Stress Appraisals and Coping

Stress Appraisals and Coping

Overview of Stress Appraisals

  • Definition: Stress appraisal refers to the cognitive process where individuals assess the significance of a stressor in relation to their resources and well-being.

Key Concepts

What is a Cognitive Appraisal?

  • A mental process where people evaluate a situation through two key questions:

    1. Does the demand threaten my physical or mental resources?

    2. Do I have the resources available to meet these demands?

Eliciting Event Structure

  • STRESSOR: A triggering event that initiates the appraisal process.

  • Emotion: Resulting feelings based on the appraisal.

  • SUBJECTIVE APPRAISAL: Individual perception of the stressor.

  • STRESS RESPONSE: Physiological and behavioral responses to stress.

Primary Appraisals

Importance of Primary Appraisal:

  • Evaluates whether the stressor will affect:

    • Short- or long-term well-being?

    • Goals – Does it enhance or preserve well-being?

    • Positive/Goal Congruent: Enhances well-being.

    • Negative/Goal Incongruent: Detracts from well-being.

    • Irrelevant: Does not impact well-being at all.

Factors Influencing Primary Appraisal
Predictability

  • Definition: The degree to which an event can be foreseen.

    • Knowing when something will happen generally reduces stress responses.

    • Less effective for:

    • Frequent stressors.

    • Rare stressors.

    • Vague information.

Control

  • Definition: The belief in one’s ability to influence outcomes in one’s environment.

  • Having control generally reduces stress responses.

    • Importance of perception of control:

    • Whether one feels in control can impact stress, regardless of actual control.

    • Misguided sense of control may exacerbate stress, particularly in severe circumstances.

Types of Control

  1. Primary Control: Attempting to change one's environment.

  2. Secondary Control: Fitting into the environment or adapting to changes (Rothbaum, Weisz, Snyder, 1982).

Health Implications of Control

  • Personal Control Benefits:

    • Older adults with a strong sense of control in significant roles have lower mortality rates during follow-up periods.

    • Nursing home residents taught self-control strategies demonstrated increased longevity.

    • Control over environmental aspects correlates with better health and lower mortality (Alexander et al., 1989; Krause & Shaw, 2000; Rodin & Langer, 1977).

Too Much Control?

  • Potential downside of excessive control:

    • Can result in eating disorders.

    • Emphasizing personal responsibility in health outcomes may imply recurrence is a personal failure (Gray & Doan, 1990; Spiegel, 1991).

Secondary Appraisal

Definition

  • The evaluation of coping resources and options in response to a stressor.

    • Assets Evaluated: Consideration of:

    • Demands of the situation

    • Social Environment: Drawing on support networks for information, tangible help, and emotional support.

    • Material Resources: Financial or physical resources available.

    • Psychological Resources: Mental resilience and coping capabilities.

Coping Processes

  • Definition of Coping: The process of managing demands deemed taxing or exceeding personal resources.

  • Two categories of coping:

    1. Problem-focused Coping: Engaging in constructive action to address the problem.

    2. Emotion-focused Coping: Regulating emotional responses to a situation.

Coping Strategies

Emotion-Focused vs. Problem-Focused
Situational Contexts for Each Approach

  1. Emotion-Focused Coping:

    • Necessary when:

      • Acceptance is required.

      • Stressor is over or unchangeable.

      • Individual lacks resources.

  2. Problem-Focused Coping:

    • Necessary when:

      • Stressor is changeable.

      • Individual believes they possess or can obtain resources.

      • Actions can constructively change the circumstance.

Adaptiveness of Each Approach

  • Adaptive strategies often depend on the specific context of the stressor.

  • Emotional regulation may sometimes take precedence over direct problem-solving.

Coping Activities

  • Reflect on the most stressful event experienced in the past month and assess the frequency of employing various coping strategies:

    • Strategies:

    1. Positively reframing the situation.

    2. Breaking tasks down into manageable steps.

    3. Gaining objectivity by taking a step back.

    4. Taking proactive measures.

    5. Increasing physical activity or exercise.

    6. Discussing feelings with friends.

    7. Withholding one’s emotions.

    8. Resorting to negative coping (e.g., substance use).

    9. Denial of the stressor.

Interpretation of Outcomes

  • Responses classified as emotion-focused or problem-focused:

    • Emotion-focused: Items 1, 5, 7, 8, and 9.

    • Problem-focused: Items 2, 4, and 6.

Coping as a Dynamic Process

  • Key Characteristics:

    • Coping involves both the appraisal stage and ongoing strategies during and after experiencing a stress response.

    • No single coping method is consistently effective or ineffective across situations.

Proactive Coping

Definition

  • Proactive Coping: Efforts made in advance to either prevent or lessen the impact of potential stressors (Aspinwall & Taylor, 1997; Sansone & Berg, 1993).

Steps for Proactive Coping

  1. Resource Accumulation: Preparation for identified stressors.

  2. Detection and Appraisal of Potential Stressors: Ability to foresee and evaluate threats.

  3. Eliciting Feedback: Seeking input to improve coping frameworks.