A closer examination of the patterns when coping with work-related stress: Implications for measurement

There is no doubt as to the importance of coping as an explanatory construct when exploring the nature of stress. Nevertheless, understanding the ways in which coping strategies are used, in general, and the role and significance of different patterns of coping, in particular, has been somewhat hamp...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of occupational and organizational psychology 2003-12, Vol.76 (4), p.517-524
Main Author: Dewe, Philip
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anger
Anxiety
Assessment
Biological and medical sciences
Coping
Coping strategies
Emotions
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Industrial psychology
Job stress
Measurement techniques
Mental health
Mental stress
Occupational psychology
Occupational stress
Occupations
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Questionnaires
Standard deviation
Stress
Stress (Physiology)
Studies
Work condition. Job performance. Stress
Working conditions
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Summary:There is no doubt as to the importance of coping as an explanatory construct when exploring the nature of stress. Nevertheless, understanding the ways in which coping strategies are used, in general, and the role and significance of different patterns of coping, in particular, has been somewhat hampered by conventional measurement practices that involve the simple aggregation of coping strategies into mean scores. The aim of the present study was to explore coping patterns in relation to two emotions, anger and anxiety, using the score profiling technique of sequential tree analysis. The coping patterns to emerge reflected the ‘facilitating’, ‘inhibiting’ and ‘fallback’ role that coping strategies play. These results are discussed in terms of their implications for established measurement practices. If we are to better understand the nature of coping then researchers must now be prepared to take the next step forward and investigate coping using more person‐centred, daily process designs.
ISSN:0963-1798
2044-8325
DOI:10.1348/096317903322591613