problem focused coping strategies definition

Problem-Focused Coping: 10 Examples and Definition

Problem-focused coping refers to stress management strategies to deal with stress that involves directly confronting the source of stress to eliminate or decrease its impact.

This can involve developing a more constructive way of interpreting life events, formulating an action plan to build stress management skills, or modifying personal habits.

For example, a person who has a problem-focused coping orientation might write down their key obstacle and develop a list of actionable milestones for overcoming the problem.

Problem-Focused Coping Definition

Lazarus and Folkman (1984) make a distinction between problem-focused and emotion-focused coping :

“a distinction that we believe is of overriding importance, namely, between coping that is directed at managing or altering the problem causing the distress and coping that is directed at regulating emotional response to the problem” (p. 150).

Schoenmakers et al. (2015) defined problem-focused coping as:

“…all the active efforts to manage stressful situations and alter a troubled person-environment relationship to modify or eliminate the sources of stress via individual behavior” (p. 154).

Because stress is so damaging, every year since 2007, the American Psychological Association has commissioned an annual Stress in America survey.

And every year, the survey reveals that a majority of Americans have anxiety regarding numerous dimensions of life, including: concerns about the government, civil liberties , economic conditions, crime and violence, and the nation’s future.

Problem-Focused Coping Examples

• Identifying Sources of Stress: The first step to solving a problem is to know what it is. Therefore, making a list of specific events that create stress will allow a person to take the next step and devise a solution.
• Studying to Reduce Test Anxiety: Committing to studying at least 90-minutes a day during the week prior to an upcoming exam will reduce test anxiety by becoming better prepared.
• Changing Careers: When a person realizes that their job is a major source of stress, they may decide on a career change. Sometimes this can be accomplished right away, or may require returning to school.   
• Changing Social Circles: Spending time with people that are negative can create a lot of stress. So, changing the people in our circle of friends can eliminate a lot of stress from constantly being around so much negativity.  
• Hiring a Public Speaking Coach: Hiring a professional public speaking coach can help a person develop several techniques to improve one’s articulation and persuasiveness, ultimately leading to a more engaging presentation.  
• Changing Unhealthy Eating Habits: Food can have a tremendous impact on how we feel. Consuming healthy food makes the body feel good, which then helps reduce stress.
• Not Working on the Weekends: Feeling stressed and anxious 7 days a week is very destructive. Making a firm rule to now work on Saturday and Sundays will give you a break from the stress of work and keep your mind fresh and ready to go on Monday.
• Time Management: Managing time more efficiently improves productivity. Making a to-do list and prioritizing each task will allow a person to get more done in less time.  
• Going Back to School: Being passed over for promotion year after year can be difficult to endure. Improving one’s educational background can help a person become more qualified for advancement.  
• Learning to Say No: If a major source of stress is due to overwhelming job demands, then an effective strategy to reducing that stress is learning to say no when asked to do extra work.

Case Studies of Problem-Focused Coping    

1. setting boundaries.

Boundaries are rules that define the acceptable and unacceptable behaviors of the people in your life. Setting boundaries is a type of problem-focused self-care that lets others know how you expect to be treated. They can exist in one’s personal or professional relationships.

The first step to setting boundaries is to recognize that you have a right to be treated respectfully and fairly by others.

Second, as Erin Eatough, Ph.D. from BetterUp explains, “spend some time reflecting on the area of your life where you’re looking to set the boundary.” It’s better to start small, but focused on those areas that are important to you.”

Next, communicate your boundaries in a polite, but firm manner. This can be a little tricky.

Letting someone know they have over-stepped and made you feel uncomfortable can create quite the awkward moment.

However, Dr. Abigall Brenner from Psychology Today makes a valid point: “Most people will respect your boundaries when you explain what they are and will expect that you will do the same for them; it’s a two-way street.”

This is one reason it is best to set boundaries early in the relationship.

Finally, remember that setting boundaries is an ongoing exercise. People will come and go into your life, so become comfortable with the idea of setting boundaries. Learn to appreciate how it will help you have better relationships with those around you.

2. Coping Strategies and Loneliness  

Being lonely is a common experience among older adults in many Western countries. For example, according to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine ( NASEM ), approximately 30% of adults over 45 in the U. S. feel lonely.

To examine how coping strategies might alleviate loneliness, Schoenmakers et al. (2015) conducted face-to-face interviews with over 1,000 adults 61 – 99 years old that had participated in the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam (LASA).

Loneliness was measured and each participant was presented with 4 vignettes that described a person that was feeling lonely.

Participants were asked to indicate yes or no to six coping strategies, such as “Go to places or club meetings to meet people” (problem-focused), or “Keep in mind that other people are lonely as well, or even more lonely” (emotion-focused).

The results indicated that “persistently lonely older adults less frequently considered improving relationships and more frequently considered lowering expectations than their peers who had not experienced loneliness previously” (p. 159).

That is, they did not endorse problem-focused strategies, but did endorse emotion-focused strategies.

The researchers explain that “ongoing loneliness makes people abandon to look at options to improve relationships that are costly in time and energy. But because they still want to do something to alleviate their loneliness, they endorse lowering expectations” (p. 159).

3. Coping Strategies of College Students  

Stress among college students comes from a variety of sources. Of course, demanding courses and exams are prevalent. In addition, coping with the transition from secondary school to young adulthood involves being independent, handling finances, and adjusting to a new social environment . 

Coping strategies include talking to family and friends, leisure activities , and exercising, as well as less constructive activities such as alcohol consumption (Pierceall & Keim, 2007).

Broughman et al. (2009) surveyed 166 college students attending a liberal arts university in Southern California.

The survey included a coping inventory and measure of stress.

“Although college women reported the overall use of emotion-focused coping for stress, college men reported using emotion-focused coping for a greater number of specific stressors. For both women and men college students, problem-focused coping was used less than emotion-focused coping” (p. 93).

4.Marital Satisfaction of Families with Children with Disabilities

Having children creates both stress and joy in marital relations. While many might assume that having a child with a disability would lead to more stress, research over the last 4 decades has produced inconsistent findings ( Stoneman & Gavidia-Payne, 2006).

Stoneman and Gavidia-Payne (2006) surveyed 67 married couples with children with disabilities.

The survey included a measure of marital adjustment, occurrence of psychosocial stressors , and problem-focused coping strategies.

There were several interesting findings:

• “18.6% of the mothers and 22.9% of the fathers in the sample could be classified as maritally discordant” (p. 6). This is similar to percentages found in the general population.
• “Mothers reported significantly more daily hassles than did fathers” (p. 6).
• “Problem-focused coping did not differ by parent gender” (p. 6).
• “Marital adjustment for mothers was higher when mothers’ hassles/stressors were fewer and when fathers used more problem-focused coping strategies” (p. 7).
• “Fathers reported higher marital adjustment when they had fewer hassles and when they utilized more problem-focused coping strategies” (p. 7).

The researchers explain this pattern through a historical cultural lens :

“Women are more positive about their marriages when their husbands have strong problem-focused coping skills; husbands, on the other hand, do not place relevance on their wives problem-focused coping skills as they assess their marital adjustment” (p. 9).

5. Transactional Model of Stress and Coping

The Transactional Model of Stress and Coping was originally proposed by Lazarus and Folkman (1984). The model identifies a process that begins with the perception and interpretation of a life event, and concludes with a reappraisal of the individual’s coping strategy.

Lazarus and Folkman contend that not all stressors will be perceived. If perceived, then the stressor must be interpreted.  This interpretation occurs during Primary Appraisal . If the event is perceived as positive or irrelevant, then no stress will occur.

However, if the event is interpreted as dangerous, then a Secondary Appraisal will occur. The individual assesses if they have sufficient resources to overcome the stressor or not. If the answer is yes, then everything is fine.

If the answer is no, then a coping strategy is activated, which will either be problem-focused or emotion-focused.

After the coping strategy has been implemented, a Reappraisal of the situation will ensue and the process may be started all over again.

Problem-focused coping is when an individual engages in behavior to resolve a stressful situation. This can involve changing one’s situation, building skills, or other actions that are directly focused on addressing the root cause of the problem.

Research has shown that college students, married couples with and without children with disabilities, and the elderly experiencing loneliness, will engage in a combination of problem-focused and emotion-focused coping strategies.

The Transactional Model of Stress and Coping identifies the steps that individuals engage when encountering stressful life events.

Because stress is so prevalent in modern life, and is linked to major health conditions, it is a good idea to incorporate both problem- and emotion-focused coping strategies in one’s daily routine.

Brougham, R. R., Zail, C. M., Mendoza, C. M., & Miller, J. R. (2009). Stress, sex differences, and coping strategies among college students. Current Psychology, 28 , 85-97. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-009-9047-0

Lazarus, R. S., & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, appraisal, and coping. New York: Springer Publishing.

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2020. Social Isolation and Loneliness in Older Adults: Opportunities for the Health Care System . Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/25663 .

Pierceall, E. A., & Keim, M. C. (2007). Stress and coping strategies among community college students. Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 31 (9), 703-712. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/10668920600866579

Schoenmakers, E., van Tilburg, T., & Fokkema, T. (2015). Problem-focused and emotion-focused coping options and loneliness: How are they related? European Journal of Ageing, 12 , 153-161. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007%2Fs10433-015-0336-1

Stoneman, Z., & Gavidia-Payne, S. (2006). Marital adjustment in families of young children with disabilities: Associations with daily hassles and problem-focused coping. American Journal on Mental Retardation, 111 (1), 1-14. doi: https://doi.org/10.1352/0895-8017(2006)111[1:MAIFOY]2.0.CO;2

Appendix: Image Description

The image with alt text “graphical representation of the transactional model of stress” depicts a flow chart starting with “life event”. The next step is “perceptual process (event perceived/not perceived)”. If an event is perceived, we move on to the “primary appraisal (interpretation of perceived event)” step. Three options are presented: positive event, dangerous event, and irrelevant event. If it is perceived as a dangerous event, we move onto “secondary appraisal (analysis of available resources)”. Two options are presented: insufficient resources and sufficient resources. If insufficient resources are identified, we move onto the “stress coping strategy” step. The two options are problem-fcused and emotion-focused. The final step is reappraisal, where we apprause is the stragey was successful or failed. This flow chart is based on Lazarus and Folkman (1984).

Dave Cornell (PhD)

Dr. Cornell has worked in education for more than 20 years. His work has involved designing teacher certification for Trinity College in London and in-service training for state governments in the United States. He has trained kindergarten teachers in 8 countries and helped businessmen and women open baby centers and kindergartens in 3 countries.

• Dave Cornell (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/dave-cornell-phd/ 25 Positive Punishment Examples
• Dave Cornell (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/dave-cornell-phd/ 25 Dissociation Examples (Psychology)
• Dave Cornell (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/dave-cornell-phd/ 15 Zone of Proximal Development Examples
• Dave Cornell (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/dave-cornell-phd/ Perception Checking: 15 Examples and Definition

Chris Drew (PhD)

This article was peer-reviewed and edited by Chris Drew (PhD). The review process on Helpful Professor involves having a PhD level expert fact check, edit, and contribute to articles. Reviewers ensure all content reflects expert academic consensus and is backed up with reference to academic studies. Dr. Drew has published over 20 academic articles in scholarly journals. He is the former editor of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education and holds a PhD in Education from ACU.

• Chris Drew (PhD) #molongui-disabled-link 25 Positive Punishment Examples
• Chris Drew (PhD) #molongui-disabled-link 25 Dissociation Examples (Psychology)
• Chris Drew (PhD) #molongui-disabled-link 15 Zone of Proximal Development Examples
• Chris Drew (PhD) #molongui-disabled-link Perception Checking: 15 Examples and Definition

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Problem-Focused Coping is a psychological coping strategy that aims to deal with stressors by directly confronting and resolving the root cause of the problem or reducing its impact. It involves actively seeking solutions, gathering information, and making efforts to change the stressful situation.

Key Characteristics

• Proactive approach: Problem-focused coping involves taking an active and assertive stance towards managing stressors.
• Focus on problem-solving: Individuals employing this strategy emphasize finding practical solutions and taking concrete steps to address the underlying problem.
• Information seeking: It involves gathering relevant information and learning new skills to effectively tackle the stressor.
• Action-oriented: Problem-focused coping relies on taking specific actions and making behavioral changes to alter or eliminate the stress-inducing problem.

Here are some examples of problem-focused coping:

• When facing a heavy workload, an individual might create a schedule, prioritize tasks, and break them down into smaller, manageable parts.
• If experiencing financial difficulties, a person might seek financial advice, develop a budget, and explore additional income-generating opportunities.
• When dealing with a conflict in a relationship, individuals may initiate open and honest communication to resolve the issues.

Effectiveness

Problem-focused coping is highly effective in situations where individuals have some control over the stressful event and the ability to change or influence it. By directly addressing the problem, it helps reduce the impact of stressors and promotes a sense of empowerment and mastery over one’s circumstances.

What Is Problem-Focused Coping? Problem Focused Strategies To Help You

• Updated September 23, 2021

How Learning Stress Management Can Benefit You

No one likes uncomfortable or stressful situations. When we are faced with a stressful situation, we have to decide on and choose a coping strategy to employ to deal with the issue at hand.

This article will explain both problem-focused coping strategies as well as emotion-focused coping techniques to deal with the stressors in our lives. This way, we can face our problems, stressful life events, and negative feelings with less anxiety and without feeling overwhelmed. 

What Is Focused Coping?

Focused coping involves identifying our stressors and focusing on how to deal with them. There are two types. Problem-focused coping and emotion-focused coping.

When we focus on the problem, we identify the root cause and use focused strategies to address it head-on, eradicating the stressors at their source. 

When we focus on the emotion, we employ focused strategies to help us rid ourselves of the emotions we are feeling as a direct result of the stressors. This helps us to banish negative thoughts so that we can more efficiently cope with the physical stressors. 

Focused Coping Strategies

Coping strategies are any strategies that we use to improve our mood, reduce stress , and improve our overall physical and mental health. There are many different coping strategies, and what works for one person may not work for another.

Clinical psychology generally accepts focused coping as the most direct and effective way to rid ourselves of stress and turmoil over an event when we cannot change the negative emotions we feel surrounding them immediately.

Problem Focused Strategies

Suppose that there was the possibility for a big promotion at work. You have been working for the company for a long time, and while the thought of tossing your hat into the ring with other promotion hopefuls seems like a stressful situation, you feel as though you really deserve it.

Going after the promotion will mean that you will be competing with other employees for one spot. Let’s say that you have recently made several new friends and a few of them would also like the promotion.

This adds to the stress of going for the promotion.

Now let’s complicate this matter further because that’s the way life is. Stress does not pause itself in the course of life to wait until you have successfully dealt with your other issues. Stress has a way of piling on when you least need it.

Now let’s say that you are having financial problems as well. Unless you get this promotion, you’re looking at facing an extended period of time dealing with the negative effects of debt.

Maybe you’ve got student loans; maybe there was an emergency bill you needed to pay. Perhaps family members needed a loan, and you didn’t have the money to give, but you did it anyway.

Money issues definitely add to the stress. Suddenly, you realize that this promotion is not a want. It’s a need. And you find that your stress levels are now through the roof, and it’s affecting everything from your confidence to your work performance to your well-being.

You know that there is going to be a performance review, and if you make it past that stage, an interview. The stress level is now at its peak. You need to employ focused coping, but where do you start?

You can seek professional medical advice and try to learn important coping skills that way, or get a referral to seek further help.

But if you don’t have much time and you know that time is of the essence on this issue, then you’ve got to figure out some coping strategies by using other means, such as cognitive appraisal.

Here’s where we can help.

Focused Coping in this Example

Coping skills and problem solving go hand in hand. So when developing a coping strategy to deal with this issue, try to tell yourself that you are just solving a problem, and you do that all the time in life.

Emotion-Focused Coping Strategies

The emotion-focused coping method involves dealing with the way things make you feel rather than addressing the physical stressors head-on. So if your performance review is coming up, and you don’t have the dispositional optimism to keep yourself from feeling stress and anxiety about it, try to distract yourself.

You are combating the feelings, not the source of the stress.

You can try to distract yourself by reading a book or going for a walk instead of sitting around worried about a poor performance review. This will relieve some of the stress.

It does nothing to address the potential stressors of the situation, but it will get you out of your head.

When you use emotion-focused coping, you are employing a method of coping that alleviates the negative emotions that you feel surrounding the stressors, so that the actual stressors don’t seem like such a big deal.

Emotion-focused strategies such as distraction and addressing and fixing psychological symptoms that are a direct result of the stressors will help you to feel more prepared in dealing with the stressors.

Progressive Muscle Relaxation

Stressful events cause our bodies to tense up. One method of stress management involves totally relaxing your body so that you cannot feel anxious. Anxiety can’t occur if you are completely relaxed physically, and there is no tension in your muscles.

Focus on specific muscle groups in your body. When you inhale, contract them. When you exhale, relax them. That’s all there is to it.

Doing this so that your body ends up relaxed not only reduces negative psychological effects, but it helps you sleep better and it increases your chances of having more positive emotions regarding the stressful event you will have to face. It only takes a few minutes, and it does a massive amount of good.

Most stressors can be reduced if we can eradicate the negative feelings that come along with them.

Problem-focused coping is where you take action to alleviate the actual stressors that are causing you psychological and emotional distress. It is always a good idea to employ emotion-focused strategies first so that you are relaxed and less upset, but if you want to really get back to a less stressful life, you have to identify and deal with the root cause.

In the example about the job promotion, after you have dealt with the emotions invoked by the stress, look for possible solutions to the external stress.

Go directly to the person who performed the performance review and ask them what you may have been able to do better. Ask the person if you can improve in any way, regardless of whether you get the promotion or not.

This will make you look determined and interested not only in the goal, which was the better job but in being a better employee. You will most likely feel better when you leave that meeting.

If the person tells you that you did have some weak spots in your performance, you now know what they are. You can focus on those areas and improve them and be better prepared for the promotion when another opportunity presents itself.

This has alleviated the stress associated with not knowing how you did on the review, and it has made your boss take you more seriously as a driven employee.

Whether you get the job you wanted or not, you can now move past that issue. You can move on to the financial issue you are facing.

Go to the person at your job who is responsible for setting the pay rate and giving raises. If you got the promotion, you can skip this step.

If you didn’t get the promotion, address the rate you are being paid with the person responsible for setting it. Ask for a raise. Tell them that while you were considered for the promotion, you did not get it.

Bring up the good parts of your performance review, focus on the point that you are determined and driven enough to have applied for the higher paying job in the first place and that you think that you deserve more pay.

You may get what you ask for, and you may not. But knowing is half of the battle. If you get the raise, then you can make a plan to save the extra income to pay off debt or better your financial situation.

If you are turned down, you can either find a higher-paying job, or you can practice good time management and try to create a second line of income in your downtime. Either way, you have directly addressed this source of stress by asking for a raise.

Other Types of Coping

Health psychology.

Health psychology is a branch of behavioral medicine. Health psychologists study why people react the way they do to illness, why some don’t take the advice doctors give them to prevent and treat illness, and how best to encourage behavioral efforts of patients so that they can lead healthier lives.

Why do some people who are overweight or on the verge of diabetes do nothing to change their eating behaviors? Is eating one of their coping responses to stress? Is the issue environmental factors such as not having the resources to eat healthy foods?

Why are some people genetically predisposed to have issues with substance abuse and alcoholism still partaking in reckless behaviors, such as, drinking alcohol, and using drugs as a coping mechanism? They may be well aware that they are a prime candidate for developing alcoholism, but they do it anyway.

Why do some people who are more at risk for certain cancers not get preventative testing?

The examples of this are endless. Health psychologists look at a person’s physical health and habits and then try to engage the patients in a way that will push them towards better habits with the goal of good health in mind.

Behavioral medicine exists for purposes like this. Teaching patients coping strategies so that they can control their behavior in a way that spawns better health. When we learn to cope with our issues, we can control our habits in a way that benefits our health rather than harming it.

Sometimes removing oneself from the equation and thinking about someone else being in the same situations we are in is all it takes.

As an example, let’s say that you smoke cigarettes. You go to the doctor for regular checkups, and every time you do, your doctor urges you to quit smoking.

You tell him that you know they’re bad for you. You may even tell him that you’ll work on cutting back.

Your doctor offers to write you a prescription for medication that can help you quit, as well as recommending other resources that you may not have been aware of, like acupuncture. However, you politely decline, and you go on your way, smoking.

What if the next time you had an appointment, the doctor decided to engage you in conversation before the appointment really got started and told you that one of his close friends just died due to lung cancer. You will most likely convey your condolences.

What if the doctor then went on to say that his friend was perfectly healthy and lived a life full of good habits and healthy decisions, aside from smoking, and that’s what caused the cancer. What if he told you that his friend was your age and that no one saw his death coming.

Now you may have a different perspective. Now you may be more inclined to take that prescription or go see a therapist to stop smoking. You are removed from the situation and saw it from the outside looking in, and things can shift more easily that way.

Health psychologists research why these things work. They research coping mechanisms that work based upon the individual differences in patients.

They help to develop strategies for coping that work for an individual by doing the research necessary to understand why people behave the way they do when it comes to health.

Can Focused Coping Work For You?

Focused coping seems scary in some ways. Rushing right at a problem doesn’t come naturally to all of us. F

ight or flight response to stress kicks in, and some of us run while some of us attack. If you’re not on the fight end of the fight or flight spectrum, it seems very unnatural to directly confront stressors.

It really is true, though, that if you address stressors as they occur, they’re alleviated much more quickly. They can’t hang over your head because you have faced them, and you now know the outcome. It truly is a “ripping off the band-aid” action that gets the things we’re stressed about out of the way, and therefore, out of our minds.

When we employ coping focused on emotions, we are forced to address how we feel about things. This is never a bad idea.

Understanding the ways we are prone to react, getting to know ourselves, and then finding out what alleviates the feelings we have when we feel stress is part of the process of learning to accept and love ourselves.

When we love ourselves, we are less hard on ourselves; therefore, we are more relaxed. When we are more relaxed, anxiety cannot plague us as easily.

Coping skills, whether problem-focused coping, emotion-focused coping, or both, are necessary to get through life. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be able to hold jobs, have relationships, or be happy.

Coping responses that are positive help us pave the way to better health in every aspect.

We can use strategies like cognitive appraisal to address our problems and understand the stress process. We can also work on our time management skills so that when stress hits us, we don’t shut down and kill our chances of bouncing back.

Analysis of our issues as well as proper time management are great starting points in coping.

Seek Professional Help When Necessary

There is nothing wrong with asking for help. In fact, any time a problem seems or has gotten bigger than what we can handle, we should reach out for help.

Friends and family members are great resources for this, but sometimes we need experts.

