Does coping help? A reexamination of the relation between coping and mental health.

TLDR

The study emphasizes the need to measure adaptive coping mechanisms appropriately within their contextual setting. The study investigates how coping strategies relate to psychological symptoms and compares main versus interactive stress‑buffering effects. The authors surveyed 291 adults, had them complete the revised Ways of Coping Scale for a self‑named stressful episode, and compared main versus interactive stress‑buffering models. Factor analysis identified eight coping factors, and regression showed a bidirectional relationship between coping and psychological symptoms, with poorer mental health linked to less adaptive coping; main effects were mainly emotion‑focused and small, while problem‑focused coping had modest interactive effects that may depend on perceived efficacy.

Abstract

In a longitudinal community survey of 291 adults, we explored the relation between coping strategies and psychological symptoms. Respondents completed the revised Ways of Coping Scale (Folkman & Lazarus, 1985) for a self-named stressful episode. Factor analysis produced eight coping factors: three problem focused, four emotion focused, and one (support mobilization) that contained elements of both. Multiple regression analyses indicated bidirectionality in the relation between coping and psychological symptoms. Those in poorer mental health and under greater stress used less adaptive coping strategies, such as escapism, but coping efforts still affected mental health independent of prior symptom levels and degree of stress. We compared main versus interactive effects models of stress buffering. Main effects were confined primarily to the emotion-focused coping scales and showed little or negative impacts of coping on mental health; interactive effects, though small, were found with the problem-focused scales. The direction of the relation between problem-focused scales and symptoms may depend in part on perceived efficacy, or how the respondent thought he or she handled the problem. Implications for the measurement of adaptive coping mechanisms and their contextual appropriateness are discussed.