pessimists" have been found in a number of studies (see for review, Taylor & Aspinwall, 1996). Optimism, for example, has been found to be positively related to the use of problemsolving coping, positive reframing, and tendency to accept reality (Carver et al, 1989;Scheier et al, 1986). Optimism has also been found to be negatively related to the use of denial and the attempt to distance oneself from the problem (Scheier et al, 1986).…”

“…Optimism, for example, has been found to be positively related to the use of problemsolving coping, positive reframing, and tendency to accept reality (Carver et al, 1989;Scheier et al, 1986). Optimism has also been found to be negatively related to the use of denial and the attempt to distance oneself from the problem (Scheier et al, 1986). Pessimism has been reported to be associated with the use of overt denial, substance abuse and coping responses that lessen awareness of the problem (Billingsley et al, 1993).…”