Behavioral psychologists, psychologists, therapists, and psychiatrists are there for you. Use the help that is available to you to learn how to live a life that is stress-free or at least reduced.

An affordable and convenient option to find a therapist is online where you can speak with a therapist from the comfort of your own home, on your schedule.

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Stress Management Techniques

Saul Mcleod, PhD

Editor-in-Chief for Simply Psychology

BSc (Hons) Psychology, MRes, PhD, University of Manchester

Saul Mcleod, PhD., is a qualified psychology teacher with over 18 years of experience in further and higher education. He has been published in peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Clinical Psychology.

Learn about our Editorial Process

Olivia Guy-Evans, MSc

Associate Editor for Simply Psychology

BSc (Hons) Psychology, MSc Psychology of Education

Olivia Guy-Evans is a writer and associate editor for Simply Psychology. She has previously worked in healthcare and educational sectors.

Stress arises when individuals perceive a discrepancy between a situation’s physical or psychological demands and the resources of their biological, psychological, or social systems (Sarafino, 2012).

There are many ways of coping with stress. Their effectiveness depends on the type of stressor, the particular individual, and the circumstances.

For example, if you think about the way your friends deal with stressors like exams, you will see a range of different coping responses. Some people will pace around or tell you how worried they are, and others will revise or pester their teachers for clues.

Lazarus and Folkman (1984) suggested there are two types of coping responses emotion focused and problem focused :

Emotion-focused Coping

Emotion-focused coping is stress management that attempts to reduce negative emotional responses associated with stress.

Negative emotions such as embarrassment, fear, anxiety, depression, excitement, and frustration are reduced or removed by the individual through various methods of coping.

Emotion-focused techniques might be the only realistic option when the source of stress is outside the person’s control.

Drug therapy can be seen as emotion-focused coping as it focuses on the arousal caused by stress, not the problem. Other emotion-focused coping techniques include:

• Distraction, e.g., keeping yourself busy to take your mind off the issue.
• Emotional disclosure. This involves expressing strong emotions by talking or writing about negative events which precipitated those emotions (Pennebaker, 1995)
• This is an important part of psychotherapy .
• Praying for guidance and strength.
• Meditation, e.g., mindfulness.
• Eating more, e.g., comfort food.
• Drinking alcohol.
• Using drugs.
• Journaling, e.g., writing a gratitude diary (Cheng, Tsui, & Lam, 2015).
• Cognitive reappraisal. This is a form of cognitive change that involves construing a potentially emotion-eliciting situation in a way that changes its emotional impact (Lazarus & Alfert, 1964).
• Suppressing (stopping/inhibiting) negative thoughts or emotions. Suppressing emotions over an extended period of time compromises immune competence and lead to poor physical health (Petrie, K. J., Booth, R. J., & Pennebaker, 1988).

Critical Evaluation

A meta-analysis revealed that emotion-focused strategies are often less effective than using problem-focused methods in relation to health outcomes(Penley, Tomaka, & Weibe, 2012).

In general, people who used emotion-focused strategies such as eating, drinking, and taking drugs reported poorer health outcomes.

Such strategies are ineffective as they ignore the root cause of the stress. The type of stressor and whether the impact was on physical or psychological health explained the strategies between coping strategies and health outcomes.

In addition, Epping-Jordan et al. (1994) found that patients with cancer who used avoidance strategies, e.g., denying they were very ill, deteriorated more quickly than those who faced up to their problems. The same pattern exists in relation to dental health and financial problems.

Emotion-focused coping does not provide a long-term solution and may have negative side effects as it delays the person dealing with the problem. However, they can be a good choice if the source of stress is outside the person’s control (e.g., a dental procedure).

Gender differences have also been reported: women tend to use more emotion-focused strategies than men (Billings & Moos, 1981).

Problem-focused Coping

Problem-focused coping targets the causes of stress in practical ways, which tackles the problem or stressful situation that is causing stress, consequently directly reducing the stress.

Problem-focused strategies aim to remove or reduce the cause of the stressor, including:

• Problem-solving.
• Time-management.
• Obtaining instrumental social support.

In general problem-focused coping is best, as it removes the stressor and deals with the root cause of the problem, providing a long-term solution.

Problem-focused strategies are successful in dealing with stressors such as discrimination (Pascoe & Richman, 2009), HIV infections (Moskowitz, Hult, Bussolari, & Acree, 2009), and diabetes (Duangdao & Roesch, 2008).

However, it is not always possible to use problem-focused strategies. For example, when someone dies, problem-focused strategies may not be very helpful for the bereaved. Dealing with the feeling of loss requires emotion-focused coping.

The problem-focused approach will not work in any situation where it is beyond the individual’s control to remove the source of stress. They work best when the person can control the source of stress (e.g., exams, work-based stressors, etc.).

It is not a productive method for all individuals. For example, not all people are able to take control of a situation or perceive a situation as controllable.

For example, optimistic people who tend to have positive expectations of the future are more likely to use problem-focused strategies. In contrast, pessimistic individuals are more inclined to use emotion-focused strategies (Nes & Segerstrom, 2006).

Billings, A. G., & Moos, R. H. (1981). The role of coping responses and social resources in attenuating the stress of life events. Journal of behavioral Medicine , 4, 139-157.

Cheng, S. T., Tsui, P. K., & Lam, J. H. (2015). Improving mental health in health care practitioners: Randomized controlled trial of a gratitude intervention. Journal of consulting and clinical psychology, 83(1) , 177.

Duangdao, K. M., & Roesch, S. C. (2008). Coping with diabetes in adulthood: a meta-analysis. Journal of behavioral Medicine, 31(4) , 291-300.

Epping-Jordan, J. A., Compas, B. E., & Howell, D. C. (1994). Predictors of cancer progression in young adult men and women: Avoidance, intrusive thoughts, and psychological symptoms. Health Psychology , 13: 539-547.

Lazarus, R. S. (1991). Progress on a cognitive-motivational-relational theory of emotion. American psychologist , 46(8), 819.

Lazarus, R. S., & Alfert, E. (1964). Short-circuiting of threat by experimentally altering cognitive appraisal. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 69(2) , 195.

Lazarus, R. S., & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress,appraisal, and coping . New York: Springer.

Moskowitz, J. T., Hult, J. R., Bussolari, C., & Acree, M. (2009). What works in coping with HIV? A meta-analysis with implications for coping with serious illness. Psychological Bulletin, 135(1) , 121.

Nes, L. S., & Segerstrom, S. C. (2006). Dispositional optimism and coping: A meta-analytic review. Personality and social psychology review, 10(3) , 235-251.

Pascoe, E. A., & Smart Richman, L. (2009). Perceived discrimination and health: a meta-analytic review. Psychological bulletin, 135(4) , 531.

Penley, J. A., Tomaka, J., & Wiebe, J. S. (2002). The association of coping to physical and psychological health outcomes: A meta-analytic review. Journal of behavioral medicine, 25(6) , 551-603.

Pennebaker, J. W. (1995). Emotion, disclosure, & health. American Psychological Association .

Petrie, K. J., Booth, R. J., & Pennebaker, J. W. (1998). The immunological effects of thought suppression. Journal of personality and social psychology, 75(5) , 1264.

Sarafino, E. P. (2012). Health Psychology: Biopsychosocial Interactions. 7th Ed . Asia: Wiley.

14.4 Regulation of Stress

Learning objectives.

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

• Define coping and differentiate between problem-focused and emotion-focused coping
• Describe the importance of perceived control in our reactions to stress
• Explain how social support is vital in health and longevity

As we learned in the previous section, stress —especially if it is chronic—takes a toll on our bodies and can have enormously negative health implications. When we experience events in our lives that we appraise as stressful, it is essential that we use effective coping strategies to manage our stress. Coping refers to mental and behavioral efforts that we use to deal with problems relating to stress.

Coping Styles

Lazarus and Folkman (1984) distinguished two fundamental kinds of coping: problem-focused coping and emotion-focused coping. In problem-focused coping, one attempts to manage or alter the problem that is causing one to experience stress (i.e., the stressor). Problem-focused coping strategies are similar to strategies used in everyday problem-solving: they typically involve identifying the problem, considering possible solutions, weighing the costs and benefits of these solutions, and then selecting an alternative (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984). As an example, suppose Bradford receives a midterm notice that he is failing statistics class. If Bradford adopts a problem-focused coping approach to managing his stress, he would be proactive in trying to alleviate the source of the stress. He might contact his professor to discuss what must be done to raise his grade, he might also decide to set aside two hours daily to study statistics assignments, and he may seek tutoring assistance. A problem-focused approach to managing stress means we actively try to do things to address the problem.

Emotion-focused coping, in contrast, consists of efforts to change or reduce the negative emotions associated with stress. These efforts may include avoiding, minimizing, or distancing oneself from the problem, or positive comparisons with others (“I’m not as bad off as she is”), or seeking something positive in a negative event (“Now that I’ve been fired, I can sleep in for a few days”). In some cases, emotion-focused coping strategies involve reappraisal, whereby the stressor is construed differently (and somewhat self-deceptively) without changing its objective level of threat (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984). For example, a person sentenced to federal prison who thinks, “This will give me a great chance to network with others,” is using reappraisal. If Bradford adopted an emotion-focused approach to managing his midterm deficiency stress, he might watch a comedy movie, play video games, or spend hours on social media to take his mind off the situation. In a certain sense, emotion-focused coping can be thought of as treating the symptoms rather than the actual cause.

While many stressors elicit both kinds of coping strategies, problem-focused coping is more likely to occur when encountering stressors we perceive as controllable, while emotion-focused coping is more likely to predominate when faced with stressors that we believe we are powerless to change (Folkman & Lazarus, 1980). Clearly, emotion-focused coping is more effective in dealing with uncontrollable stressors. For example, the stress you experience when a loved one dies can be overwhelming. You are simply powerless to change the situation as there is nothing you can do to bring this person back. The most helpful coping response is emotion-focused coping aimed at minimizing the pain of the grieving period.

Fortunately, most stressors we encounter can be modified and are, to varying degrees, controllable. A person who cannot stand her job can quit and look for work elsewhere; a middle-aged divorcee can find another potential partner; the freshman who fails an exam can study harder next time, and a breast lump does not necessarily mean that one is fated to die of breast cancer.

Control and Stress

The desire and ability to predict events, make decisions, and affect outcomes—that is, to enact control in our lives—is a basic tenet of human behavior (Everly & Lating, 2002). Albert Bandura (1997) stated that “the intensity and chronicity of human stress is governed largely by perceived control over the demands of one’s life” (p. 262). As cogently described in his statement, our reaction to potential stressors depends to a large extent on how much control we feel we have over such things. Perceived control is our beliefs about our personal capacity to exert influence over and shape outcomes, and it has major implications for our health and happiness (Infurna & Gerstorf, 2014). Extensive research has demonstrated that perceptions of personal control are associated with a variety of favorable outcomes, such as better physical and mental health and greater psychological well-being (Diehl & Hay, 2010). Greater personal control is also associated with lower reactivity to stressors in daily life. For example, researchers in one investigation found that higher levels of perceived control at one point in time were later associated with lower emotional and physical reactivity to interpersonal stressors (Neupert, Almeida, & Charles, 2007). Further, a daily diary study with 34 older widows found that their stress and anxiety levels were significantly reduced on days during which the widows felt greater perceived control (Ong, Bergeman, & Bisconti, 2005).

Learned Helplessness

When we lack a sense of control over the events in our lives, particularly when those events are threatening, harmful, or noxious, the psychological consequences can be profound. In one of the better illustrations of this concept, psychologist Martin Seligman conducted a series of classic experiments in the 1960s (Seligman & Maier, 1967) in which dogs were placed in a chamber where they received electric shocks from which they could not escape. Later, when these dogs were given the opportunity to escape the shocks by jumping across a partition, most failed to even try; they seemed to just give up and passively accept any shocks the experimenters chose to administer. In comparison, dogs who were previously allowed to escape the shocks tended to jump the partition and escape the pain ( Figure 14.22 ).

Seligman believed that the dogs who failed to try to escape the later shocks were demonstrating learned helplessness : They had acquired a belief that they were powerless to do anything about the stimulation they were receiving. Seligman also believed that the passivity and lack of initiative these dogs demonstrated was similar to that observed in human depression. Therefore, Seligman speculated that learned helplessness might be an important cause of depression in humans: Humans who experience negative life events that they believe they are unable to control may become helpless. As a result, they give up trying to change the situation and some may become depressed and show lack of initiative in future situations in which they can control the outcomes (Seligman, Maier, & Geer, 1968). In an application Seligman never proposed, learned helplessness was later used as a methodology in the torture of prisoners by U.S. military and intelligence personnel following the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center. The psychologists who designed the torture program, James E. Mitchell and Bruce Jesson, theorized that detainees who were subjected to uncontrollable afflictions would eventually become passive and compliant, making them more likely to reveal information to their interrogators. There is little evidence that the program achieved worthwhile results. It is now widely regarded as unethical and unjustified. This example emphasizes the need to consistently consider the ethics of research studies and their applications (Konnikova, 2015).

Seligman and colleagues later reformulated the original learned helplessness model of depression (Abramson, Seligman, & Teasdale, 1978). In their reformulation, they emphasized attributions (i.e., a mental explanation for why something occurred) that fostered a sense of learned helplessness. For example, suppose a coworker shows up late to work; your belief as to what caused the coworker’s tardiness would be an attribution (e.g., too much traffic, slept too late, or just doesn’t care about being on time).

The reformulated version of Seligman’s study holds that the attributions made for negative life events contribute to depression. Consider the example of a student who performs poorly on a midterm exam. This model suggests that the student will make three kinds of attributions for this outcome: internal vs. external (believing the outcome was caused by his own personal inadequacies or by environmental factors), stable vs. unstable (believing the cause can be changed or is permanent), and global vs. specific (believing the outcome is a sign of inadequacy in most everything versus just this area). Assume that the student makes an internal (“I’m just not smart”), stable (“Nothing can be done to change the fact that I’m not smart”) and global (“This is another example of how lousy I am at everything”) attribution for the poor performance. The reformulated theory predicts that the student would perceive a lack of control over this stressful event and thus be especially prone to developing depression. Indeed, research has demonstrated that people who have a tendency to make internal, global, and stable attributions for bad outcomes tend to develop symptoms of depression when faced with negative life experiences (Peterson & Seligman, 1984). Fortunately, attribution habits can be changed through practice. Training in healthy attribution habits has been shown to make people less vulnerable to depression (Konnikova, 2015).

Seligman’s learned helplessness model has emerged over the years as a leading theoretical explanation for the onset of major depressive disorder. When you study psychological disorders, you will learn more about the latest reformulation of this model—now called hopelessness theory.

People who report higher levels of perceived control view their health as controllable, thereby making it more likely that they will better manage their health and engage in behaviors conducive to good health (Bandura, 2004). Not surprisingly, greater perceived control has been linked to lower risk of physical health problems, including declines in physical functioning (Infurna, Gerstorf, Ram, Schupp, & Wagner, 2011), heart attacks (Rosengren et al., 2004), and both cardiovascular disease incidence (Stürmer, Hasselbach, & Amelang, 2006) and mortality from cardiac disease (Surtees et al., 2010). In addition, longitudinal studies of British civil servants have found that those in low-status jobs (e.g., clerical and office support staff) in which the degree of control over the job is minimal are considerably more likely to develop heart disease than those with high-status jobs or considerable control over their jobs (Marmot, Bosma, Hemingway, & Stansfeld, 1997).

The link between perceived control and health may provide an explanation for the frequently observed relationship between social class and health outcomes (Kraus, Piff, Mendoza-Denton, Rheinschmidt, & Keltner, 2012). In general, research has found that more affluent individuals experience better health partly because they tend to believe that they can personally control and manage their reactions to life’s stressors (Johnson & Krueger, 2006). Perhaps buoyed by the perceived level of control, individuals of higher social class may be prone to overestimating the degree of influence they have over particular outcomes. For example, those of higher social class tend to believe that their votes have greater sway on election outcomes than do those of lower social class, which may explain higher rates of voting in more affluent communities (Krosnick, 1990). Other research has found that a sense of perceived control can protect less affluent individuals from poorer health, depression, and reduced life-satisfaction—all of which tend to accompany lower social standing (Lachman & Weaver, 1998).

Taken together, findings from these and many other studies clearly suggest that perceptions of control and coping abilities are important in managing and coping with the stressors we encounter throughout life.

Social Support

The need to form and maintain strong, stable relationships with others is a powerful, pervasive, and fundamental human motive (Baumeister & Leary, 1995). Building strong interpersonal relationships with others helps us establish a network of close, caring individuals who can provide social support in times of distress, sorrow, and fear. Social support can be thought of as the soothing impact of friends, family, and acquaintances (Baron & Kerr, 2003). Social support can take many forms, including advice, guidance, encouragement, acceptance, emotional comfort, and tangible assistance (such as financial help). Thus, other people can be very comforting to us when we are faced with a wide range of life stressors, and they can be extremely helpful in our efforts to manage these challenges. Even in nonhuman animals, species mates can offer social support during times of stress. For example, elephants seem to be able to sense when other elephants are stressed and will often comfort them with physical contact—such as a trunk touch—or an empathetic vocal response (Krumboltz, 2014).

Scientific interest in the importance of social support first emerged in the 1970s when health researchers developed an interest in the health consequences of being socially integrated (Stroebe & Stroebe, 1996). Interest was further fueled by longitudinal studies showing that social connectedness reduced mortality. In one classic study, nearly 7,000 Alameda County, California, residents were followed over 9 years. Those who had previously indicated that they lacked social and community ties were more likely to die during the follow-up period than those with more extensive social networks. Compared to those with the most social contacts, isolated men and women were, respectively, 2.3 and 2.8 times more likely to die. These trends persisted even after controlling for a variety of health-related variables, such as smoking, alcohol consumption, self-reported health at the beginning of the study, and physical activity (Berkman & Syme, 1979).

Since the time of that study, social support has emerged as one of the well-documented psychosocial factors affecting health outcomes (Uchino, 2009). A statistical review of 148 studies conducted between 1982 and 2007 involving over 300,000 participants concluded that individuals with stronger social relationships have a 50% greater likelihood of survival compared to those with weak or insufficient social relationships (Holt-Lunstad, Smith, & Layton, 2010). According to the researchers, the magnitude of the effect of social support observed in this study is comparable with quitting smoking and exceeded many well-known risk factors for mortality, such as obesity and physical inactivity ( Figure 14.23 ).

A number of large-scale studies have found that individuals with low levels of social support are at greater risk of mortality, especially from cardiovascular disorders (Brummett et al., 2001). Further, higher levels of social supported have been linked to better survival rates following breast cancer (Falagas et al., 2007) and infectious diseases, especially HIV infection (Lee & Rotheram-Borus, 2001). In fact, a person with high levels of social support is less likely to contract a common cold. In one study, 334 participants completed questionnaires assessing their sociability; these individuals were subsequently exposed to a virus that causes a common cold and monitored for several weeks to see who became ill. Results showed that increased sociability was linearly associated with a decreased probability of developing a cold (Cohen, Doyle, Turner, Alper, & Skoner, 2003).

For many of us, friends are a vital source of social support. But what if you find yourself in a situation in which you have few friends and companions? Many students who leave home to attend and live at college experience drastic reductions in their social support, which makes them vulnerable to anxiety, depression, and loneliness. Social media can sometimes be useful in navigating these transitions (Raney & Troop Gordon, 2012) but might also cause increases in loneliness (Hunt, Marx, Lipson, & Young, 2018). For this reason, many colleges have designed first-year programs, such as peer mentoring (Raymond & Shepard, 2018), that can help students build new social networks. For some people, our families—especially our parents—are a major source of social support.

Social support appears to work by boosting the immune system, especially among people who are experiencing stress (Uchino, Vaughn, Carlisle, & Birmingham, 2012). In a pioneering study, spouses of cancer patients who reported high levels of social support showed indications of better immune functioning on two out of three immune functioning measures, compared to spouses who were below the median on reported social support (Baron, Cutrona, Hicklin, Russell, & Lubaroff, 1990). Studies of other populations have produced similar results, including those of spousal caregivers of dementia sufferers, medical students, elderly adults, and cancer patients (Cohen & Herbert, 1996; Kiecolt-Glaser, McGuire, Robles, & Glaser, 2002).

In addition, social support has been shown to reduce blood pressure for people performing stressful tasks, such as giving a speech or performing mental arithmetic (Lepore, 1998). In these kinds of studies, participants are usually asked to perform a stressful task either alone, with a stranger present (who may be either supportive or unsupportive), or with a friend present. Those tested with a friend present generally exhibit lower blood pressure than those tested alone or with a stranger (Fontana, Diegnan, Villeneuve, & Lepore, 1999). In one study, 112 female participants who performed stressful mental arithmetic exhibited lower blood pressure when they received support from a friend rather than a stranger, but only if the friend was a male (Phillips, Gallagher, & Carroll, 2009). Although these findings are somewhat difficult to interpret, the authors mention that it is possible that females feel less supported and more evaluated by other females, particularly females whose opinions they value.

Taken together, the findings above suggest one of the reasons social support is connected to favorable health outcomes is because it has several beneficial physiological effects in stressful situations. However, it is also important to consider the possibility that social support may lead to better health behaviors, such as a healthy diet, exercising, smoking cessation, and cooperation with medical regimens (Uchino, 2009).

Stress and Discrimination

Being the recipient of prejudice and discrimination is associated with a number of negative outcomes. Many studies have shown how discrimination is a significant stressor for marginalized groups (Pascoe & Smart Richman, 2009). Discrimination negatively impacts both physical and mental health for individuals in stigmatized groups. As you’ll learn when you study social psychology, various social identities (such as gender, age, religion, sexuality, ethnicity) often lead people to simultaneously be exposed to multiple forms of discrimination, which can have even stronger negative effects on mental and physical health (Vines, Ward, Cordoba, & Black, 2017). For example, the amplified levels of discrimination faced by Latinx transgender women may have related effects, leading to high stress levels and poor mental and physical health outcomes.

Perceived control and the general adaptation syndrome help explain the process by which discrimination affects mental and physical health. Discrimination can be conceptualized as an uncontrollable, persistent, and unpredictable stressor. When a discriminatory event occurs, the target of the event initially experiences an acute stress response (alarm stage). This acute reaction alone does not typically have a great impact on health. However, discrimination tends to be a chronic stressor. As people in marginalized groups experience repeated discrimination, they develop a heightened reactivity as their bodies prepare to act quickly (resistance stage). This long-term accumulation of stress responses can eventually lead to increases in negative emotion and wear on physical health (exhaustion stage). This explains why a history of perceived discrimination is associated with a host of mental and physical health problems including depression, cardiovascular disease, and cancer (Pascoe & Smart Richman, 2009).

Protecting stigmatized groups from the negative impact of discrimination-induced stress may involve reducing the incidence of discriminatory behaviors in conjunction with protective strategies that reduce the impact of discriminatory events when they occur. Civil rights legislation has protected some stigmatized groups by making discrimination a prosecutable offense in many social contexts. However, some groups (e.g., transgender people) often lack important legal recourse when discrimination occurs. Moreover, most modern discrimination comes in subtle forms that fall below the radar of the law. For example, discrimination may be experienced as selective inhospitality toward people of specific races or ethnicities, but little is done in response since it would be easy to attribute the behavior to other causes. Although some cultural changes are increasingly helping people to recognize and control subtle discrimination, such shifts may take a long time.

Similar to other stressors, buffers like social support and healthy coping strategies appear to be effective in lowering the impact of perceived discrimination. For example, one study (Ajrouch, Reisine, Lim, Sohn, & Ismail, 2010) showed that discrimination predicted high psychological distress among African American mothers living in Detroit. However, the women who had readily available emotional support from friends and family experienced less distress than those with fewer social resources. While coping strategies and social support may buffer the effects of discrimination, they fail to erase all of the negative impacts. Vigilant antidiscrimination efforts, including the development of legal protections for vulnerable groups, are needed to reduce discrimination, stress, and the resulting physical and mental health effects.

Stress Reduction Techniques

Beyond having a sense of control and establishing social support networks, there are numerous other means by which we can manage stress ( Figure 14.24 ). A common technique people use to combat stress is exercise (Salmon, 2001). It is well-established that exercise, both of long (aerobic) and short (anaerobic) duration, is beneficial for both physical and mental health (Everly & Lating, 2002). There is considerable evidence that physically fit individuals are more resistant to the adverse effects of stress and recover more quickly from stress than less physically fit individuals (Cotton, 1990). In a study of more than 500 Swiss police officers and emergency service personnel, increased physical fitness was associated with reduced stress, and regular exercise was reported to protect against stress-related health problems (Gerber, Kellman, Hartman, & Pühse, 2010).

One reason exercise may be beneficial is because it might buffer some of the deleterious physiological mechanisms of stress. One study found rats that exercised for six weeks showed a decrease in hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal responsiveness to mild stressors (Campeau et al., 2010). In high-stress humans, exercise has been shown to prevent telomere shortening, which may explain the common observation of a youthful appearance among those who exercise regularly (Puterman et al., 2010). Further, exercise in later adulthood appears to minimize the detrimental effects of stress on the hippocampus and memory (Head, Singh, & Bugg, 2012). Among cancer survivors, exercise has been shown to reduce anxiety (Speck, Courneya, Masse, Duval, & Schmitz, 2010) and depressive symptoms (Craft, VanIterson, Helenowski, Rademaker, & Courneya, 2012). Clearly, exercise is a highly effective tool for regulating stress.

In the 1970s, Herbert Benson, a cardiologist, developed a stress reduction method called the relaxation response technique (Greenberg, 2006). The relaxation response technique combines relaxation with transcendental meditation , and consists of four components (Stein, 2001):

• sitting upright on a comfortable chair with feet on the ground and body in a relaxed position,
• being in a quiet environment with eyes closed,
• repeating a word or a phrase—a mantra—to oneself, such as “alert mind, calm body,”
• passively allowing the mind to focus on pleasant thoughts, such as nature or the warmth of your blood nourishing your body.

The relaxation response approach is conceptualized as a general approach to stress reduction that reduces sympathetic arousal, and it has been used effectively to treat people with high blood pressure (Benson & Proctor, 1994).

Another technique to combat stress, biofeedback , was developed by Gary Schwartz at Harvard University in the early 1970s. Biofeedback is a technique that uses electronic equipment to accurately measure a person’s neuromuscular and autonomic activity—feedback is provided in the form of visual or auditory signals. The main assumption of this approach is that providing somebody biofeedback will enable the individual to develop strategies that help gain some level of voluntary control over what are normally involuntary bodily processes (Schwartz & Schwartz, 1995). A number of different bodily measures have been used in biofeedback research, including facial muscle movement, brain activity, and skin temperature, and it has been applied successfully with individuals experiencing tension headaches, high blood pressure, asthma, and phobias (Stein, 2001).

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Coping Mechanisms: Everything You Need to Know

• Why We Use Them

Coping Styles

• How to Improve

Frequently Asked Questions

Coping mechanisms are strategies that help people deal with stress and uncomfortable emotions. Whether you realize it or not, you are using coping mechanisms regularly. These behaviors can help you cope with stress in a positive way or can sometimes be harmful.

This article discusses different coping styles, types of coping mechanisms, and ways to improve your coping skills.

Nitat Termmee / Getty Images

Why Do We Use Coping Mechanisms?

Coping mechanisms help decrease the side effects of stress. The stress response is triggered by the "flight or fight" role of your sympathetic nervous system . This causes changes in your body to help you prepare to run away from or face potential danger head-on.

Side effects of the stress response include:

• Increased heart rate
• Increased breathing
• Higher blood pressure
• Increased alertness
• Heightened senses
• Release of glucose (sugar) into your bloodstream for energy

These physiological changes are helpful when you are in a dangerous situation. However, they are also meant to be temporary.

Unfortunately, your body doesn't know the difference between actual danger and emotional stress. And chronic stress can lead to problems, such as:

• Difficulty sleeping
• Changes in appetite
• Stomach pain
• Lack of interest in activities

Active vs. Avoidant Coping

Coping mechanisms are classifiable as active or avoidant. Active coping means that you recognize the source of your stress and you are taking steps to change the situation or the way you respond to it. Avoidant coping occurs when you ignore the problem or issue that is causing you stress.

Two common ways that people cope with stress are problem-focused coping and emotion-focused coping.

Problem-Focused Coping

Problem-focused coping aims to change or eliminate the source of your stress. This type of coping works if you have some control over the situation that is causing you stress.

Examples of problem-focused strategies for specific situations could include:

Situation : You frequently fight with your partner, which causes a stressful relationship.

Possible responses :

• Seek counseling.
• Set boundaries.
• End the relationship.

Situation : Your job requires you to do presentations, but public speaking causes you stress.

• Practice in front of family or friends.
• Hire a public-speaking coach.
• Take a public-speaking course.
• Find a different job that does not require public speaking.

Situation : You are diagnosed with high blood pressure.

• Talk to your healthcare provider about medication options.
• Exercise regularly.
• Reduce your salt intake.

Emotion-Focused Coping

Unfortunately, it's impossible to avoid stress completely, particularly in situations in which you have no control over the source of your stress. Emotion-focused coping strategies can help you change the way you respond to your stress.

Examples of emotion-focused strategies for specific situations could include:

Situation : Your partner is diagnosed with cancer, causing you fear and anxiety.

• Gather information and focus on the facts.
• Join a support group.
• Journal about your feelings.

Situation : You are attending a party, but being around a group of people makes you anxious.

• Practice deep breathing.
• Arrive with a friend for social support.
• Plan topics of conversation.

Coping Mechanisms vs. Defense Mechanisms

Coping mechanisms and defense mechanisms are terms that are sometimes used interchangeably. However, coping mechanisms can be described as skills a person uses intentionally to deal with stressful situations, while defense mechanisms are often automatic (or subconscious).

Types of Coping Mechanisms

Not all coping mechanisms are helpful. In fact, some can even be harmful. Adaptive coping mechanisms are positive coping skills, while maladaptive coping mechanisms are negative coping skills.

Adaptive Coping Mechanisms

Adaptive coping mechanisms empower you to change a stressful situation or adjust your emotional response to stress.

Examples include:

• Deep breathing
• Talking with a friend
• Positive thoughts
• Taking a bath
• Reading a book
• Aromatherapy

Maladaptive Coping Mechanisms

Maladaptive coping mechanisms are negative ways of dealing with stress. Maladaptive coping commonly occurs in people who have experienced childhood trauma or abuse. Though these behaviors might temporarily distract you from your stress, they can eventually lead to physical and emotional harm.

• Drinking excessive amounts of alcohol
• Using drugs
• Anger outbursts
• Denying/ignoring the problem
• Binge eating
• Negative thoughts
• Isolating yourself

How to Improve Your Coping Skills

If you find that your coping skills need some improvement, try these tips:

• Identify your stressors : Positive coping mechanisms are most effective when you can identify the cause of your stress.
• Take note of current coping skills : Notice how you respond to your stressors and determine whether you are currently using positive or negative coping mechanisms.
• Try something new : You might need to try several different coping skills to find the one that works best for you.
• Make it a habit : Incorporate your coping skills into your daily schedule. For example, take five minutes during your workday to do some deep breathing or meditation, even if you aren't feeling stressed.
• Get some help : If you find it particularly difficult to build positive coping skills or get rid of negative ones, consider talking to a therapist .

Coping mechanisms are behaviors that aim to avoid stress or unpleasant emotions. These behaviors can be positive (adaptive) or negative (maladaptive). Problem-focused coping aims to eliminate or change the source of your stress, while emotion-focused coping helps you change the way you react to your stressors.

A Word From Verywell

Everyone experiences stress, but not everyone handles stress in a beneficial way. It can take time to unlearn negative coping mechanisms. At first, you'll need to be intentional about incorporating positive coping strategies into your daily life. With time, these responses will become more automatic.

Unhealthy coping mechanisms often distract a person from their stress. These behaviors can cause physical and emotional harm. Examples include substance abuse, self-harm, anger outbursts, and isolation.

Eating can be a coping mechanism, particularly if a person is eating to avoid feeling sad or stressed. Consuming sugar releases chemicals in your brain called neurotransmitters that make you feel good. This has an immediate but temporary effect on your mood.

You can improve your coping skills by first identifying your stressors and your current responses to these situations. Try a variety of positive coping behaviors including deep breathing, meditation, positive thoughts, and journaling. Then begin to incorporate these skills into your daily life.

Harvard Health Publishing. Understanding the stress response .

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Coping with stress .

Psychology Today. Avoidance coping .

Crowe BM, Van Puymbroeck M. Enhancing problem- and emotion-focused coping in menopausal women through yoga .  Int J Yoga Therap . 2019;29(1):57-64. doi:10.17761/2019-00020

Caga J, Zoing MC, Foxe D, et al. Problem-focused coping underlying lower caregiver burden in ALS-FTD: implications for caregiver intervention .  Amyotroph Lateral Scler Frontotemporal Degener . 2021;22(5-6):434-441. doi:10.1080/21678421.2020.1867180

Boersma K, Södermark M, Hesser H, Flink IK, Gerdle B, Linton SJ. Efficacy of a transdiagnostic emotion-focused exposure treatment for chronic pain patients with comorbid anxiety and depression: a randomized controlled trial .  Pain . 2019;160(8):1708-1718. doi:10.1097/j.pain.0000000000001575

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StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2024 Jan-.

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Coping mechanisms.

Emad B. Algorani ; Vikas Gupta .

Affiliations

Last Update: April 24, 2023 .

• Definition/Introduction

Coping is defined as the thoughts and behaviors mobilized to manage internal and external stressful situations. [1]  It is a term used distinctively for conscious and voluntary mobilization of acts, different from 'defense mechanisms' that are subconscious or unconscious adaptive responses, both of which aim to reduce or tolerate stress. [2]  

When individuals are subjected to a stressor, the varying ways of dealing with it are termed 'coping styles,' which are a set of relatively stable traits that determine the individual's behavior in response to stress. These are consistent over time and across situations. [3]  Generally, coping is divided into reactive coping (a reaction following the stressor) and proactive coping (aiming to neutralize future stressors). Proactive individuals excel in stable environments because they are more routinized, rigid, and are less reactive to stressors, while reactive individuals perform better in a more variable environment. [4]  

Coping scales measure the type of coping mechanism a person exhibits. The most commonly used scales are COPE (Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced), Ways of Coping Questionnaire, Coping Strategies Questionnaire, Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations, Religious-COPE, and Coping Response Inventory. [5]  

Coping is generally categorized into four major categories which are [1] : 

• Problem-focused, which addresses the problem causing the distress: Examples of this style include active coping, planning, restraint coping, and suppression of competing activities.
• Emotion-focused, which aims to reduce the negative emotions associated with the problem: Examples of this style include positive reframing, acceptance, turning to religion, and humor.
• Meaning-focused, in which an individual uses cognitive strategies to derive and manage the meaning of the situation
• Social coping (support-seeking) in which an individual reduces stress by seeking emotional or instrumental support from their community. 

Many of the coping mechanisms prove useful in certain situations. Some studies suggest that a problem-focused approach can be the most beneficial; other studies have consistent data that some coping mechanisms are associated with worse outcomes. [6] [1]  Maladaptive coping refers to coping mechanisms that are associated with poor mental health outcomes and higher levels of psychopathology symptoms. These include disengagement, avoidance, and emotional suppression. [7]  

The physiology behind different coping styles is related to the serotonergic and dopaminergic input of the medial prefrontal cortex and the nucleus accumbens. [4]  The neuropeptides vasopressin and oxytocin also have an important implication relative to coping styles. On the other hand, neuroendocrinology involving the level of activity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical axis, corticosteroids, and plasma catecholamines were unlikely to have a direct causal relationship with an individual's coping style. [8]  

• Issues of Concern

Patients using maladaptive coping mechanisms are more likely to engage in health-risk behaviors than those with appropriate mechanisms. They are also more non-adherent and more likely to use cigarettes or alcohol. [9]

Coping influences patients' compliance to therapy and the course of the disease by lifestyle changes. In disorders where non-medicinal treatment plays a role in the progression, coping mechanisms are important in determining the severity of such conditions. Coping styles may be helpful in patients' educational programs or psychotherapy, and paying attention to them could contribute to the prevention of sequelae. [10] [11]

The importance of coping styles does not only affect the patients alone but also their physicians and nurses. Healthcare workers are more likely to choose a problem-oriented coping mechanism while the tendency to choose avoidance decreases with age and employment duration. The incidence of burnout syndrome decreases with the use of problem-oriented coping mechanisms, social integration, and the use of religion. [12] [13]

• Clinical Significance

Understanding coping mechanisms is a cornerstone in choosing the best approach to the patient to build an effective doctor-patient relationship. The need to monitor the patient's level of distress and coping mechanisms arise because patients who adopt maladaptive mechanisms are more likely to perceive their doctors as being disengaged and less supportive. This perception is clinically significant because about one out of four cancer patients use a maladaptive coping mechanism. [14]

The relation between maladaptive coping mechanisms and numerous disorders has been established. Psychiatric disorders such as PTSD, anxiety, and major depression, and somatic symptoms were all correlated with coping styles related to avoidance. [15]  This scenario holds for other disorders such as hypertension and heart diseases, where maladaptive coping strategies were used by patients who had more severe symptoms. [16]  

• Nursing, Allied Health, and Interprofessional Team Interventions

Teaching patients and their caregivers appropriate coping skills can have a significant impact on the way they perceive their condition, the severity of the symptoms, and the psychological distress associated with it. In patients diagnosed with lung cancer, assertive communication was associated with less pain interference and psychological distress; coping skills effects extend to family caregivers who reported less psychological distress when practicing guided imagery. Other coping mechanisms as mindfulness might not be as beneficial in certain situations. [17]  [Level 2]

Physicians, psychiatrists, physical therapists, nurses, and health educators share the role of educating patients to become more responsible for their health. Interprofessional involvement can help patients cope better with the symptoms of their illnesses. Coping skills training programs didn't prove to be effective in reducing pain severity among knee osteoarthritis patients. They did not confer pain or functional benefit beyond that with surgical and postoperative care, but combining both physical exercises and coping skills training with treatment had a more significant improvement. [18] [19] [20]  [Level 1, Level 2]

• Nursing, Allied Health, and Interprofessional Team Monitoring

Understanding the coping styles is central to support the patient's coping efforts. Talking with the medical staff to seek information and social support was the most popular coping strategy in anxious surgical patients. Monitoring patients' coping strategies using various coping scales (e.g., COPE, Ways of Coping Questionnaire, Coping Strategies Questionnaire) can help in evaluating the patient's psychological status and continued improvement. [21]

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Disclosure: Emad Algorani declares no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies.

Disclosure: Vikas Gupta declares no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies.

This book is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ ), which permits others to distribute the work, provided that the article is not altered or used commercially. You are not required to obtain permission to distribute this article, provided that you credit the author and journal.

• Cite this Page Algorani EB, Gupta V. Coping Mechanisms. [Updated 2023 Apr 24]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2024 Jan-.

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• Review Coping: pitfalls and promise. [Annu Rev Psychol. 2004] Review Coping: pitfalls and promise. Folkman S, Moskowitz JT. Annu Rev Psychol. 2004; 55:745-74.
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• [Multidimensional assessment of coping: validation of the Brief COPE among French population]. [Encephale. 2003] [Multidimensional assessment of coping: validation of the Brief COPE among French population]. Muller L, Spitz E. Encephale. 2003 Nov-Dec; 29(6):507-18.
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A coping strategy differentiated from others by the presence of ideas designed to decrease or eliminate stressors by generating solutions to a specific problem at hand. Such actions may be directed at the environment or the self. This strategy is also referred to as primary coping

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Article contents

Work, stress, coping, and stress management.

• Sharon Glazer Sharon Glazer University of Baltimore
•  and  Cong Liu Cong Liu Hofstra University
• https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190236557.013.30
• Published online: 26 April 2017

Work stress refers to the process of job stressors, or stimuli in the workplace, leading to strains, or negative responses or reactions. Organizational development refers to a process in which problems or opportunities in the work environment are identified, plans are made to remediate or capitalize on the stimuli, action is taken, and subsequently the results of the plans and actions are evaluated. When organizational development strategies are used to assess work stress in the workplace, the actions employed are various stress management interventions. Two key factors tying work stress and organizational development are the role of the person and the role of the environment. In order to cope with work-related stressors and manage strains, organizations must be able to identify and differentiate between factors in the environment that are potential sources of stressors and how individuals perceive those factors. Primary stress management interventions focus on preventing stressors from even presenting, such as by clearly articulating workers’ roles and providing necessary resources for employees to perform their job. Secondary stress management interventions focus on a person’s appraisal of job stressors as a threat or challenge, and the person’s ability to cope with the stressors (presuming sufficient internal resources, such as a sense of meaningfulness in life, or external resources, such as social support from a supervisor). When coping is not successful, strains may develop. Tertiary stress management interventions attempt to remediate strains, by addressing the consequence itself (e.g., diabetes management) and/or the source of the strain (e.g., reducing workload). The person and/or the organization may be the targets of the intervention. The ultimate goal of stress management interventions is to minimize problems in the work environment, intensify aspects of the work environment that create a sense of a quality work context, enable people to cope with stressors that might arise, and provide tools for employees and organizations to manage strains that might develop despite all best efforts to create a healthy workplace.

• stress management
• organization development
• organizational interventions
• stress theories and frameworks

Introduction

Work stress is a generic term that refers to work-related stimuli (aka job stressors) that may lead to physical, behavioral, or psychological consequences (i.e., strains) that affect both the health and well-being of the employee and the organization. Not all stressors lead to strains, but all strains are a result of stressors, actual or perceived. Common terms often used interchangeably with work stress are occupational stress, job stress, and work-related stress. Terms used interchangeably with job stressors include work stressors, and as the specificity of the type of stressor might include psychosocial stressor (referring to the psychological experience of work demands that have a social component, e.g., conflict between two people; Hauke, Flintrop, Brun, & Rugulies, 2011 ), hindrance stressor (i.e., a stressor that prevents goal attainment; Cavanaugh, Boswell, Roehling, & Boudreau, 2000 ), and challenge stressor (i.e., a stressor that is difficult, but attainable and possibly rewarding to attain; Cavanaugh et al., 2000 ).

Stress in the workplace continues to be a highly pervasive problem, having both direct negative effects on individuals experiencing it and companies paying for it, and indirect costs vis à vis lost productivity (Dopkeen & DuBois, 2014 ). For example, U.K. public civil servants’ work-related stress rose from 10.8% in 2006 to 22.4% in 2013 and about one-third of the workforce has taken more than 20 days of leave due to stress-related ill-health, while well over 50% are present at work when ill (French, 2015 ). These findings are consistent with a report by the International Labor Organization (ILO, 2012 ), whereby 50% to 60% of all workdays are lost due to absence attributed to factors associated with work stress.

The prevalence of work-related stress is not diminishing despite improvements in technology and employment rates. The sources of stress, such as workload, seem to exacerbate with improvements in technology (Coovert & Thompson, 2003 ). Moreover, accessibility through mobile technology and virtual computer terminals is linking people to their work more than ever before (ILO, 2012 ; Tarafdar, Tu, Ragu-Nathan, & Ragu-Nathan, 2007 ). Evidence of this kind of mobility and flexibility is further reinforced in a June 2007 survey of 4,025 email users (over 13 years of age); AOL reported that four in ten survey respondents reported planning their vacations around email accessibility and 83% checked their emails at least once a day while away (McMahon, 2007 ). Ironically, despite these mounting work-related stressors and clear financial and performance outcomes, some individuals are reporting they are less “stressed,” but only because “stress has become the new normal” (Jayson, 2012 , para. 4).

This new normal is likely the source of psychological and physiological illness. Siegrist ( 2010 ) contends that conditions in the workplace, particularly psychosocial stressors that are perceived as unfavorable relationships with others and self, and an increasingly sedentary lifestyle (reinforced with desk jobs) are increasingly contributing to cardiovascular disease. These factors together justify a need to continue on the path of helping individuals recognize and cope with deleterious stressors in the work environment and, equally important, to find ways to help organizations prevent harmful stressors over which they have control, as well as implement policies or mechanisms to help employees deal with these stressors and subsequent strains. Along with a greater focus on mitigating environmental constraints are interventions that can be used to prevent anxiety, poor attitudes toward the workplace conditions and arrangements, and subsequent cardiovascular illness, absenteeism, and poor job performance (Siegrist, 2010 ).

Even the ILO has presented guidance on how the workplace can help prevent harmful job stressors (aka hindrance stressors) or at least help workers cope with them. Consistent with the view that well-being is not the absence of stressors or strains and with the view that positive psychology offers a lens for proactively preventing stressors, the ILO promotes increasing preventative risk assessments, interventions to prevent and control stressors, transparent organizational communication, worker involvement in decision-making, networks and mechanisms for workplace social support, awareness of how working and living conditions interact, safety, health, and well-being in the organization (ILO, n.d. ). The field of industrial and organizational (IO) psychology supports the ILO’s recommendations.

IO psychology views work stress as the process of a person’s interaction with multiple aspects of the work environment, job design, and work conditions in the organization. Interventions to manage work stress, therefore, focus on the psychosocial factors of the person and his or her relationships with others and the socio-technical factors related to the work environment and work processes. Viewing work stress from the lens of the person and the environment stems from Kurt Lewin’s ( 1936 ) work that stipulates a person’s state of mental health and behaviors are a function of the person within a specific environment or situation. Aspects of the work environment that affect individuals’ mental states and behaviors include organizational hierarchy, organizational climate (including processes, policies, practices, and reward structures), resources to support a person’s ability to fulfill job duties, and management structure (including leadership). Job design refers to each contributor’s tasks and responsibilities for fulfilling goals associated with the work role. Finally, working conditions refers not only to the physical environment, but also the interpersonal relationships with other contributors.

Each of the conditions that are identified in the work environment may be perceived as potentially harmful or a threat to the person or as an opportunity. When a stressor is perceived as a threat to attaining desired goals or outcomes, the stressor may be labeled as a hindrance stressor (e.g., LePine, Podsakoff, & Lepine, 2005 ). When the stressor is perceived as an opportunity to attain a desired goal or end state, it may be labeled as a challenge stressor. According to LePine and colleagues’ ( 2005 ), both challenge (e.g., time urgency, workload) and hindrance (e.g., hassles, role ambiguity, role conflict) stressors could lead to strains (as measured by “anxiety, depersonalization, depression, emotional exhaustion, frustration, health complaints, hostility, illness, physical symptoms, and tension” [p. 767]). However, challenge stressors positively relate with motivation and performance, whereas hindrance stressors negatively relate with motivation and performance. Moreover, motivation and strains partially mediate the relationship between hindrance and challenge stressors with performance.

Figure 1. Organizational development frameworks to guide identification of work stress and interventions.

In order to (1) minimize any potential negative effects from stressors, (2) increase coping skills to deal with stressors, or (3) manage strains, organizational practitioners or consultants will devise organizational interventions geared toward prevention, coping, and/or stress management. Ultimately, toxic factors in the work environment can have deleterious effects on a person’s physical and psychological well-being, as well as on an organization’s total health. It behooves management to take stock of the organization’s health, which includes the health and well-being of its employees, if the organization wishes to thrive and be profitable. According to Page and Vella-Brodrick’s ( 2009 ) model of employee well-being, employee well-being results from subjective well-being (i.e., life satisfaction and general positive or negative affect), workplace well-being (composed of job satisfaction and work-specific positive or negative affect), and psychological well-being (e.g., self-acceptance, positive social relations, mastery, purpose in life). Job stressors that become unbearable are likely to negatively affect workplace well-being and thus overall employee well-being. Because work stress is a major organizational pain point and organizations often employ organizational consultants to help identify and remediate pain points, the focus here is on organizational development (OD) frameworks; several work stress frameworks are presented that together signal areas where organizations might focus efforts for change in employee behaviors, attitudes, and performance, as well as the organization’s performance and climate. Work stress, interventions, and several OD and stress frameworks are depicted in Figure 1 .

The goals are: (1) to conceptually define and clarify terms associated with stress and stress management, particularly focusing on organizational factors that contribute to stress and stress management, and (2) to present research that informs current knowledge and practices on workplace stress management strategies. Stressors and strains will be defined, leading OD and work stress frameworks that are used to organize and help organizations make sense of the work environment and the organization’s responsibility in stress management will be explored, and stress management will be explained as an overarching thematic label; an area of study and practice that focuses on prevention (primary) interventions, coping (secondary) interventions, and managing strains (tertiary) interventions; as well as the label typically used to denote tertiary interventions. Suggestions for future research and implications toward becoming a healthy organization are presented.

Defining Stressors and Strains

Work-related stressors or job stressors can lead to different kinds of strains individuals and organizations might experience. Various types of stress management interventions, guided by OD and work stress frameworks, may be employed to prevent or cope with job stressors and manage strains that develop(ed).

A job stressor is a stimulus external to an employee and a result of an employee’s work conditions. Example job stressors include organizational constraints, workplace mistreatments (such as abusive supervision, workplace ostracism, incivility, bullying), role stressors, workload, work-family conflicts, errors or mistakes, examinations and evaluations, and lack of structure (Jex & Beehr, 1991 ; Liu, Spector, & Shi, 2007 ; Narayanan, Menon, & Spector, 1999 ). Although stressors may be categorized as hindrances and challenges, there is not yet sufficient information to be able to propose which stress management interventions would better serve to reduce those hindrance stressors or to reduce strain-producing challenge stressors while reinforcing engagement-producing challenge stressors.

Organizational Constraints

Organizational constraints may be hindrance stressors as they prevent employees from translating their motivation and ability into high-level job performance (Peters & O’Connor, 1980 ). Peters and O’Connor ( 1988 ) defined 11 categories of organizational constraints: (1) job-related information, (2) budgetary support, (3) required support, (4) materials and supplies, (5) required services and help from others, (6) task preparation, (7) time availability, (8) the work environment, (9) scheduling of activities, (10) transportation, and (11) job-relevant authority. The inhibiting effect of organizational constraints may be due to the lack of, inadequacy of, or poor quality of these categories.

Workplace Mistreatment

Workplace mistreatment presents a cluster of interpersonal variables, such as interpersonal conflict, bullying, incivility, and workplace ostracism (Hershcovis, 2011 ; Tepper & Henle, 2011 ). Typical workplace mistreatment behaviors include gossiping, rude comments, showing favoritism, yelling, lying, and ignoring other people at work (Tepper & Henle, 2011 ). These variables relate to employees’ psychological well-being, physical well-being, work attitudes (e.g., job satisfaction and organizational commitment), and turnover intention (e.g., Hershcovis, 2011 ; Spector & Jex, 1998 ). Some researchers differentiated the source of mistreatment, such as mistreatment from one’s supervisor versus mistreatment from one’s coworker (e.g., Bruk-Lee & Spector, 2006 ; Frone, 2000 ; Liu, Liu, Spector, & Shi, 2011 ).

Role Stressors

Role stressors are demands, constraints, or opportunities a person perceives to be associated, and thus expected, with his or her work role(s) across various situations. Three commonly studied role stressors are role ambiguity, role conflict, and role overload (Glazer & Beehr, 2005 ; Kahn, Wolfe, Quinn, Snoek, & Rosenthal, 1964 ). Role ambiguity in the workplace occurs when an employee lacks clarity regarding what performance-related behaviors are expected of him or her. Role conflict refers to situations wherein an employee receives incompatible role requests from the same or different supervisors or the employee is asked to engage in work that impedes his or her performance in other work or nonwork roles or clashes with his or her values. Role overload refers to excessive demands and insufficient time (quantitative) or knowledge (qualitative) to complete the work. The construct is often used interchangeably with workload, though role overload focuses more on perceived expectations from others about one’s workload. These role stressors significantly relate to low job satisfaction, low organizational commitment, low job performance, high tension or anxiety, and high turnover intention (Abramis, 1994 ; Glazer & Beehr, 2005 ; Jackson & Schuler, 1985 ).

Excessive workload is one of the most salient stressors at work (e.g., Liu et al., 2007 ). There are two types of workload: quantitative and qualitative workload (LaRocco, Tetrick, & Meder, 1989 ; Parasuraman & Purohit, 2000 ). Quantitative workload refers to the excessive amount of work one has. In a summary of a Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development Report from 2006 , Dewe and Kompier ( 2008 ) noted that quantitative workload was one of the top three stressors workers experienced at work. Qualitative workload refers to the difficulty of work. Workload also differs by the type of the load. There are mental workload and physical workload (Dwyer & Ganster, 1991 ). Excessive physical workload may result in physical discomfort or illness. Excessive mental workload will cause psychological distress such as anxiety or frustration (Bowling & Kirkendall, 2012 ). Another factor affecting quantitative workload is interruptions (during the workday). Lin, Kain, and Fritz ( 2013 ) found that interruptions delay completion of job tasks, thus adding to the perception of workload.

Work-Family Conflict

Work-family conflict is a form of inter-role conflict in which demands from one’s work domain and one’s family domain are incompatible to some extent (Greenhaus & Beutell, 1985 ). Work can interfere with family (WIF) and/or family can interfere with work (FIW) due to time-related commitments to participating in one domain or another, incompatible behavioral expectations, or when strains in one domain carry over to the other (Greenhaus & Beutell, 1985 ). Work-family conflict significantly relates to work-related outcomes (e.g., job satisfaction, organizational commitment, turnover intention, burnout, absenteeism, job performance, job strains, career satisfaction, and organizational citizenship behaviors), family-related outcomes (e.g., marital satisfaction, family satisfaction, family-related performance, family-related strains), and domain-unspecific outcomes (e.g., life satisfaction, psychological strain, somatic or physical symptoms, depression, substance use or abuse, and anxiety; Amstad, Meier, Fasel, Elfering, & Semmer, 2011 ).

Individuals and organizations can experience work-related strains. Sometimes organizations will experience strains through the employee’s negative attitudes or strains, such as that a worker’s absence might yield lower production rates, which would roll up into an organizational metric of organizational performance. In the industrial and organizational (IO) psychology literature, organizational strains are mostly observed as macro-level indicators, such as health insurance costs, accident-free days, and pervasive problems with company morale. In contrast, individual strains, usually referred to as job strains, are internal to an employee. They are responses to work conditions and relate to health and well-being of employees. In other words, “job strains are adverse reactions employees have to job stressors” (Spector, Chen, & O’Connell, 2000 , p. 211). Job strains tend to fall into three categories: behavioral, physical, and psychological (Jex & Beehr, 1991 ).

Behavioral strains consist of actions that employees take in response to job stressors. Examples of behavioral strains include employees drinking alcohol in the workplace or intentionally calling in sick when they are not ill (Spector et al., 2000 ). Physical strains consist of health symptoms that are physiological in nature that employees contract in response to job stressors. Headaches and ulcers are examples of physical strains. Lastly, psychological strains are emotional reactions and attitudes that employees have in response to job stressors. Examples of psychological strains are job dissatisfaction, anxiety, and frustration (Spector et al., 2000 ). Interestingly, research studies that utilize self-report measures find that most job strains experienced by employees tend to be psychological strains (Spector et al., 2000 ).

Leading Frameworks

Organizations that are keen on identifying organizational pain points and remedying them through organizational campaigns or initiatives often discover the pain points are rooted in work-related stressors and strains and the initiatives have to focus on reducing workers’ stress and increasing a company’s profitability. Through organizational climate surveys, for example, companies discover that aspects of the organization’s environment, including its policies, practices, reward structures, procedures, and processes, as well as employees at all levels of the company, are contributing to the individual and organizational stress. Recent studies have even begun to examine team climates for eustress and distress assessed in terms of team members’ homogenous psychological experience of vigor, efficacy, dedication, and cynicism (e.g., Kożusznik, Rodriguez, & Peiro, 2015 ).

Each of the frameworks presented advances different aspects that need to be identified in order to understand the source and potential remedy for stressors and strains. In some models, the focus is on resources, in others on the interaction of the person and environment, and in still others on the role of the person in the workplace. Few frameworks directly examine the role of the organization, but the organization could use these frameworks to plan interventions that would minimize stressors, cope with existing stressors, and prevent and/or manage strains. One of the leading frameworks in work stress research that is used to guide organizational interventions is the person and environment (P-E) fit (French & Caplan, 1972 ). Its precursor is the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research’s (ISR) role stress model (Kahn, Wolfe, Quinn, Snoek, & Rosenthal, 1964 ) and Lewin’s Field Theory. Several other theories have since evolved from the P-E fit framework, including Karasek and Theorell’s ( 1990 ), Karasek ( 1979 ) Job Demands-Control Model (JD-C), the transactional framework (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984 ), Conservation of Resources (COR) theory (Hobfoll, 1989 ), and Siegrist’s ( 1996 ) Effort-Reward Imbalance (ERI) Model.

Field Theory

The premise of Kahn et al.’s ( 1964 ) role stress theory is Lewin’s ( 1997 ) Field Theory. Lewin purported that behavior and mental events are a dynamic function of the whole person, including a person’s beliefs, values, abilities, needs, thoughts, and feelings, within a given situation (field or environment), as well as the way a person represents his or her understanding of the field and behaves in that space. Lewin explains that work-related strains are a result of individuals’ subjective perceptions of objective factors, such as work roles, relationships with others in the workplace, as well as personality indicators, and can be used to predict people’s reactions, including illness. Thus, to make changes to an organizational system, it is necessary to understand a field and try to move that field from the current state to the desired state. Making this move necessitates identifying mechanisms influencing individuals.

Role Stress Theory

Role stress theory mostly isolates the perspective a person has about his or her work-related responsibilities and expectations to determine how those perceptions relate with a person’s work-related strains. However, those relationships have been met with somewhat varied results, which Glazer and Beehr ( 2005 ) concluded might be a function of differences in culture, an environmental factor often neglected in research. Kahn et al.’s ( 1964 ) role stress theory, coupled with Lewin’s ( 1936 ) Field Theory, serves as the foundation for the P-E fit theory. Lewin ( 1936 ) wrote, “Every psychological event depends upon the state of the person and at the same time on the environment” (p. 12). Researchers of IO psychology have narrowed the environment to the organization or work team. This narrowed view of the organizational environment is evident in French and Caplan’s ( 1972 ) P-E fit framework.

Person-Environment Fit Theory

The P-E fit framework focuses on the extent to which there is congruence between the person and a given environment, such as the organization (Caplan, 1987 ; Edwards, 2008 ). For example, does the person have the necessary skills and abilities to fulfill an organization’s demands, or does the environment support a person’s desire for autonomy (i.e., do the values align?) or fulfill a person’s needs (i.e., a person’s needs are rewarded). Theoretically and empirically, the greater the person-organization fit, the greater a person’s job satisfaction and organizational commitment, the less a person’s turnover intention and work-related stress (see meta-analyses by Assouline & Meir, 1987 ; Kristof-Brown, Zimmerman, & Johnson, 2005 ; Verquer, Beehr, & Wagner, 2003 ).

Job Demands-Control/Support (JD-C/S) and Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) Model

Focusing more closely on concrete aspects of work demands and the extent to which a person perceives he or she has control or decision latitude over those demands, Karasek ( 1979 ) developed the JD-C model. Karasek and Theorell ( 1990 ) posited that high job demands under conditions of little decision latitude or control yield high strains, which have varied implications on the health of an organization (e.g., in terms of high turnover, employee ill-health, poor organizational performance). This theory was modified slightly to address not only control, but also other resources that could protect a person from unruly job demands, including support (aka JD-C/S, Johnson & Hall, 1988 ; and JD-R, Bakker, van Veldhoven, & Xanthopoulou, 2010 ). Whether focusing on control or resources, both they and job demands are said to reflect workplace characteristics, while control and resources also represent coping strategies or tools (Siegrist, 2010 ).

Despite the glut of research testing the JD-C and JD-R, results are somewhat mixed. Testing the interaction between job demands and control, Beehr, Glaser, Canali, and Wallwey ( 2001 ) did not find empirical support for the JD-C theory. However, Dawson, O’Brien, and Beehr ( 2016 ) found that high control and high support buffered against the independent deleterious effects of interpersonal conflict, role conflict, and organizational politics (demands that were categorized as hindrance stressors) on anxiety, as well as the effects of interpersonal conflict and organizational politics on physiological symptoms, but control and support did not moderate the effects between challenge stressors and strains. Coupled with Bakker, Demerouti, and Sanz-Vergel’s ( 2014 ) note that excessive job demands are a source of strain, but increased job resources are a source of engagement, Dawson et al.’s results suggest that when an organization identifies that demands are hindrances, it can create strategies for primary (preventative) stress management interventions and attempt to remove or reduce such work demands. If the demands are challenging, though manageable, but latitude to control the challenging stressors and support are insufficient, the organization could modify practices and train employees on adopting better strategies for meeting or coping (secondary stress management intervention) with the demands. Finally, if the organization can neither afford to modify the demands or the level of control and support, it will be necessary for the organization to develop stress management (tertiary) interventions to deal with the inevitable strains.

Conservation of Resources Theory

The idea that job resources reinforce engagement in work has been propagated in Hobfoll’s ( 1989 ) Conservation of Resources (COR) theory. COR theory also draws on the foundational premise that people’s mental health is a function of the person and the environment, forwarding that how people interpret their environment (including the societal context) affects their stress levels. Hobfoll focuses on resources such as objects, personal characteristics, conditions, or energies as particularly instrumental to minimizing strains. He asserts that people do whatever they can to protect their valued resources. Thus, strains develop when resources are threatened to be taken away, actually taken away, or when additional resources are not attainable after investing in the possibility of gaining more resources (Hobfoll, 2001 ). By extension, organizations can invest in activities that would minimize resource loss and create opportunities for resource gains and thus have direct implications for devising primary and secondary stress management interventions.

Transactional Framework

Lazarus and Folkman ( 1984 ) developed the widely studied transactional framework of stress. This framework holds as a key component the cognitive appraisal process. When individuals perceive factors in the work environment as a threat (i.e., primary appraisal), they will scan the available resources (external or internal to himself or herself) to cope with the stressors (i.e., secondary appraisal). If the coping resources provide minimal relief, strains develop. Until recently, little attention has been given to the cognitive appraisal associated with different work stressors (Dewe & Kompier, 2008 ; Liu & Li, 2017 ). In a study of Polish and Spanish social care service providers, stressors appraised as a threat related positively to burnout and less engagement, but stressors perceived as challenges yielded greater engagement and less burnout (Kożusznik, Rodriguez, & Peiro, 2012 ). Similarly, Dawson et al. ( 2016 ) found that even with support and control resources, hindrance demands were more strain-producing than challenge demands, suggesting that appraisal of the stressor is important. In fact, “many people respond well to challenging work” (Beehr et al., 2001 , p. 126). Kożusznik et al. ( 2012 ) recommend training employees to change the way they view work demands in order to increase engagement, considering that part of the problem may be about how the person appraises his or her environment and, thus, copes with the stressors.

Effort-Reward Imbalance

Siegrist’s ( 1996 ) Model of Effort-Reward Imbalance (ERI) focuses on the notion of social reciprocity, such that a person fulfills required work tasks in exchange for desired rewards (Siegrist, 2010 ). ERI sheds light on how an imbalance in a person’s expectations of an organization’s rewards (e.g., pay, bonus, sense of advancement and development, job security) in exchange for a person’s efforts, that is a break in one’s work contract, leads to negative responses, including long-term ill-health (Siegrist, 2010 ; Siegrist et al., 2014 ). In fact, prolonged perception of a work contract imbalance leads to adverse health, including immunological problems and inflammation, which contribute to cardiovascular disease (Siegrist, 2010 ). The model resembles the relational and interactional psychological contract theory in that it describes an employee’s perception of the terms of the relationship between the person and the workplace, including expectations of performance, job security, training and development opportunities, career progression, salary, and bonuses (Thomas, Au, & Ravlin, 2003 ). The psychological contract, like the ERI model, focuses on social exchange. Furthermore, the psychological contract, like stress theories, are influenced by cultural factors that shape how people interpret their environments (Glazer, 2008 ; Thomas et al., 2003 ). Violations of the psychological contract will negatively affect a person’s attitudes toward the workplace and subsequent health and well-being (Siegrist, 2010 ). To remediate strain, Siegrist ( 2010 ) focuses on both the person and the environment, recognizing that the organization is particularly responsible for changing unfavorable work conditions and the person is responsible for modifying his or her reactions to such conditions.

Stress Management Interventions: Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary

Remediation of work stress and organizational development interventions are about realigning the employee’s experiences in the workplace with factors in the environment, as well as closing the gap between the current environment and the desired environment. Work stress develops when an employee perceives the work demands to exceed the person’s resources to cope and thus threatens employee well-being (Dewe & Kompier, 2008 ). Likewise, an organization’s need to change arises when forces in the environment are creating a need to change in order to survive (see Figure 1 ). Lewin’s ( 1951 ) Force Field Analysis, the foundations of which are in Field Theory, is one of the first organizational development intervention tools presented in the social science literature. The concept behind Force Field Analysis is that in order to survive, organizations must adapt to environmental forces driving a need for organizational change and remove restraining forces that create obstacles to organizational change. In order to do this, management needs to delineate the current field in which the organization is functioning, understand the driving forces for change, identify and dampen or eliminate the restraining forces against change. Several models for analyses may be applied, but most approaches are variations of organizational climate surveys.

Through organizational surveys, workers provide management with a snapshot view of how they perceive aspects of their work environment. Thus, the view of the health of an organization is a function of several factors, chief among them employees’ views (i.e., the climate) about the workplace (Lewin, 1951 ). Indeed, French and Kahn ( 1962 ) posited that well-being depends on the extent to which properties of the person and properties of the environment align in terms of what a person requires and the resources available in a given environment. Therefore, only when properties of the person and properties of the environment are sufficiently understood can plans for change be developed and implemented targeting the environment (e.g., change reporting structures to relieve, and thus prevent future, communication stressors) and/or the person (e.g., providing more autonomy, vacation days, training on new technology). In short, climate survey findings can guide consultants about the emphasis for organizational interventions: before a problem arises aka stress prevention, e.g., carefully crafting job roles), when a problem is present, but steps are taken to mitigate their consequences (aka coping, e.g., providing social support groups), and/or once strains develop (aka. stress management, e.g., healthcare management policies).

For each of the primary (prevention), secondary (coping), and tertiary (stress management) techniques the target for intervention can be the entire workforce, a subset of the workforce, or a specific person. Interventions that target the entire workforce may be considered organizational interventions, as they have direct implications on the health of all individuals and consequently the health of the organization. Several interventions categorized as primary and secondary interventions may also be implemented after strains have developed and after it has been discerned that a person or the organization did not do enough to mitigate stressors or strains (see Figure 1 ). The designation of many of the interventions as belonging to one category or another may be viewed as merely a suggestion.

Primary Interventions (Preventative Stress Management)

Before individuals begin to perceive work-related stressors, organizations engage in stress prevention strategies, such as providing people with resources (e.g., computers, printers, desk space, information about the job role, organizational reporting structures) to do their jobs. However, sometimes the institutional structures and resources are insufficient or ambiguous. Scholars and practitioners have identified several preventative stress management strategies that may be implemented.

Planning and Time Management

When employees feel quantitatively overloaded, sometimes the remedy is improving the employees’ abilities to plan and manage their time (Quick, Quick, Nelson, & Hurrell, 2003 ). Planning is a future-oriented activity that focuses on conceptual and comprehensive work goals. Time management is a behavior that focuses on organizing, prioritizing, and scheduling work activities to achieve short-term goals. Given the purpose of time management, it is considered a primary intervention, as engaging in time management helps to prevent work tasks from mounting and becoming unmanageable, which would subsequently lead to adverse outcomes. Time management comprises three fundamental components: (1) establishing goals, (2) identifying and prioritizing tasks to fulfill the goals, and (3) scheduling and monitoring progress toward goal achievement (Peeters & Rutte, 2005 ). Workers who employ time management have less role ambiguity (Macan, Shahani, Dipboye, & Philips, 1990 ), psychological stress or strain (Adams & Jex, 1999 ; Jex & Elaqua, 1999 ; Macan et al., 1990 ), and greater job satisfaction (Macan, 1994 ). However, Macan ( 1994 ) did not find a relationship between time management and performance. Still, Claessens, van Eerde, Rutte, and Roe ( 2004 ) found that perceived control of time partially mediated the relationships between planning behavior (an indicator of time management), job autonomy, and workload on one hand, and job strains, job satisfaction, and job performance on the other hand. Moreover, Peeters and Rutte ( 2005 ) observed that teachers with high work demands and low autonomy experienced more burnout when they had poor time management skills.

Person-Organization Fit

Just as it is important for organizations to find the right person for the job and organization, so is it the responsibility of a person to choose to work at the right organization—an organization that fulfills the person’s needs and upholds the values important to the individual, as much as the person fulfills the organization’s needs and adapts to its values. When people fit their employing organizations they are setting themselves up for experiencing less strain-producing stressors (Kristof-Brown et al., 2005 ). In a meta-analysis of 62 person-job fit studies and 110 person-organization fit studies, Kristof-Brown et al. ( 2005 ) found that person-job fit had a negative correlation with indicators of job strain. In fact, a primary intervention of career counseling can help to reduce stress levels (Firth-Cozens, 2003 ).

Job Redesign

The Job Demands-Control/Support (JD-C/S), Job Demands-Resources (JD-R), and transactional models all suggest that factors in the work context require modifications in order to reduce potential ill-health and poor organizational performance. Drawing on Hackman and Oldham’s ( 1980 ) Job Characteristics Model, it is possible to assess with the Job Diagnostics Survey (JDS) the current state of work characteristics related to skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback. Modifying those aspects would help create a sense of meaningfulness, sense of responsibility, and feeling of knowing how one is performing, which subsequently affects a person’s well-being as identified in assessments of motivation, satisfaction, improved performance, and reduced withdrawal intentions and behaviors. Extending this argument to the stress models, it can be deduced that reducing uncertainty or perceived unfairness that may be associated with a person’s perception of these work characteristics, as well as making changes to physical characteristics of the environment (e.g., lighting, seating, desk, air quality), nature of work (e.g., job responsibilities, roles, decision-making latitude), and organizational arrangements (e.g., reporting structure and feedback mechanisms), can help mitigate against numerous ill-health consequences and reduced organizational performance. In fact, Fried et al. ( 2013 ) showed that healthy patients of a medical clinic whose jobs were excessively low (i.e., monotonous) or excessively high (i.e., overstimulating) on job enrichment (as measured by the JDS) had greater abdominal obesity than those whose jobs were optimally enriched. By taking stock of employees’ perceptions of the current work situation, managers might think about ways to enhance employees’ coping toolkit, such as training on how to deal with difficult clients or creating stimulating opportunities when jobs have low levels of enrichment.

Participatory Action Research Interventions

Participatory action research (PAR) is an intervention wherein, through group discussions, employees help to identify and define problems in organizational structure, processes, policies, practices, and reward structures, as well as help to design, implement, and evaluate success of solutions. PAR is in itself an intervention, but its goal is to design interventions to eliminate or reduce work-related factors that are impeding performance and causing people to be unwell. An example of a successful primary intervention, utilizing principles of PAR and driven by the JD-C and JD-C/S stress frameworks is Health Circles (HCs; Aust & Ducki, 2004 ).

HCs, developed in Germany in the 1980s, were popular practices in industries, such as metal, steel, and chemical, and service. Similar to other problem-solving practices, such as quality circles, HCs were based on the assumptions that employees are the experts of their jobs. For this reason, to promote employee well-being, management and administrators solicited suggestions and ideas from the employees to improve occupational health, thereby increasing employees’ job control. HCs also promoted communication between managers and employees, which had a potential to increase social support. With more control and support, employees would experience less strains and better occupational well-being.

Employing the three-steps of (1) problem analysis (i.e., diagnosis or discovery through data generated from organizational records of absenteeism length, frequency, rate, and reason and employee survey), (2) HC meetings (6 to 10 meetings held over several months to brainstorm ideas to improve occupational safety and health concerns identified in the discovery phase), and (3) HC evaluation (to determine if desired changes were accomplished and if employees’ reports of stressors and strains changed after the course of 15 months), improvements were to be expected (Aust & Ducki, 2004 ). Aust and Ducki ( 2004 ) reviewed 11 studies presenting 81 health circles in 30 different organizations. Overall study participants had high satisfaction with the HCs practices. Most companies acted upon employees’ suggestions (e.g., improving driver’s seat and cab, reducing ticket sale during drive, team restructuring and job rotation to facilitate communication, hiring more employees during summer time, and supervisor training program to improve leadership and communication skills) to improve work conditions. Thus, HCs represent a successful theory-grounded intervention to routinely improve employees’ occupational health.

Physical Setting

The physical environment or physical workspace has an enormous impact on individuals’ well-being, attitudes, and interactions with others, as well as on the implications on innovation and well-being (Oksanen & Ståhle, 2013 ; Vischer, 2007 ). In a study of 74 new product development teams (total of 437 study respondents) in Western Europe, Chong, van Eerde, Rutte, and Chai ( 2012 ) found that when teams were faced with challenge time pressures, meaning the teams had a strong interest and desire in tackling complex, but engaging tasks, when they were working proximally close with one another, team communication improved. Chong et al. assert that their finding aligns with prior studies that have shown that physical proximity promotes increased awareness of other team members, greater tendency to initiate conversations, and greater team identification. However, they also found that when faced with hindrance time pressures, physical proximity related to low levels of team communication, but when hindrance time pressure was low, team proximity had an increasingly greater positive relationship with team communication.

In addition to considering the type of work demand teams must address, other physical workspace considerations include whether people need to work collaboratively and synchronously or independently and remotely (or a combination thereof). Consideration needs to be given to how company contributors would satisfy client needs through various modes of communication, such as email vs. telephone, and whether individuals who work by a window might need shading to block bright sunlight from glaring on their computer screens. Finally, people who have to use the telephone for extensive periods of time would benefit from earphones to prevent neck strains. Most physical stressors are rather simple to rectify. However, companies are often not aware of a problem until after a problem arises, such as when a person’s back is strained from trying to move heavy equipment. Companies then implement strategies to remediate the environmental stressor. With the help of human factors, and organizational and office design consultants, many of the physical barriers to optimal performance can be prevented (Rousseau & Aubé, 2010 ). In a study of 215 French-speaking Canadian healthcare employees, Rousseau and Aubé ( 2010 ) found that although supervisor instrumental support positively related with affective commitment to the organization, the relationship was even stronger for those who reported satisfaction with the ambient environment (i.e., temperature, lighting, sound, ventilation, and cleanliness).

Secondary Interventions (Coping)

Secondary interventions, also referred to as coping, focus on resources people can use to mitigate the risk of work-related illness or workplace injury. Resources may include properties related to social resources, behaviors, and cognitive structures. Each of these resource domains may be employed to cope with stressors. Monat and Lazarus ( 1991 ) summarize the definition of coping as “an individual’s efforts to master demands (or conditions of harm, threat, or challenge) that are appraised (or perceived) as exceeding or taxing his or her resources” (p. 5). To master demands requires use of the aforementioned resources. Secondary interventions help employees become aware of the psychological, physical, and behavioral responses that may occur from the stressors presented in their working environment. Secondary interventions help a person detect and attend to stressors and identify resources for and ways of mitigating job strains. Often, coping strategies are learned skills that have a cognitive foundation and serve important functions in improving people’s management of stressors (Lazarus & Folkman, 1991 ). Coping is effortful, but with practice it becomes easier to employ. This idea is the foundation for understanding the role of resilience in coping with stressors. However, “not all adaptive processes are coping. Coping is a subset of adaptational activities that involves effort and does not include everything that we do in relating to the environment” (Lazarus & Folkman, 1991 , p. 198). Furthermore, sometimes to cope with a stressor, a person may call upon social support sources to help with tangible materials or emotional comfort. People call upon support resources because they help to restructure how a person approaches or thinks about the stressor.

Most secondary interventions are aimed at helping the individual, though companies, as a policy, might require all employees to partake in training aimed at increasing employees’ awareness of and skills aimed at handling difficult situations vis à vis company channels (e.g., reporting on sexual harassment or discrimination). Furthermore, organizations might institute mentoring programs or work groups to address various work-related matters. These programs employ awareness-raising activities, stress-education, or skills training (cf., Bhagat, Segovis, & Nelson, 2012 ), which include development of skills in problem-solving, understanding emotion-focused coping, identifying and using social support, and enhancing capacity for resilience. The aim of these programs, therefore, is to help employees proactively review their perceptions of psychological, physical, and behavioral job-related strains, thereby extending their resilience, enabling them to form a personal plan to control stressors and practice coping skills (Cooper, Dewe, & O’Driscoll, 2011 ).

Often these stress management programs are instituted after an organization has observed excessive absenteeism and work-related performance problems and, therefore, are sometimes categorized as a tertiary stress management intervention or even a primary (prevention) intervention. However, the skills developed for coping with stressors also place the programs in secondary stress management interventions. Example programs that are categorized as tertiary or primary stress management interventions may also be secondary stress management interventions (see Figure 1 ), and these include lifestyle advice and planning, stress inoculation training, simple relaxation techniques, meditation, basic trainings in time management, anger management, problem-solving skills, and cognitive-behavioral therapy. Corporate wellness programs also fall under this category. In other words, some programs could be categorized as primary, secondary, or tertiary interventions depending upon when the employee (or organization) identifies the need to implement the program. For example, time management practices could be implemented as a means of preventing some stressors, as a way to cope with mounting stressors, or as a strategy to mitigate symptoms of excessive of stressors. Furthermore, these programs can be administered at the individual level or group level. As related to secondary interventions, these programs provide participants with opportunities to develop and practice skills to cognitively reappraise the stressor(s); to modify their perspectives about stressors; to take time out to breathe, stretch, meditate, relax, and/or exercise in an attempt to support better decision-making; to articulate concerns and call upon support resources; and to know how to say “no” to onslaughts of requests to complete tasks. Participants also learn how to proactively identify coping resources and solve problems.

According to Cooper, Dewe, and O’Driscoll ( 2001 ), secondary interventions are successful in helping employees modify or strengthen their ability to cope with the experience of stressors with the goal of mitigating the potential harm the job stressors may create. Secondary interventions focus on individuals’ transactions with the work environment and emphasize the fit between a person and his or her environment. However, researchers have pointed out that the underlying assumption of secondary interventions is that the responsibility for coping with the stressors of the environment lies within individuals (Quillian-Wolever & Wolever, 2003 ). If companies cannot prevent the stressors in the first place, then they are, in part, responsible for helping individuals develop coping strategies and informing employees about programs that would help them better cope with job stressors so that they are able to fulfill work assignments.

Stress management interventions that help people learn to cope with stressors focus mainly on the goals of enabling problem-resolution or expressing one’s emotions in a healthy manner. These goals are referred to as problem-focused coping and emotion-focused coping (Folkman & Lazarus, 1980 ; Pearlin & Schooler, 1978 ), and the person experiencing the stressors as potential threat is the agent for change and the recipient of the benefits of successful coping (Hobfoll, 1998 ). In addition to problem-focused and emotion-focused coping approaches, social support and resilience may be coping resources. There are many other sources for coping than there is room to present here (see e.g., Cartwright & Cooper, 2005 ); however, the current literature has primarily focused on these resources.

Problem-Focused Coping

Problem-focused or direct coping helps employees remove or reduce stressors in order to reduce their strain experiences (Bhagat et al., 2012 ). In problem-focused coping employees are responsible for working out a strategic plan in order to remove job stressors, such as setting up a set of goals and engaging in behaviors to meet these goals. Problem-focused coping is viewed as an adaptive response, though it can also be maladaptive if it creates more problems down the road, such as procrastinating getting work done or feigning illness to take time off from work. Adaptive problem-focused coping negatively relates to long-term job strains (Higgins & Endler, 1995 ). Discussion on problem-solving coping is framed from an adaptive perspective.

Problem-focused coping is featured as an extension of control, because engaging in problem-focused coping strategies requires a series of acts to keep job stressors under control (Bhagat et al., 2012 ). In the stress literature, there are generally two ways to categorize control: internal versus external locus of control, and primary versus secondary control. Locus of control refers to the extent to which people believe they have control over their own life (Rotter, 1966 ). People high in internal locus of control believe that they can control their own fate whereas people high in external locus of control believe that outside factors determine their life experience (Rotter, 1966 ). Generally, those with an external locus of control are less inclined to engage in problem-focused coping (Strentz & Auerbach, 1988 ). Primary control is the belief that people can directly influence their environment (Alloy & Abramson, 1979 ), and thus they are more likely to engage in problem-focused coping. However, when it is not feasible to exercise primary control, people search for secondary control, with which people try to adapt themselves into the objective environment (Rothbaum, Weisz, & Snyder, 1982 ).

Emotion-Focused Coping

Emotion-focused coping, sometimes referred to as palliative coping, helps employees reduce strains without the removal of job stressors. It involves cognitive or emotional efforts, such as talking about the stressor or distracting oneself from the stressor, in order to lessen emotional distress resulting from job stressors (Bhagat et al., 2012 ). Emotion-focused coping aims to reappraise and modify the perceptions of a situation or seek emotional support from friends or family. These methods do not include efforts to change the work situation or to remove the job stressors (Lazarus & Folkman, 1991 ). People tend to adopt emotion-focused coping strategies when they believe that little or nothing can be done to remove the threatening, harmful, and challenging stressors (Bhagat et al., 2012 ), such as when they are the only individuals to have the skills to get a project done or they are given increased responsibilities because of the unexpected departure of a colleague. Emotion-focused coping strategies include (1) reappraisal of the stressful situation, (2) talking to friends and receiving reassurance from them, (3) focusing on one’s strength rather than weakness, (4) optimistic comparison—comparing one’s situation to others’ or one’s past situation, (5) selective ignoring—paying less attention to the unpleasant aspects of one’s job and being more focused on the positive aspects of the job, (6) restrictive expectations—restricting one’s expectations on job satisfaction but paying more attention to monetary rewards, (7) avoidance coping—not thinking about the problem, leaving the situation, distracting oneself, or using alcohol or drugs (e.g., Billings & Moos, 1981 ).

Some emotion-focused coping strategies are maladaptive. For example, avoidance coping may lead to increased level of job strains in the long run (e.g., Parasuraman & Cleek, 1984 ). Furthermore, a person’s ability to cope with the imbalance of performing work to meet organizational expectations can take a toll on the person’s health, leading to physiological consequences such as cardiovascular disease, sleep disorders, gastrointestinal disorders, and diabetes (Fried et al., 2013 ; Siegrist, 2010 ; Toker, Shirom, Melamed, & Armon, 2012 ; Willert, Thulstrup, Hertz, & Bonde, 2010 ).

Comparing Coping Strategies across Cultures

Most coping research is conducted in individualistic, Western cultures wherein emotional control is emphasized and both problem-solving focused coping and primary control are preferred (Bhagat et al., 2010 ). However, in collectivistic cultures, emotion-focused coping and use of secondary control may be preferred and may not necessarily carry a negative evaluation (Bhagat et al., 2010 ). For example, African Americans are more likely to use emotion-focused coping than non–African Americans (Knight, Silverstein, McCallum, & Fox, 2000 ), and among women who experienced sexual harassment, Anglo American women were less likely to employ emotion focused coping (i.e., avoidance coping) than Turkish women and Hispanic American women, while Hispanic women used more denial than the other two groups (Wasti & Cortina, 2002 ).

Thus, whereas problem-focused coping is venerated in Western societies, emotion-focused coping may be more effective in reducing strains in collectivistic cultures, such as China, Japan, and India (Bhagat et al., 2010 ; Narayanan, Menon, & Spector, 1999 ; Selmer, 2002 ). Indeed, Swedish participants reported more problem-focused coping than did Chinese participants (Xiao, Ottosson, & Carlsson, 2013 ), American college students engaged in more problem-focused coping behaviors than did their Japanese counterparts (Ogawa, 2009 ), and Indian (vs. Canadian) students reported more emotion-focused coping, such as seeking social support and positive reappraisal (Sinha, Willson, & Watson, 2000 ). Moreover, Glazer, Stetz, and Izso ( 2004 ) found that internal locus of control was more predominant in individualistic cultures (United Kingdom and United States), whereas external locus of control was more predominant in communal cultures (Italy and Hungary). Also, internal locus of control was associated with less job stress, but more so for nurses in the United Kingdom and United States than Italy and Hungary. Taken together, adoption of coping strategies and their effectiveness differ significantly across cultures. The extent to which a coping strategy is perceived favorably and thus selected or not selected is not only a function of culture, but also a person’s sociocultural beliefs toward the coping strategy (Morimoto, Shimada, & Ozaki, 2013 ).

Social Support

Social support refers to the aid an entity gives to a person. The source of the support can be a single person, such as a supervisor, coworker, subordinate, family member, friend, or stranger, or an organization as represented by upper-level management representing organizational practices. The type of support can be instrumental or emotional. Instrumental support, including informational support, refers to that which is tangible, such as data to help someone make a decision or colleagues’ sick days so one does not lose vital pay while recovering from illness. Emotional support, including esteem support, refers to the psychological boost given to a person who needs to express emotions and feel empathy from others or to have his or her perspective validated. Beehr and Glazer ( 2001 ) present an overview of the role of social support on the stressor-strain relationship and arguments regarding the role of culture in shaping the utility of different sources and types of support.

Meaningfulness and Resilience

Meaningfulness reflects the extent to which people believe their lives are significant, purposeful, goal-directed, and fulfilling (Glazer, Kożusznik, Meyers, & Ganai, 2014 ). When faced with stressors, people who have a strong sense of meaning in life will also try to make sense of the stressors. Maintaining a positive outlook on life stressors helps to manage emotions, which is helpful in reducing strains, particularly when some stressors cannot be problem-solved (Lazarus & Folkman, 1991 ). Lazarus and Folkman ( 1991 ) emphasize that being able to reframe threatening situations can be just as important in an adaptation as efforts to control the stressors. Having a sense of meaningfulness motivates people to behave in ways that help them overcome stressors. Thus, meaningfulness is often used in the same breath as resilience, because people who are resilient are often protecting that which is meaningful.

Resilience is a personality state that can be fortified and enhanced through varied experiences. People who perceive their lives are meaningful are more likely to find ways to face adversity and are therefore more prone to intensifying their resiliency. When people demonstrate resilience to cope with noxious stressors, their ability to be resilient against other stressors strengthens because through the experience, they develop more competencies (Glazer et al., 2014 ). Thus, fitting with Hobfoll’s ( 1989 , 2001 ) COR theory, meaningfulness and resilience are psychological resources people attempt to conserve and protect, and employ when necessary for making sense of or coping with stressors.

Tertiary Interventions (Stress Management)

Stress management refers to interventions employed to treat and repair harmful repercussions of stressors that were not coped with sufficiently. As Lazarus and Folkman ( 1991 ) noted, not all stressors “are amenable to mastery” (p. 205). Stressors that are unmanageable and lead to strains require interventions to reverse or slow down those effects. Workplace interventions might focus on the person, the organization, or both. Unfortunately, instead of looking at the whole system to include the person and the workplace, most companies focus on the person. Such a focus should not be a surprise given the results of van der Klink, Blonk, Schene, and van Dijk’s ( 2001 ) meta-analysis of 48 experimental studies conducted between 1977 and 1996 . They found that of four types of tertiary interventions, the effect size for cognitive-behavioral interventions and multimodal programs (e.g., the combination of assertive training and time management) was moderate and the effect size for relaxation techniques was small in reducing psychological complaints, but not turnover intention related to work stress. However, the effects of (the five studies that used) organization-focused interventions were not significant. Similarly, Richardson and Rothstein’s ( 2008 ) meta-analytic study, including 36 experimental studies with 55 interventions, showed a larger effect size for cognitive-behavioral interventions than relaxation, organizational, multimodal, or alternative. However, like with van der Klink et al. ( 2001 ), Richardson and Rothstein ( 2008 ) cautioned that there were few organizational intervention studies included and the impact of interventions were determined on the basis of psychological outcomes and not physiological or organizational outcomes. Van der Klink et al. ( 2001 ) further expressed concern that organizational interventions target the workplace and that changes in the individual may take longer to observe than individual interventions aimed directly at the individual.

The long-term benefits of individual focused interventions are not yet clear either. Per Giga, Cooper, and Faragher ( 2003 ), the benefits of person-directed stress management programs will be short-lived if organizational factors to reduce stressors are not addressed too. Indeed, LaMontagne, Keegel, Louie, Ostry, and Landsbergis ( 2007 ), in their meta-analysis of 90 studies on stress management interventions published between 1990 and 2005 , revealed that in relation to interventions targeting organizations only, and interventions targeting individuals only, interventions targeting both organizations and individuals (i.e. the systems approach) had the most favorable positive effects on both the organizations and the individuals. Furthermore, the organization-level interventions were effective at both the individual and organization levels, but the individual-level interventions were effective only at the individual level.

Individual-Focused Stress Management

Individual-focused interventions concentrate on improving conditions for the individual, though counseling programs emphasize that the worker is in charge of reducing “stress,” whereas role-focused interventions emphasize activities that organizations can guide to actually reduce unnecessary noxious environmental factors.

Individual-Focused Stress Management: Employee Assistance Programs

When stress become sufficiently problematic (which is individually gauged or attended to by supportive others) in a worker’s life, employees may utilize the short-term counseling services or referral services Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) provide. People who utilize the counseling services may engage in cognitive behavioral therapy aimed at changing the way people think about the stressors (e.g., as challenge opportunity over threat) and manage strains. Example topics that may be covered in these therapy sessions include time management and goal setting (prioritization), career planning and development, cognitive restructuring and mindfulness, relaxation, and anger management. In a study of healthcare workers and teachers who participated in a 2-day to 2.5-day comprehensive stress management training program (including 26 topics on identifying, coping with, and managing stressors and strains), Siu, Cooper, and Phillips ( 2013 ) found psychological and physical improvements were self-reported among the healthcare workers (for which there was no control group). However, comparing an intervention group of teachers to a control group of teachers, the extent of change was not as visible, though teachers in the intervention group engaged in more mastery recovery experiences (i.e., they purposefully chose to engage in challenging activities after work).

Individual-Focused Stress Management: Mindfulness

A popular therapy today is to train people to be more mindful, which involves helping people live in the present, reduce negative judgement of current and past experiences, and practicing patience (Birnie, Speca, & Carlson, 2010 ). Mindfulness programs usually include training on relaxation exercises, gentle yoga, and awareness of the body’s senses. In one study offered through the continuing education program at a Canadian university, 104 study participants took part in an 8-week, 90 minute per group (15–20 participants per) session mindfulness program (Birnie et al., 2010 ). In addition to body scanning, they also listened to lectures on incorporating mindfulness into one’s daily life and received a take-home booklet and compact discs that guided participants through the exercises studied in person. Two weeks after completing the program, participants’ mindfulness attendance and general positive moods increased, while physical, psychological, and behavioral strains decreased. In another study on a sample of U.K. government employees, study participants receiving three sessions of 2.5 to 3 hours each training on mindfulness, with the first two sessions occurring in consecutive weeks and the third occurring about three months later, Flaxman and Bond ( 2010 ) found that compared to the control group, the intervention group showed a decrease in distress levels from Time 1 (baseline) to Time 2 (three months after first two training sessions) and Time 1 to Time 3 (after final training session). Moreover, of the mindfulness intervention study participants who were clinically distressed, 69% experienced clinical improvement in their psychological health.

Individual-Focused Stress Management: Biofeedback/Imagery/Meditation/Deep Breathing

Biofeedback uses electronic equipment to inform users about how their body is responding to tension. With guidance from a therapist, individuals then learn to change their physiological responses so that their pulse normalizes and muscles relax (Norris, Fahrion, & Oikawa, 2007 ). The therapist’s guidance might include reminders for imagery, meditation, body scan relaxation, and deep breathing. Saunders, Driskell, Johnston, and Salas’s ( 1996 ) meta-analysis of 37 studies found that imagery helped reduce state and performance anxiety. Once people have been trained to relax, reminder triggers may be sent through smartphone push notifications (Villani et al., 2013 ).

Smartphone technology can also be used to support weight loss programs, smoking cessation programs, and medication or disease (e.g., diabetes) management compliance (Heron & Smyth, 2010 ; Kannampallil, Waicekauskas, Morrow, Kopren, & Fu, 2013 ). For example, smartphones could remind a person to take medications or test blood sugar levels or send messages about healthy behaviors and positive affirmations.

Individual-Focused Stress Management: Sleep/Rest/Respite

Workers today sleep less per night than adults did nearly 30 years ago (Luckhaupt, Tak, & Calvert, 2010 ; National Sleep Foundation, 2005 , 2013 ). In order to combat problems, such as increased anxiety and cardiovascular artery disease, associated with sleep deprivation and insufficient rest, it is imperative that people disconnect from their work at least one day per week or preferably for several weeks so that they are able to restore psychological health (Etzion, Eden, & Lapidot, 1998 ; Ragsdale, Beehr, Grebner, & Han, 2011 ). When college students engaged in relaxation-type activities, such as reading or watching television, over the weekend, they experienced less emotional exhaustion and greater general well-being than students who engaged in resources-consuming activities, such as house cleaning (Ragsdale et al., 2011 ). Additional research and future directions for research are reviewed and identified in the work of Sonnentag ( 2012 ). For example, she asks whether lack of ability to detach from work is problematic for people who find their work meaningful. In other words, are negative health consequences only among those who do not take pleasure in their work? Sonnetag also asks how teleworkers detach from their work when engaging in work from the home. Ironically, one of the ways that companies are trying to help with the challenges of high workload or increased need to be available to colleagues, clients, or vendors around the globe is by offering flexible work arrangements, whereby employees who can work from home are given the opportunity to do so. Companies that require global interactions 24-hours per day often employ this strategy, but is the solution also a source of strain (Glazer, Kożusznik, & Shargo, 2012 )?

Individual-Focused Stress Management: Role Analysis

Role analysis or role clarification aims to redefine, expressly identify, and align employees’ roles and responsibilities with their work goals. Through role negotiation, involved parties begin to develop a new formal or informal contract about expectations and define resources needed to fulfill those expectations. Glazer has used this approach in organizational consulting and, with one memorable client engagement, found that not only were the individuals whose roles required deeper re-evaluation happier at work (six months later), but so were their subordinates. Subordinates who once characterized the two partners as hostile and akin to a couple going through a bad divorce, later referred to them as a blissful pair. Schaubroeck, Ganster, Sime, and Ditman ( 1993 ) also found in a three-wave study over a two-year period that university employees’ reports of role clarity and greater satisfaction with their supervisor increased after a role clarification exercise of top managers’ roles and subordinates’ roles. However, the intervention did not have any impact on reported physical symptoms, absenteeism, or psychological well-being. Role analysis is categorized under individual-focused stress management intervention because it is usually implemented after individuals or teams begin to demonstrate poor performance and because the intervention typically focuses on a few individuals rather than an entire organization or group. In other words, the intervention treats the person’s symptoms by redefining the role so as to eliminate the stimulant causing the problem.

Organization-Focused Stress Management

At the organizational level, companies that face major declines in productivity and profitability or increased costs related to healthcare and disability might be motivated to reassess organizational factors that might be impinging on employees’ health and well-being. After all, without healthy workers, it is not possible to have a healthy organization. Companies may choose to implement practices and policies that are expected to help not only the employees, but also the organization with reduced costs associated with employee ill-health, such as medical insurance, disability payments, and unused office space. Example practices and policies that may be implemented include flexible work arrangements to ensure that employees are not on the streets in the middle of the night for work that can be done from anywhere (such as the home), diversity programs to reduce stress-induced animosity and prejudice toward others, providing only healthy food choices in cafeterias, mandating that all employees have physicals in order to receive reduced prices for insurance, company-wide closures or mandatory paid time off, and changes in organizational visioning.

Organization-Focused Stress Management: Organizational-Level Occupational Health Interventions

As with job design interventions that are implemented to remediate work characteristics that were a source of unnecessary or excessive stressors, so are organizational-level occupational health (OLOH) interventions. As with many of the interventions, its placement as a primary or tertiary stress management intervention may seem arbitrary, but when considering the goal and target of change, it is clear that the intervention is implemented in response to some ailing organizational issues that need to be reversed or stopped, and because it brings in the entire organization’s workforce to address the problems, it has been placed in this category. There are several more case studies than empirical studies on the topic of whole system organizational change efforts (see example case studies presented by the United Kingdom’s Health and Safety Executive). It is possible that lack of published empirical work is not so much due to lack of attempting to gather and evaluate the data for publication, but rather because the OLOH interventions themselves never made it to the intervention stage, the interventions failed (Biron, Gatrell, & Cooper, 2010 ), or the level of evaluation was not rigorous enough to get into empirical peer-review journals. Fortunately, case studies provide some indication of the opportunities and problems associated with OLOH interventions.

One case study regarding Cardiff and Value University Health Board revealed that through focus group meetings with members of a steering group (including high-level managers and supported by top management) and facilitated by a neutral, non-judgemental organizational health consultant, ideas for change were posted on newsprint, discussed, and areas in the organization needing change were identified. The intervention for giving voice to people who initially had little already had a positive effect on the organization, as absence decreased by 2.09% and 6.9% merely 12 and 18 months, respectively, after the intervention. Translated in financial terms, the 6.9% change was equivalent to a quarterly savings of £80,000 (Health & Safety Executive, n.d. ). Thus, focusing on the context of change and how people will be involved in the change process probably helped the organization realize improvements (Biron et al., 2010 ). In a recent and rare empirical study, employing both qualitative and quantitative data collection methods, Sørensen and Holman ( 2014 ) utilized PAR in order to plan and implement an OLOH intervention over the course of 14 months. Their study aimed to examine the effectiveness of the PAR process in reducing workers’ work-related and social or interpersonal-related stressors that derive from the workplace and improving psychological, behavioral, and physiological well-being across six Danish organizations. Based on group dialogue, 30 proposals for change were proposed, all of which could be categorized as either interventions to focus on relational factors (e.g., management feedback improvement, engagement) or work processes (e.g., reduced interruptions, workload, reinforcing creativity). Of the interventions that were implemented, results showed improvements on manager relationship quality and reduced burnout, but no changes with respect to work processes (i.e., workload and work pace) perhaps because the employees already had sufficient task control and variety. These findings support Dewe and Kompier’s ( 2008 ) position that occupational health can be reinforced through organizational policies that reinforce quality jobs and work experiences.

Organization-Focused Stress Management: Flexible Work Arrangements

Dewe and Kompier ( 2008 ), citing the work of Isles ( 2005 ), noted that concern over losing one’s job is a reason for why 40% of survey respondents indicated they work more hours than formally required. In an attempt to create balance and perceived fairness in one’s compensation for putting in extra work hours, employees will sometimes be legitimately or illegitimately absent. As companies become increasingly global, many people with desk jobs are finding themselves communicating with colleagues who are halfway around the globe and at all hours of the day or night (Glazer et al., 2012 ). To help minimize the strains associated with these stressors, companies might devise flexible work arrangements (FWA), though the type of FWA needs to be tailored to the cultural environment (Masuda et al., 2012 ). FWAs give employees some leverage to decide what would be the optimal work arrangement for them (e.g., part-time, flexible work hours, compressed work week, telecommuting). In other words, FWA provides employees with the choice of when to work, where to work (on-site or off-site), and how many hours to work in a day, week, or pay period (Kossek, Thompson, & Lautsch, 2015 ). However, not all employees of an organization have equal access to or equitable use of FWAs; workers in low-wage, hourly jobs are often beholden to being physically present during specific hours (Swanberg McKechnie, Ojha, & James, 2011 ). In a study of over 1,300 full-time hourly retail employees in the United States, Swanberg et al. ( 2011 ) showed that employees who have control over their work schedules and over their work hours were satisfied with their work schedules, perceived support from the supervisor, and work engagement.

Unfortunately, not all FWAs yield successful results for the individual or the organization. Being able to work from home or part-time can have problems too, as a person finds himself or herself working more hours from home than required. Sometimes telecommuting creates work-family conflict too as a person struggles to balance work and family obligations while working from home. Other drawbacks include reduced face-to-face contact between work colleagues and stakeholders, challenges shaping one’s career growth due to limited contact, perceived inequity if some have more flexibility than others, and ambiguity about work role processes for interacting with employees utilizing the FWA (Kossek et al., 2015 ). Organizations that institute FWAs must carefully weigh the benefits and drawbacks the flexibility may have on the employees using it or the employees affected by others using it, as well as the implications on the organization, including the vendors who are serving and clients served by the organization.

Organization-Focused Stress Management: Diversity Programs

Employees in the workplace might experience strain due to feelings of discrimination or prejudice. Organizational climates that do not promote diversity (in terms of age, religion, physical abilities, ethnicity, nationality, sex, and other characteristics) are breeding grounds for undesirable attitudes toward the workplace, lower performance, and greater turnover intention (Bergman, Palmieri, Drasgow, & Ormerod, 2012 ; Velez, Moradi, & Brewster, 2013 ). Management is thus advised to implement programs that reinforce the value and importance of diversity, as well as manage diversity to reduce conflict and feelings of prejudice. In fact, managers who attended a leadership training program reported higher multicultural competence in dealing with stressful situations (Chrobot-Mason & Leslie, 2012 ), and managers who persevered through challenges were more dedicated to coping with difficult diversity issues (Cilliers, 2011 ). Thus, diversity programs can help to reduce strains by directly reducing stressors associated with conflict linked to diversity in the workplace and by building managers’ resilience.

Organization-Focused Stress Management: Healthcare Management Policies

Over the past few years, organizations have adopted insurance plans that implement wellness programs for the sake of managing the increasing cost of healthcare that is believed to be a result of individuals’ not managing their own health, with regular check-ups and treatment. The wellness programs require all insured employees to visit a primary care provider, complete a health risk assessment, and engage in disease management activities as specified by a physician (e.g., see frequently asked questions regarding the State of Maryland’s Wellness Program). Companies believe that requiring compliance will reduce health problems, although there is no proof that such programs save money or that people would comply. One study that does, however, boast success, was a 12-week workplace health promotion program aimed at reducing Houston airport workers’ weight (Ebunlomo, Hare-Everline, Weber, & Rich, 2015 ). The program, which included 235 volunteer participants, was deemed a success, as there was a total weight loss of 345 pounds (or 1.5 lbs per person). Given such results in Houston, it is clear why some people are also skeptical over the likely success of wellness programs, particularly as there is no clear method for evaluating their efficacy (Sinnott & Vatz, 2015 ).

Moreover, for some, such a program is too paternalistic and intrusive, as well as punishes anyone who chooses not to actively participate in disease management programs (Sinnott & Vatz, 2015 ). The programs put the onus of change on the person, though it is a response to the high costs of ill-health. The programs neglect to consider the role of the organization in reducing the barriers to healthy lifestyle, such as cloaking exempt employment as simply needing to get the work done, when it usually means working significantly more hours than a standard workweek. In fact, workplace health promotion programs did not reduce presenteeism (i.e., people going to work while unwell thereby reducing their job performance) among those who suffered from physical pain (Cancelliere, Cassidy, Ammendolia, & Côte, 2011 ). However, supervisor education, worksite exercise, lifestyle intervention through email, midday respite from repetitive work, a global stress management program, changes in lighting, and telephone interventions helped to reduce presenteeism. Thus, emphasis needs to be placed on psychosocial aspects of the organization’s structure, including managers and overall organizational climate for on-site presence, that reinforces such behavior (Cancelliere et al., 2011 ). Moreover, wellness programs are only as good as the interventions to reduce work-related stressors and improve organizational resources to enable workers to improve their overall psychological and physical health.

Concluding Remarks

Future research.

One of the areas requiring more theoretical and practical attention is that of the utility of stress frameworks to guide organizational development change interventions. Although it has been proposed that the foundation for work stress management interventions is in organizational development, and even though scholars and practitioners of organization development were also founders of research programs that focused on employee health and well-being or work stress, there are few studies or other theoretical works that link the two bodies of literature.

A second area that requires additional attention is the efficacy of stress management interventions across cultures. In examining secondary stress management interventions (i.e., coping), some cross-cultural differences in findings were described; however, there is still a dearth of literature from different countries on the utility of different prevention, coping, and stress management strategies.

A third area that has been blossoming since the start of the 21st century is the topic of hindrance and challenge stressors and the implications of both on workers’ well-being and performance. More research is needed on this topic in several areas. First, there is little consistency by which researchers label a stressor as a hindrance or a challenge. Researchers sometimes take liberties with labels, but it is not the researchers who should label a stressor but the study participants themselves who should indicate if a stressor is a source of strain. Rodríguez, Kozusznik, and Peiró ( 2013 ) developed a measure in which respondents indicate whether a stressor is a challenge or a hindrance. Just as some people may perceive demands to be challenges that they savor and that result in a psychological state of eustress (Nelson & Simmons, 2003 ), others find them to be constraints that impede goal fulfillment and thus might experience distress. Likewise, some people might perceive ambiguity as a challenge that can be overcome and others as a constraint over which he or she has little control and few or no resources with which to cope. More research on validating the measurement of challenge vs. hindrance stressors, as well as eustress vs. distress, and savoring vs. coping, is warranted. Second, at what point are challenge stressors harmful? Just because people experiencing challenge stressors continue to perform well, it does not necessarily mean that they are healthy people. A great deal of stressors are intellectually stimulating, but excessive stimulation can also take a toll on one’s physiological well-being, as evident by the droves of professionals experiencing different kinds of diseases not experienced as much a few decades ago, such as obesity (Fried et al., 2013 ). Third, which stress management interventions would better serve to reduce hindrance stressors or to reduce strain that may result from challenge stressors while reinforcing engagement-producing challenge stressors?

A fourth area that requires additional attention is that of the flexible work arrangements (FWAs). One of the reasons companies have been willing to permit employees to work from home is not so much out of concern for the employee, but out of the company’s need for the focal person to be able to communicate with a colleague working from a geographic region when it is night or early morning for the focal person. Glazer, Kożusznik, and Shargo ( 2012 ) presented several areas for future research on this topic, noting that by participating on global virtual teams, workers face additional stressors, even while given flexibility of workplace and work time. As noted earlier, more research needs to be done on the extent to which people who take advantage of FWAs are advantaged in terms of detachment from work. Can people working from home detach? Are those who find their work invigorating also likely to experience ill-health by not detaching from work?

A fifth area worthy of further research attention is workplace wellness programing. According to Page and Vella-Brodrick ( 2009 ), “subjective and psychological well-being [are] key criteria for employee mental health” (p. 442), whereby mental health focuses on wellness, rather than the absence of illness. They assert that by fostering employee mental health, organizations are supporting performance and retention. Employee well-being can be supported by ensuring that jobs are interesting and meaningful, goals are achievable, employees have control over their work, and skills are used to support organizational and individual goals (Dewe & Kompier, 2008 ). However, just as mental health is not the absence of illness, work stress is not indicative of an absence of psychological well-being. Given the perspective that employee well-being is a state of mind (Page & Vella-Brodrick, 2009 ), we suggest that employee well-being can be negatively affected by noxious job stressors that cannot be remediated, but when job stressors are preventable, employee well-being can serve to protect an employee who faces job stressors. Thus, wellness programs ought to focus on providing positive experiences by enhancing and promoting health, as well as building individual resources. These programs are termed “green cape” interventions (Pawelski, 2016 ). For example, with the growing interests in positive psychology, researchers and practitioners have suggested employing several positive psychology interventions, such as expressing gratitude, savoring experiences, and identifying one’s strengths (Tetrick & Winslow, 2015 ). Another stream of positive psychology is psychological capital, which includes four malleable functions of self-efficacy, optimism, hope, and resilience (Luthans, Youssef, & Avolio, 2007 ). Workplace interventions should include both “red cape” interventions (i.e., interventions to reduce negative experiences) and “green cape” interventions (i.e., workplace wellness programs; Polly, 2014 ).

A Healthy Organization’s Pledge

A healthy workplace requires healthy workers. Period. Among all organizations’ missions should be the focus on a healthy workforce. To maintain a healthy workforce, the company must routinely examine its own contributions in terms of how it structures itself; reinforces communications among employees, vendors, and clients; how it rewards and cares for its people (e.g., ensuring they get sufficient rest and can detach from work); and the extent to which people at the upper levels are truly connected with the people at the lower levels. As a matter of practice, management must recognize when employees are overworked, unwell, and poorly engaged. Management must also take stock of when it is doing well and right by its contributors’ and maintain and reinforce the good practices, norms, and procedures. People in the workplace make the rules; people in the workplace can change the rules. How management sees its employees and values their contribution will have a huge role in how a company takes stock of its own pain points. Providing employees with tools to manage their own reactions to work-related stressors and consequent strains is fine, but wouldn’t it be grand if organizations took better notice about what they could do to mitigate the strain-producing stressors in the first place and take ownership over how employees are treated?

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Emotion-focused vs. Problem-focused Coping Strategies

Travis Dixon March 14, 2022 Health Psychology

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Coping is “a person’s efforts to manage demands that are appraised as taxing or exceeding their resources.” (1) In other words, coping is how we try to deal with stress. It is a widely studied topic in psychology and there are over 400 categorized styles of coping. (2) These styles are commonly grouped into two distinct types:  problem focused vs. emotion-focused . In this post we’ll look at which strategy is better and why. 

This post is written with content adapted from our Student’s Guide to Stress for IB Health Psychology .

Problem-focused coping strategies aim to change or eliminate a stressor. If you adapt a strategy to try to deal with the stressor directly, you’re using problem-focused coping. For example, planning, problem-solving, or removing the stressor altogether are examples of problem focused coping. (3)

Emotion-focused coping is when you try to deal with your emotional response to the stressor. If you are trying to reduce, eliminate, or simply tolerate your emotional response to a stressor, then you’re using emotion-focused coping. Examples include withdrawal, letting out anger and frustration, emotional support seeking, distractions, rumination, and resignation acceptance (accepting the problem will always exist).

The general consensus among psychologists is that problem-focused coping is the more effective coping strategy because it’s consistently associated with lower stress levels and better mental health (4).   Similarly, people who use emotion-focused coping are more at risk for stress-related illnesses (e.g. heart disease) compared to those using problem-focused coping (5).

Coping strategies could explain gender differences in levels of perceived stress. Numerous studies have shown a tendency for females to use more emotion-focused coping whereas males use more problem focused coping (6)   When it comes to the study of teenagers and stress, however, there is “…limited research about what may affect adolescents’ perceptions of stressors from school, how they cope with such stressors, and how this differs from a gender perspective.” (7) Most of the research has been on adults. However, some researchers have studied connections between coping and mental health problems closely related to stress (e.g. depression) amongst teenagers. (8)

Key Study: Coping strategies in Italian teens (Cicognani, 2011)

Aim: To understand coping strategies and how they relate to mental health in teenagers.

Can you relate to the findings of this study? What advice can you take from it?

• Sample = 342 high school students (14-19 years old) in Northern Italy.
• Coping was measured using a questionnaire (Coping Across Situations Questionnaire – CASQ)
• Mental health was measured using a questionnaire on subjective well-being (including depressed mood).
• She also gathered data on levels of self-efficacy and social support.
• The results showed significant correlations between coping strategies and psychological well-being.
• expecting the worst (r =0.31),
• withdrawal (r = 0.37),
• and accepting that there will always be problems (r = 0.32).
• The results also showed that girls were more likely to use these emotion-focused coping strategies more than boys.
• Self-efficacy and family support influenced which coping strategies were used (e.g. reducing the use of emotion focused strategies like withdrawing) and this improved well-being.

Conclusions

• This shows how emotion-focused coping could have a negative effect on mental health.
• However, it also shows that factors like self-efficacy and social support can influence the choice of coping strategies and thus affect mental health also.
• The results could explain the common finding that girls report higher levels of subjective stress in stress studies.

These findings are consistent with other research that shows females tend to use more emotion-focused coping, which could explain gender differences in perceived stress and prevalence of stress-related mental health issues like anxiety and depression. However, factors like social support and self-efficacy can influence which coping strategy we use. Studies have shown that girls have reported having higher levels of emotional self-efficacy, whereas boys report higher levels of problem-solving self-efficacy (9).   Our self-efficacy influences our appraisal of our resources, so we’ll naturally use the coping strategy that we perceive to be our strength. This could be why boys and girls use different coping strategies.

Psychology is never as simple as A=B: while problem-focused coping is probably better, it’s not always the right answer. 

It is important to note, however, that people tend to use a mixture of both strategies. In a yearlong study of 100 participants, Folkman and Lazarus (1980) found that in 98% of stressful situations, their participants used a combination of both strategies. The stressor, who is involved, appraisals, gender, and age also influenced the strategies used. For example, people used more problem-focused coping at work and emotion-focused coping when it came to their health (10).

Similarly, it’s not a clear black-and-white answer regarding which coping strategy is better. For example, positive reappraisals could be considered an emotion-focused coping strategy and this is linked with positive health outcomes (11)  Th e effectiveness might also depend on the stressor: using a problem-focused approach for a stressor that is uncontrollable and unable to be changed could be less effective than an emotion-focused one.

Being able to cope effectively with stress involves understanding how to use a variety of different strategies and applying the relevant ones to the stressors in your life. This reminds me of the serenity prayer: “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.”

“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.” There is a lot of psychological research that supports the wisdom found in this simple prayer.

Copy from here for Critical Thinking Considerations

Critical Thinking Considerations

• While Cicognani’s study could be used to explain a link between coping and stress in teens, there’s a fundamental limitation in doing so. Can you see what it is?
• Assumptions : The above guiding question is based on the assumption that problem-focused coping is better than emotion-focused coping. However, this is not always the case. When might emotion-focused coping be the superior strategy? Can you apply this to specific examples in your life?
• An area of uncertainty is how to classify cognitive reappraisal. How might this be a problem-focused and/or an emotion-focused coping strategy? Austenfeld and Stanton(2004) have used the term ‘‘emotional approach coping” to describe active emotion regulation strategies such as cognitive reappraisal.

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1Lazarus and Folkman, 1984; Peter Olusoga, Joanne Butt, Ian Maynard & Kate Hays (2010) Stress and Coping: A Study of World Class Coaches, Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 22:3, 274-293, DOI: 10.1080/10413201003760968

2 Skinner, E. A., Edge, K., Altman, J., & Sherwood, H. (2003). Searching for the structure of coping: a review and critique of category systems for classifying ways of coping. Psychological bulletin, 129(2), 216.

3 Carroll, L. (2013). Problem-focused coping. Encyclopedia of behavioral medicine, 1540-1541.; Herres, J. (2015). Adolescent coping profiles differentiate reports of depression and anxiety symptoms. Journal of affective disorders, 186, 312-319.

4 Penley, J. A., Tomaka, J., & Wiebe, J. S. (2002). !e association of coping to physical and psychological health outcomes: A meta-analytic review. Journal of behavioral medicine, 25(6), 551-603.

5 Chiavarino, C., Rabellino, D., Ardito, R. B., Cavallero, E., Palumbo, L., Bergerone, S., … & Bara, B. G. (2012). Emotional coping is a better predictor of cardiac prognosis than depression and anxiety. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 73(6), 473-475.; Bafghi, S. M. S., Ahmadi, N., Ardekani, S. M. Y., Jafari, L., Ardekani, B. B., Heydari, R., … & Faraji, R. (2018). A survey of coping strategies with stress in patients with acute myocardial infarction and individuals without a history of fixed myocardial infarction. Cardiology research, 9(1), 35.

6 Schoenmakers, E. C., van Tilburg, T. G., & Fokkema, T. (2015). Problem focused and emotion-focused coping options and loneliness: how are they related?. European Journal of Ageing, 12(2), 153-161.

7 Wilhsson, M., Svedberg, P., H  gdin, S., & Nygren, J. M. (2017). Strategies of adolescent girls and boys for coping with school-related stress. !e Journal of School Nursing, 33(5), 374-382.

8 Cicognani, E. (2011). Coping strategies with minor stressors in adolescence: Relationships with social support, self(efficacy, and psychological well(being. Journal of Applied social psychology, 41(3), 559-578.

9 Flores, F. J., Mayorga-Vega, D., Blanco, J. R., & Blanco, H. (2014). Perceived self-e#cacy in problem solving and scientiffc communication in university students. A gender study. Psychology, 2014.; McKay, M. T., Dempster, M., & Byrne, D. G. (2014). An examination of the relationship between self-e#cacy and stress in adolescents: the role of gender and selfesteem. Journal of youth studies, 17(9), 1131-1151.

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Travis Dixon is an IB Psychology teacher, author, workshop leader, examiner and IA moderator.

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Coping is efforts to prevent or diminish threat, harm, and loss, or to reduce the distress that is often associated with those experiences.

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The concept of coping presumes the existence of a condition of adversity or stress. A person who must deal with adversity is engaged in coping. Thus, coping is inextricably linked to stress. It is often said that stress exists whenever people confront situations that tax or exceed their ability to manage them (Lazarus, 1966 ; Lazarus & Folkman, 1984 ). Whenever a person is hard-pressed to deal with an obstacle or impediment or looming threat, the experience is stressful. Adversity takes several forms. Threat refers to the impending occurrence of an event that is feared will have bad consequences. Harm refers to the perception that bad consequences have already come to pass. Loss refers to the perception that something of value has been taken away.

People respond to perceptions of threat, harm, and loss in a wide variety of...

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Carver, C. (2013). Coping. In: Gellman, M.D., Turner, J.R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Behavioral Medicine. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1005-9_1635

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Table of Contents

Problem Focused Coping (A Complete Guide)

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The Optimistminds editorial team is made up of psychologists, psychiatrists and mental health professionals. Each article is written by a team member with exposure to and experience in the subject matter.  The article then gets reviewed by a more senior editorial member. This is someone with extensive knowledge of the subject matter and highly cited published material.

Problem focused coping is a stress management approach in which an individual honestly faces a stressor in an effort to reduce or get rid of it.

This might engage generating probable solutions to a problem, confronting others who are accountable for or else linked with the stressor, and other forms of involved action.

For instance, a student who is anxious about an upcoming examination might deal with by studying more, taking every class, and attending revision sessions to make sure he or she completely knows the course subject matter.

It has been considered that problem focused coping is used first and foremost when a person assesses a stressor the same as within his or her capability to adjust.

In this article we will discuss problem focused coping. 

Problem focused coping aims for the reasons of stress in realistic ways which engage in the difficulty or stressful circumstances that are causing stress or anxiety, so openly dropping the stress or anxiety. 

Problem focused strategies mean to get rid of or decrease the origin of the stressor, plus: Problem solving.

Problem Focused Coping vs. Emotion Focused Coping:

When you are feeling anxious, then you should ask yourself, “Do I have to change my circumstances or do I have to discover a method to better handle the condition?”

Then, you can make a decision on which kind of coping strategy will assist you best.

There are two main types of coping skills: 

• Problem focused coping 
• Emotion focused coping.

Problem focused coping is supportive when you require changing your circumstances, maybe by reducing a worrying object from your life.

For instance, if you are in a damaging relationship, your sadness and anxiety may be best determined by finishing the relationship (as disparate to relaxing your emotions).

Emotion focused coping is cooperative when you want to be concerned of your feelings when you also do not need to alter your condition or when state of affairs are not in your control.

For instance, if you are sad over the loss of your loved one, it would be essential to take care of your feelings in a healthy manner (as you cannot change the incident).

There is not always one top way to progress.

As a substitute, it is up to you to make a decision which kind of coping skill is possible to work most excellent for you in your exacting condition.

The following example of stressful situations is considered below and how each type might be used under this circumstance.

You have been asked to deliver a presentation in front of a huge group. You were so thrilled and stunned by the invite that you decided to do it.

However, as the occasion draws near, your anxiety and nervousness escalates as you hate public speaking.

Problem focused coping:  You make a decision to employ a public speaking trainer to assist you discover how to write down a high-quality speech and how to convey it boldly.

You put into practice giving your words in front of a small number of friends and family members so you would experience much geared up to step on stage.

Emotion focused coping:  You let yourself know that you can achieve this. You follow relaxation exercises at any time you start to fear.

And you repeat yourself that still if you are anxious, no one as well is even expected to observe.

Identifying the Prblem

Problem focused coping centers are just about the cause of your stress, so the first step is to recognize the problem.

Even though this might look simple, how many times have you come home from the workplace and felt stressed out?

Can you identify exactly what the problem was? It could have been the never ending meetings, unreliable clients, or your time consuming distance.

Figuring out what problem you would like to deal with is not always simple.

Once you identify what problem you need to deal with, there are quite a lot of ways to make use of problem focused coping.

The primary thing you require to do is get some time to actually think whether or not the problem is unreliable or changeable. 

In most cases, it will be. Continuing on with the workplace instance, you have only some options. 

For starters, you may think about talking to your superiors, and communicate honestly about the problems you are facing. 

Try to stay as objective as feasible, but make it obvious that you are in an impractical situation. 

First this point, you might be capable of proposing the much wanted changes around the workplace. 

Maybe hiring extra assistance, or doing unnecessarily difficult filing systems, etc.

What just happened in that circumstance is that the power effort has shifted in your favor. 

Frequently, anxiety comes about as we feel helpless to transform our environment and our surroundings.  Problem focused coping drags the rug out from under that type of thoughts, and requests you to look at it from a different point of view.

It helps inspire you to do something about your circumstances, somewhat than merely stay resigned to it.

Healthy Problem Focused Coping Skills: 

There are many methods you might choose to deal with a problem face-to-face and get rid of the cause of your anxiety.

On some occasions, that might indicate altering your actions or making an arrangement that helps you recognize what actions you are going to take.

In other circumstances, problem focused coping might engage more radical procedures, like shifting jobs or eliminating someone out of your life.

At this point, there are some examples of healthy problem focused coping skills:

• Doing effort in organizing your time well (just like, turn off the notifications on your cell phone)
• Set up  stimulating boundaries  (say to your friends that you are not going to spend time with them if they make fun of you)
• Problem Solving
• Ask for support from an expert or a friend
• Time Management
• Employ in problem solving
• Walk away (go away from the situation which is a source of your stress)
• Create a to do list
• Acquire influential social support

Healthy Emotion Focused Coping Skills:

When you are feeling  lonely , anxious, depressing, or  angry , emotion focused coping skills might help you deal with your behaviors and feelings in a healthy way.

Healthy coping strategies can calm you, for the time being divert you, or assist you bear your sorrow.

Sometimes it is useful to encounter your emotions face-to-face.

For instance, you feel sad after the loss of a loved one might help out to credit your loss.

Here are a few ways of healthy emotion focused coping skills:

• Writing a journal
• Draw something
• Listening music
• Taking a bath
• Have fun with a pet
• Spending time in natural world
• Clean the house 
• Reading a book
• Use of aromatherapy
• Play a sport with your kids
•  Cook a meal
•  Engage in a hobby
• Perform breathing exercises

Unhealthy Coping Skills: 

It does not mean it is healthy just because a tactic helps you tolerate your emotional pain. 

A few coping skills could generate bigger troubles in your life. Some examples of unhealthy coping skills are:

Drinking alcohol:

Drugs and alcohol might momentarily insensitive your pain, but they won’t determine your issues.

These are possibly to initiate new troubles into your life. Alcohol, for instance, is a depressant that can make you suffer badly.

Using substances also puts you at danger for raising a substance abuse crisis and it might make permissible issues, financial issues, and a multiplicity of public issues.

Overeating: 

Food is an ordinary coping strategy. But, demanding to “stuff your feelings” with food can lead to an  unhealthy relationship with food and weight issues.

Occasionally people go off to the extreme and confine their intake and obviously, that can be just as harmful.

Sleeping too much: 

Sleeping offers a momentary escape from your troubles whether you take a nap when you are stressed out or you get a sleep not on time to stay you away from facing the day.

But, when you get up, the problem would still be there.

Communicating to others: 

Discussing your problems so that you can get support, build up a solution, or perceive a problem in a diverse way can be healthy. 

But researchers explain constantly discussing to people  about how bad your circumstances are or how horrible you sense is more expected to stay if you are fixed in a rest of pain.

Overspending: 

As many people say that they enjoy  retail therapy  as a technique to feel good, shopping can turn out to be damaging.

Owning a lot of belongings can add stress and anxiety to your life. Moreover, spending more than you can afford will only go wrong in the end and develop more anxiety and stress.

Avoidance: 

Even “healthy” coping strategies can become unhealthy if you’re using them to avoid the problem. 

For example, if you are stressed about your financial situation, you might be tempted to spend time with friends or watch TV because that’s less anxiety-provoking than creating a budget.

But if you never resolve your financial issues, your coping strategies are only masking the problem.

What Works For You Best:

The coping strategies that work for someone might not work for you. For example: going for a walk may help out your partner to calm down.

However, you may find going for a walk when you are angry makes you believe more about why you are crazy and it boosts your angry thoughts.

So then you make a decision to watch a humorous video for some minutes and it helps you to calm down.

It is significant to build up your individual toolkit of coping skills that you will discover helpful.

You might have to research with a selection of coping strategies to help you realize which one works best for you. You may identify that some coping strategies work best for particular issues or feelings.

For instance, to engage in a pastime might be an efficient way to relax after an extensive day at work. But on the other hand, to go for a walk in nature may be the best way when you are feeling miserable.

There is always a room for development when it comes to coping skills.

So, review what other gears and tools you can utilize and believe how you might carry on enhancing your skills in future.

FAQs about problem focused coping

What are the major differences between problems focused coping and emotion focused coping.

When the stress is perceived as controllable, problem-focused coping strategies are associated with fewer psychological symptoms, whereas in uncontrollable stressful situations, emotion-focused coping is related to fewer symptoms.

What is stress coping?

Coping With Life’s Stressors. 

Coping usually involves adjusting to or tolerating negative events or realities while attempting to maintain your positive self-image and emotional equilibrium. 

Coping occurs in the context of life changes that are perceived to be stressful.

What are examples of coping skills?

Now that we’ve examined common styles of coping, let us take a look at specific coping strategies: Humor. … Seeking support. … Problem-solving. … Relaxation. … Physical recreation. … Adjusting expectations. … Denial. … Self-blame.

What does coping skills mean?

Coping means to invest one’s own conscious effort, to solve personal and interpersonal problems, in order to try to master, minimize or tolerate stress and conflict.

The psychological coping mechanisms are commonly termed coping strategies for coping skills.

What are some coping skills for anger?

Start by considering these 10 anger management tips. Think before you speak. … Once you’re calm, express your anger. … Get some exercise. … Take a timeout. … Identify possible solutions. … Stick with ‘I’ statements. … Don’t hold a grudge. … Use humor to release tension. Practice relaxation skills Know when to seek help

References:

verywellmind.com/forty-healthy-coping-skills-4586742

udemy.com/blog/problem-focused-coping/

study.com/academy/lesson/problem-focused-coping-definition-strategies-examples.html

https://dictionary.apa.org/problem-focused-coping

simplypsychology.org/stress-management.html

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5 Emotion-Focused Coping Techniques for Stress Relief

Elizabeth Scott, PhD is an author, workshop leader, educator, and award-winning blogger on stress management, positive psychology, relationships, and emotional wellbeing.

Amy Morin, LCSW, is a psychotherapist and international bestselling author. Her books, including "13 Things Mentally Strong People Don't Do," have been translated into more than 40 languages. Her TEDx talk,  "The Secret of Becoming Mentally Strong," is one of the most viewed talks of all time.

Cognitive Distortions

Positive thinking.

Stress management techniques can fall into two categories: problem-focused coping and emotion-focused coping. Basically speaking, problem-focused (or solution-focused) coping strategies aim to eliminate sources of stress or work with the stressors themselves.

Meanwhile, emotion-focused coping techniques aid you in becoming less emotionally reactive to the stressors you face. They alter the way you experience these situations so they impact you differently.

Emotion-focused coping focuses on regulating negative emotional reactions to stress such as anxiety, fear, sadness, and anger. This type of coping may be useful when a stressor is something that you cannot change.

Many people think mainly of solution-focused coping strategies as the best way to manage stress. Cutting out the things that seem to cause us stress means we don't need to learn how to alter our responses to any stressors—there will be none left in our lives!

However, it's not entirely possible to cut all stress out of our lives. Some factors in our jobs, our relationships, or our lifestyles are simply prone to creating challenges. In fact, it wouldn't be entirely healthy to eliminate all stressors even if we could; a certain amount of stress is healthy .

Benefits of Emotion-Focused Coping

This is part of why emotion-focused coping can be quite valuable—shifting how we experience potential stressors in our lives can reduce their negative impact. Some key benefits of emotion-focused coping include:

• You don't have to wait to find relief : With emotion-focused coping, we don't need to wait for our lives to change or work on changing the inevitable. We can simply find ways to accept what we face right now, and not let it bother us.
• It reduces chronic stress : This can cut down on chronic stress , as it gives the body a chance to recover from what might otherwise be too-high levels of stress.
• It can improve decision-making : It allows us to think more clearly and access solutions that may not be available if we are feeling overwhelmed. Because stressed people do not always make the most effective decisions, emotion-focused coping can be a strategy to get into a better frame of mind before working on problem-focused techniques.

Emotion-focused coping can help with both emotions and solutions. And the two types of coping strategies work well together in this way. While problem-focused strategies need to fit well with the specific stressors they are addressing, emotion-focused coping techniques work well with most stressors and need only fit the individual needs of the person using them.

Finding the right emotion-focused coping strategies for your lifestyle and personality can provide you with a vital tool for overall stress relief and can enable you to achieve greater physical and emotional health.  

Meditation is an ancient practice that involves focusing attention and increasing awareness. It can have a number of psychological benefits , and research has shown that even brief meditation sessions can help improve emotional processing.

Meditation can help you to separate yourself from your thoughts as you react to stress. This allows you to stand back and choose a response rather than react out of panic or fear.

Meditation also allows you to relax your body, which can reverse your stress response as well. Those who practice meditation tend to be less reactive to stress, too, so meditation is well worth the effort it takes to practice.

Get Advice From The Verywell Mind Podcast

Hosted by therapist Amy Morin, LCSW, this episode of The Verywell Mind Podcast shares some techniques that can help you relax.

Follow Now : Apple Podcasts / Spotify / Google Podcasts

Journaling allows you to manage emotions in several ways. It can provide an emotional outlet for stressful feelings. It also can enable you to brainstorm solutions to problems you face.

Journaling also helps you to cultivate more positive feelings, which can help you to feel less stressed. It also brings other benefits for wellness and stress management , making it a great emotion-focused coping technique.

Research has found that positive-affect journaling, a type of expressive writing that involves using journaling prompts to elicit positive feelings, has a beneficial effect on emotion-focused self-regulation.

Cognitive reframing is a strategy that can be used to change how people experience events. For example, rather than thinking of something as stressful, reframing can help you shift your perspective and see it differently.

In order to reframe stressful thinking, you should:

• Notice your thoughts : Being more aware of your thinking can help you become more aware of how your thought patterns influence your emotions.
• Challenge your thoughts : Instead of accepting negative thoughts as facts, actively challenge them. Are they true? Are there other ways of looking at the problem? 
• Replace negative thoughts : Once you've challenged your thoughts, actively replace them with something more positive and helpful. 

This technique allows you to shift the way you see a problem, which can actually make the difference between whether or not you feel stressed by facing it.

Reframing techniques aren't about "tricking yourself out of being stressed," or pretending your stressors don't exist; reframing is more about seeing solutions, benefits, and new perspectives.

Cognitive distortions are irrational thinking patterns that can increase stress, lead to poor decisions, and lead to negative thinking. For example, emotional reasoning is a type of cognitive distortion that causes people to draw conclusions based on feelings instead of facts. This can cause people to act irrationally and make it more difficult to solve problems.

Recognizing the way the mind alters what you see, including what you tell yourself about what you are experiencing, and the ways in which you may unknowingly contribute to your own problems, can allow us to change these patterns.

Become aware of common cognitive distortions, and you'll be able to catch yourself when you do this, and will be able to recognize and understand when others may be doing it as well.

Being an optimist involves specific ways of perceiving problems—ways that maximize your power in a situation, and keep you in touch with your options. Both of these things can reduce your experience of stress, and help you to feel empowered in situations that might otherwise overwhelm you.

Positive thinking can have a number of benefits, including acting as a buffer against life's stresses. When you see things in a more positive light, you are better able to make decisions without responding from a place of fear or anxiety.

One study found that actively replacing thoughts with more positive ones could reduce pathological worry in people with generalized anxiety disorder. Researchers have also found that focusing on positive emotions can reduce symptom severity in people who have emotional problems.

A Word From Verywell

Not all problems can be solved. You can't change someone else's behavior and you can't undo a health diagnosis. But, you can change how you feel about the problem. Experiment with different emotion-focused coping strategies to discover which ones reduce your distress and help you feel better.

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By Elizabeth Scott, PhD Elizabeth Scott, PhD is an author, workshop leader, educator, and award-winning blogger on stress management, positive psychology, relationships, and emotional wellbeing.

The 2 types of coping skills every worker needs to combat burnout in 2024

B earing the weight of what the world (and workplace) throws at us can feel like a second full-time job. Coping mechanisms , or strategies for managing stress and other prickly emotions , help us fight burnout and regain power in our daily lives. And according to Minaa B .—social worker, author, and mental health educator—every modern-day worker needs two types of coping mechanisms in their stress-beating toolkits.

Whether you know it or not, you’re probably already putting coping strategies to work each day. Perhaps you go for a brisk walk when your to-do list feels overwhelming or practice mindfulness after a stressful conversation with your manager. But Minaa says that being aware of why and how you’re coping can help us take the best care of ourselves when overwhelm—and even burnout—strikes. 

“There are two coping methods that are essential for the quality of our mental health, which is problem-solving coping as well as emotion-focused coping,” she says. 

Problem-solving coping vs. emotion-focused coping 

When you’re deciding what type of coping strategy to choose, the first question you should ask yourself is: Is the stressor within or beyond my control? “Problem-solving coping is when we recognize that there is a problem, and we engage in self-efficacy to find a solution to that problem,” says Minaa. In other words, problem-solving coping is necessary when you have the power to change—or at least mitigate—the issue. 

For example, if you realize that hours of meetings each day are resulting in feelings of burnout, you may block off your calendar on Tuesdays and Thursdays so that no one can reach you. Alternatively, if you find that social interaction increases your bandwidth for stressful situations, problem-solving coping could look like taking more opportunities to connect with your co-workers. 

Emotion-focused coping comes into play when the stressor is beyond your control. Maybe your boss has given you an impossible deadline or delegated something to you that’s not part of your job description. “Emotion focus coping happens when we recognize there is a barrier, obstacle, or adversity before us that we really can't change,” says Minaa. “Radical acceptance allows us to engage in emotion-focused coping where we ask ourselves, How does this obstacle, this thing in front of me, make me feel? ” 

Once you answer this question, you can engage in self-soothing techniques that help you carry the weight of this task. “Maybe I need to engage in breathwork. Maybe I need to meditate. Maybe I need to write my thoughts down in a journal. Maybe this is the topic I want to talk about in my next therapy session ,” says Minaa. Your self-soothing technique will be entirely unique, so spend some time thinking about what makes you feel better in tense, nerve-wracking moments. 

Co-regulation, or relying on someone else to ease a stressful moment, also falls under the emotion-focused coping category. Minaa says that spilling your frustrations to a family member or a friend can be a powerful tool for diffusing stress during or after a seemingly impossible task is complete. 

So that text that reads, “Can you talk for a second? Need to vent!” is not trivial; it’s a powerful coping tool.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

• Open access
• Published: 13 May 2024

The big five factors as differential predictors of self-regulation, achievement emotions, coping and health behavior in undergraduate students

• Jesús de la Fuente 1 , 2 ,
• Paul Sander 3 ,
• Angélica Garzón Umerenkova 4 ,
• Begoña Urien 1 ,
• Mónica Pachón-Basallo 1 &
• Elkin O Luis 1  

BMC Psychology volume  12 , Article number:  267 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

Metrics details

The aim of this research was to analyze whether the personality factors included in the Big Five model differentially predict the self-regulation and affective states of university students and health.

A total of 637 students completed validated self-report questionnaires. Using an ex post facto design, we conducted linear regression and structural prediction analyses.

The findings showed that model factors were differential predictors of both self-regulation and affective states. Self-regulation and affective states, in turn, jointly predict emotional performance while learning and even student health. These results allow us to understand, through a holistic predictive model, the differential predictive relationships of all the factors: conscientiousness and extraversion were predictors regulating positive emotionality and health; the openness to experience factor was non-regulating; nonregulating; and agreeableness and neuroticism were dysregulating, hence precursors of negative emotionality and poorer student health.

Conclusions

These results are important because they allow us to infer implications for guidance and psychological health at university.

Peer Review reports

Introduction

The personality characteristics of students have proven to be essential explanatory and predictive factors of learning behavior and performance at universities [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ]. However, our knowledge about such factors does not exhaust further questions, such as which personality factors tend toward the regulation of learning behavior and which do not? Or can personality factors be arranged on a continuum to understand student differences in their emotions when learning? Consequently, the aim of this study was to analyze whether students’ personality traits differentially predict the regulation of behavior and emotionality. These variables align as different motivational-affective profiles of students, through the type of achievement emotions they experience during study, as well as their coping strategies, motivational state, and ultimately health.

Five-factor model

Previous research has shown the value and consistency of the five-factor model for analyzing students’ personality traits. Pervin, Cervone, and John [ 5 ] defined five factors as follows: (1) Conscientiousness includes a sense of duty, persistence, and behavior that is self-disciplined and goal-directed. The descriptors organized, responsible, and efficient are typically used to describe conscientious persons. (2) Extraversion is characterized by the quantity and intensity of interpersonal relationships, as well as sensation seeking. The descriptors sociable, assertive, and energetic are typically used to describe extraverted persons. (3) Openness to experience incorporates autonomous thinking and willingness to examine unfamiliar ideas and try new things. The descriptors inquisitive, philosophical, and innovative are typically used to describe persons open to experience. (4) Agreeableness is quantified along a continuum from social antagonism to compassion in one’s quality of interpersonal interactions. The descriptors inquisitive, kind, considerate, and generous are often used to describe persons characterized by agreeableness. (5) Finally, neuroticism tends to indicate negative emotions . Persons showing neuroticism are often described as moody, nervous, or touchy.

This construct has appeared to consistently predict individual differences between university students. Prior research has documented its essential role in explaining differences in achievement [ 6 , 7 ], motivational states [ 8 ], students’ learning approaches [ 9 ], self-regulated learning [ 10 ].

Five-factor model, self-regulation, achievement emotions and health

The relationship between the Big Five factors and self-regulation has been analyzed historically with much interest [ 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 ]. The dimensions of the five-factor model describe fundamental ways in which people differ from one another [ 16 , 17 ]. Of the five factors, conscientiousness may be the best reflection of self-regulation capacity. More recent research has shown consistent evidence of the relationship between these two constructs, especially conscientiousness, which has a positive relationship, and neuroticism, which has a negative relationship with self-regulation [ 18 , 19 ]. The Big Five factors are also related to coping strategies [ 20 ].

The evidence on the role of the five-factor model in self-regulation, achievement emotions, and health has been fairly consistent. On the one hand, self-regulation has a confirmed role as a meta-cognitive variable that is present in students’ mental health problems [ 21 ]. Similarly, personality factors and types of perfectionism have been associated with mental health in university students [ 22 ]. In a complementary fashion, one longitudinal study has shown that personality factors have a persistent effect on self-regulation and health. Sirois and Hirsch [ 23 ] confirmed that the Big Five traits affect balance and health behaviors.

Self-regulation, achievement emotions and health

Self-regulation has recently been considered a significant behavioral meta-ability that regulates other skills in the university environment. It has consistently appeared to be a predictor of achievement emotions [ 24 ], coping strategies [ 25 ], and health behavior [ 26 ]. In the context of university learning, the level of self-regulation is a determining factor in learning approaches, motivation and achievement [ 27 ]. Similarly, the self- vs. externally regulated behavior theory [ 27 , 28 ] assumes that the continuum of self-regulation can be divided into three types: (1) self-regulation behavior, which is the meta-behavior or meta-skill of planning and executing control over one’s behavior; (2) nonregulation behavior (deregulation) , where consistent self-regulating behavior is absent; and (3) nonregulation behavior, when regulatory behavior is maladaptive or contrary to what is expected. Some example behaviors are presented below, and these have already been documented (see Table  1 ). Recently, Beaulieu and collaborators [ 29 ] proposed a self-dysregulation latent profile for describing subjects with lower scores on subscales regarding extraversion, agreeableness and conscientiousness and higher scores concerning negative emotional facets.

Table  1 here.

Consequently, the question that we pose - as yet unresolved - is whether the different personality factors predict a determined type of regulation on the continuum of regulatory behavior, nonregulatory (deregulatory) behavior and dysregulatory behavior, based on evidence.

Aims and hypotheses

Based on the existing evidence, the aim of this study was to establish a structural predictive model that would order personality factors along a continuum as predictors of university students’ regulatory behavior. The following hypotheses were proposed for this purpose: (1) personality factors differentially predict students’ regulatory, nonregulatory and dysregulatory behavior during academic learning; they also differentially determine students’ type of emotional states (positive vs. negative affect); (2) the preceding factors differentially predict achievement emotions (positive vs. negative) during learning, coping strategies (problem-focused vs. emotion-focused) and motivational state (engagement vs. burnout); and (3) all these factors ultimately predict student health, either positively or negatively, depending on their regulatory or dysregulatory nature.

Participants

Data were gathered from 2019 to 2022, encompassing a total of 626 undergraduate students enrolled in Psychology, Primary Education, and Educational Psychology programs across two Spanish universities. Within this cohort, 85.5% were female, and 14.5% were male, with ages ranging from 19 to 24 years and a mean age of 21.33 years. The student distribution was equal between the two universities, with 324 attending one and 318 attending the other. The study employed an incidental, nonrandomized design. The guidance departments at both universities extended invitations for teacher participation, and teachers, in turn, invited their students to partake voluntarily, ensuring anonymity. Questionnaires were completed online for each academic subject, corresponding to the specific teaching-learning process.

Instruments

Five personality factors.

The Big Five Questionnaire [ 30 ], based on the version by Barbaranelli et al. [ 31 ], assessed scores for five personality factors. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) of the 67 scale items resulted in a five-factor structure aligned with the Big Five Model. The outcomes demonstrated satisfactory psychometric properties and acceptable fit indices. The second-order confirmatory model exhibited a good fit (chi-square = 38.273; degrees of freedom (20–15) = 5; p  > 0.10; chi/df = 7.64; RMR = 0.0425; NFI = 0.939; RFI = 0.917; IFI = 0.947; TLI = 0.937; CFI = 0.946; RMSEA = 0.065; HoeLength index = 2453 ( p  < 0.05) and 617 ( p  < 0.01)). Internal consistency of the total scale was also strong (alpha = 0.956; Part 1 = 0.932 and Part 2 = 0.832; Spearman-Brown = 0.962 and Guttman = 0.932).

Self-Regulation : The Short Self-Regulation Questionnaire (SSRQ) [ 32 ] gauged self-regulation. The Spanish adaptation, previously validated in Spanish samples [ 33 ], encompassed four factors measured by a total of 17 items. Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed a consistent factor structure (chi-square = 845.593; df = 113; chi/df = 7.483; RMSM = 0.0299; CFI = 0.959, GFI = 0.94, AGFI = 0.96, RMSEA = 0.059). Validity and reliability values (Cronbach’s alpha) were deemed acceptable (total (α = 0.86; Omega = 0.843); goal-setting planning (α = 0.79; Omega = 0.784); perseverance (α = 0.78; Omega = 0.779); decision-making (α = 0.72; Omega = 0.718); and learning from mistakes (α = 0.72; Omega = 0.722)), comparable to those of the English version. Example statements include: “I usually keep track of my progress toward my goals,” “In regard to deciding about a change, I feel overwhelmed by the choice,” and “I learn from my mistakes.”

Positive-negative affect

The Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS-N) [ 34 ], validated with university students, assessed positive and negative affect. The PANAS comprises two factors and 20 items, demonstrating a consistent confirmatory factor structure (chi-square = 1111.147; df = 169; chi/df = 6.518; RMSM = 0.0346; CFI = 0.955, GFI = 0.963, AGFI = 0.96, RMSEA = 0.058). Validity and reliability values (Cronbach’s alpha) were acceptable (total (α = 0.891; Omega = 0.857); positive affect (α = 0.8199; Omega = 0.784); and negative affect (α = 0.795; Omega = 0.776), comparable to those of the English version. Sample items include “I am a lively person, I usually get excited; I have bad moods (I get upset or irritated).”

Learning Achievement Emotion : The variable was measured using the Spanish version [ 35 ] of the Achievement Emotions Questionnaire (AEQ-Learning) [ 36 ], encompassing nine emotions (enjoyment, hope, pride, relief, anger, anxiety, hopelessness, shame, and boredom). Emotions were classified based on valence (positive or negative) and activation (activating or deactivating), resulting in four quadrants. Another classification considered the source or trigger: the ongoing activity, prospective outcome, or retrospective outcome. Psychometric properties were adequate, and the confirmatory model displayed a good fit (chi-square = 529.890; degrees of freedom = 79; chi/df = 6.70; SRMR = 0.053; p  > 0.08; NFI = 0.964; RFI = 0.957; IFI = 0.973; TLI = 0.978, CFI = 0.971; RMSEA = 0.080; HOELTER = 165 ( p  < 0.05) and 178 ( p  < 0.01)). Good internal consistency was found for the total scale (Alpha = 0.939; Part 1 = 0.880, Part 2 = 0.864; Spearman-Brown = 0.913 and 884; Guttman = 0.903). Example items include Item 90: “I am angry when I have to study”; Item 113: “My sense of confidence motivates me”; and Item 144: “I am proud of myself”.

Engagement-Burnout : Engagement was assessed using a validated Spanish version of the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale for Students [ 37 ], demonstrating satisfactory psychometric properties for Spanish students. The model displayed good fit indices, with a second-order structure comprising three factors: vigor, dedication, and absorption. Scale unidimensionality and metric invariance were verified in the samples assessed (chi-square = 592.526, p  > 0.09; df = 84, chi/df = 7.05; SRMR = 0.034; TLI = 0.976, IFI = 0.954, and CFI = 0.923; RMSEA = 0.083; HOELTER = 153, p  < 0.05; 170 p  < 0.01). Cronbach’s alpha for this sample was 0.900 (14 items); the two parts of the scale produced values of 0.856 (7 items) and 0.786 (7 items).

Burnout : The Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) [ 38 ], in its validated Spanish version, was employed to assess burnout. This version exhibited adequate psychometric properties for Spanish students. Good fit indices were obtained, with a second-order structure comprising three factors: exhaustion or depletion, cynicism, and lack of effectiveness. Scale unidimensionality and metric invariance were confirmed in the samples assessed (chi-square = 567.885, p  > 0.010, df = 87, chi/df = 6.52; SRMR = 0.054; CFI = 0.956, IFI = 0.951, TLI = 0.951; RMSEA = 0.071; HOELTER = 224, p  < 0.05; 246 p  < 0.01). Cronbach’s alpha for this sample was 0.874 (15 items); the two parts of the scale were 0.853 (8 items) and 0.793 (7 items).

Strategies for coping with academic stress : The Coping Strategies Scale (Escala Estrategias de Coping - EEC) [ 39 ] was utilized in its original version. Constructed based on the Lazarus and Folkman questionnaire [ 40 ] using theoretical-rational criteria, the original 90-item instrument resulted in a 64-item first-order structure. The second-order structure comprised 10 factors and two significant dimensions. A satisfactory fit was observed in the second-order structure (chi-square = 478.750; degrees of freedom = 73, p  > 0.09; chi/df = 6.55; RMSR = 0.052; NFI = 0.901; RFI = 0.945; IFI = 0.903, TLI = 0.951, CFI = 0.903). Reliability was confirmed with Cronbach’s alpha values of 0.93 (complete scale), 0.93 (first half), and 0.90 (second half); Spearman-Brown coefficient of 0.84; and Guttman coefficient of 0.80. Two dimensions and 11 factors were identified: (1) Dimension: emotion-focused coping—F1. Fantasy distraction; F6. Help for action; F8. Preparing for the worst; F9. Venting and emotional isolation; F11. Resigned acceptance. (2) Dimension: problem-focused coping—F2. Help seeking and family counsel; F10. Self-instructions; F10. Positive reappraisal and firmness; F12. Communicating feelings and social support; F13. Seeking alternative reinforcement.

Student Health Behavior : The Physical and Psychosocial Health Inventory [ 41 ] measured this variable, summarizing the World Health Organization (WHO) definition of health: “Health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” The inventory focused on the impact of studies, with questions such as “I feel anxious about my studies.” Students responded on a Likert scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). In the Spanish sample, the model displayed good fit indices (CFI = 0.95, GFI = 0.96, NFI = 0.94; RMSEA = 0.064), with a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.82.

All participants provided informed consent before engaging in the study. The completion of scales was voluntary and conducted through an online platform. Over two academic years, students reported on five distinct teaching-learning processes, each corresponding to a different university subject they were enrolled in during this period. Students took their time to answer the questionnaires gradually throughout the academic year. The assessment for Presage variables took place in September-October of 2018 and 2019, Process variables were assessed in the subsequent February-March, and Product variables were evaluated in May-June. The procedural steps were ethically approved by the Ethics Committee under reference 2018.170, within the broader context of an R&D Project spanning 2018 to 2021.

Data analysis

The ex post facto design [ 42 ] of this cross-sectional study involved bivariate association analyses, multiple regression, and structural predictions (SEMs). Preliminary analyses were executed to ensure the appropriateness of the parameters used in the analyses, including tests for normality (Kolmogorov-Smirnov), skewness, and kurtosis (+-0.05).

Multiple regression

Hypothesis 1 was evaluated using multiple regression analysis through SPSS (v. 26).

Confirmatory factor analysis

To test Hypotheses 2 and 3, a structural equation model (SEM) was employed in this sample. Model fit was assessed by examining the chi-square to degrees of freedom ratio, along with RMSEA (root mean square error of approximation), NFI (normed fit index), CFI (comparative fit index), GFI (goodness-of-fit index), and AGFI (adjusted goodness-of-fit index) [ 43 ]. Ideally, all these values should surpass 0.90. The adequacy of the sample size was confirmed using the Hoelter index [ 44 ]. These analyses were conducted using AMOS (v.22).

Prediction results

The predictive relationships exhibited a continuum along two extremes. On the one hand, conscientiousness, extraversion and openness were significant, graded, and positive predictors of self-regulation. On the other hand, Agreeableness and Neuroticism were negative, graded predictors of self-regulation. A considerable percentage of explained variance was observed ( r 2  = 0.499). The most meaningful finding, however, is that this predictive differential grading is maintained for the rest of the variables analyzed: positive affect ( r 2  = 0.571) and negative affect ( r 2  = 0.524), achievement emotions during study, engagement burnout, problem- and emotion-focused coping strategies, and student health. See Table  2 .

Structural prediction results

Structural prediction model.

Three models were tested. Model 1 proposes the exclusive prediction of personality factors on the rest of the factors, not including self-regulation. Model 2 evaluated the predictive potential of self-regulation on the factors of the Big Five model. Model 3 tested the ability of the Big Five personality traits to predict self-regulation and the other factors. The latter model presented adequate statistical values. These models are shown in Table  3 .

Models of the linear structural results of the variables

Direct effects.

The statistical effects showed a direct, significant, positive predictive effect of the personality factors C (Conscientiousness) and E (Extraversion) on self-regulation. The result for factor O (openness to experience) was not significant. Factors A (agreeableness) and N (neuroticism) were negatively related, especially the latter. In a complementary fashion, factors C and E showed significant, positive predictions of positive affect, while O and A had less strength. Factor N most strongly predicted negative affect.

Moreover, self-regulation positively predicted positive achievement emotions during study and negatively predicted negative achievement emotions. Positive affect predicted positive emotions during study, engagement, and problem-focused coping strategies; negative affect predicted negative emotions during study, burnout, and emotion-focused strategies. Positive emotions during study negatively predict negative emotions and burnout. Engagement positively predicted problem-focused coping and negatively predicted burnout. Finally, problem-focused coping also predicted emotion-focused coping. Emotion-focused coping negatively predicts health and well-being.

Indirect effects

The Big Five factors exhibited consistent directionality. Factors C and E positively predicted positive emotions, engagement, problem-focused coping, and health and negatively predicted negative emotions and burnout. Factor O had low prediction values in both negative and positive cases. Factors A and N were positive predictors of negative emotions during study, burnout, emotion-focused coping and health, while the opposite was true for factors C and E. These factors had positive predictive effects on self-regulation, positive affect, positive emotions during study, engagement, problem-focused strategies and health; in contrast, the other factors had negative effects on negative affect, negative emotions during study, burnout, emotion-focused strategies and health. See Table  4 ; Fig.  1 .

SEM of prediction in the variables Note. C = Conscientiousness; E = Extraversion; O = Openness to experience; A = Agreeableness; N = Neuroticism; SR = Self-Regulation; Pos.A = Positive Affect; Neg.A = Negative Affect; Pe.S = Positive emotions during study; Ne.S = Negative emotions during study; ENG = Engagement; BURN = Burnout; EFCS = Emotion-focused coping strategies; PFCS = Problem-focused coping strategies: HEALTH: Health behavior.

Based on the Self- vs. External-Regulation theory [ 27 , 28 ], the aim of this study was to show, differentially, the regulatory, nonregulatory or dysregulatory power of the Big Five personality factors with respect to study behaviors, associated emotionality during study, motivational states, and ultimately, student health behavior.

Regarding Hypothesis 1 , the results showed a differential, graded prediction of the Big Five personality factors affecting both self-regulation and affective states. The results from the logistic and structural regression analyses showed a clear, graded pattern from the positive predictive relationship of C to the negative predictive relationship of N. On the one hand, they showed the regulatory effect (direct and indirect) of factors C and E, the nonregulatory effect of O, and the dysregulatory effect of factors A and especially N. This evidence offers a differential categorization of the five factors in an integrated manner. On the other hand, their effects on affective tone (direct and indirect) take the same positive direction in C and E, intermediate in the case of O, and negative in A and N. There is plentiful prior evidence that has shown this relationship, though only in part, not in the integrated manner of the model presented here [ 29 , 45 , 46 , 47 ].

Regarding Hypothesis 2 , the evidence shows that self-regulation directly and indirectly predicts affective states in achievement emotions during study. Directionality can be positive or negative according to the influence of C and E and of positive emotionality or of A and N with negative affect. This finding agrees with prior research [ 29 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 ].

Regarding Hypothesis 3 , the results have shown clear bidirectionality. Subsequent to the prior influence of personality factors and self-regulation, achievement emotions bring about the resulting motivational states of engagement-burnout and the use of different coping strategies (problem-focused vs. emotion-focused). Positive achievement emotions during study predicted a motivational state of engagement and problem-focused coping strategies and were positive predictors of health; however, negative emotions predicted burnout and emotion-focused coping strategies and were negative predictors of health. These results are in line with prior evidence [ 49 , 52 , 53 ]. Finally, we unequivocally showed a double, sequenced path of emotional variables and affective motivations in a process that ultimately and differentially predicts student health [ 54 , 55 ].

In conclusion, these results allow us to understand the predictive relationships involving these multiple variables in a holistic predictive model, while previous research has addressed this topic only in part [ 56 ]. We believe that these results lend empirical support to the sequence proposed by the SR vs. ER model [ 27 ]: the factors of conscientiousness and extraversion appear to be regulators of positive emotionality, engagement and health; openness to experience is considered to be nonregulating; and agreeableness and neuroticism are dysregulators of the learning process and precursors of negative emotionality and poorer student health [ 57 ]. New levels of detail—in a graded heuristic—have been added to our understanding of the relationships among the five-factor model, self-regulation, achievement emotions and health [ 23 ].

Limitations and research prospects

A primary limitation of this study was that the analysis focused exclusively on the student. The role of the teaching context, therefore, was not considered. Previous research has reported the role of the teaching process, in interaction with student characteristics, in predicting positive or negative emotionality in students [ 49 , 58 ]. However, such results do not undercut the value of the results presented here. Future research should further analyze potential personality types derived from the present categorization according to heuristic values.

Practical implications

The relationships presented may be considered a mental map that orders the constituent factors of the Five-Factor Model on a continuum, from the most adaptive (or regulatory) and deregulatory to the most maladaptive or dysregulatory. This information is very important for carrying out preventive intervention programs for students and for designing programs for those who could benefit from training in self-regulation and positivity. Such intervention could improve how students experience the difficulties inherent in university studies [ 47 , 59 ], another indicator of the need for active Psychology and Counseling Centers at universities.

Data availability

No datasets were generated or analysed during the current study.

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This research was funded by the R&D Project PID2022-136466NB-I00 and the R&D Project PGC2018-094672-B-I00. University of Navarra (Ministry of Science and Education, Spain), R&D Project UAL18-SEJ-DO31-A-FEDER (University of Almería, Spain), and the European Social Fund.

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Conceptualization, J.d.l.F and ELG; formal analysis and methodology, J.d.l.F and ELG.; project administration, J.d.l.F.; writing—original draft, J.d.l.F, PS, AG, BU, MP, and ELG; writing—review & editing, J.d.l.F, PS, AG, BU, MP and ELG. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

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Fuente, J.d.l., Sander, P., Garzón Umerenkova, A. et al. The big five factors as differential predictors of self-regulation, achievement emotions, coping and health behavior in undergraduate students. BMC Psychol 12 , 267 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-024-01768-9

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Received : 08 December 2023

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DOI : https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-024-01768-9

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