II-6 Coping with Stress

Question 1

Describe the relationship between perceived control and health

Answer 1

The feeling that one has control in one’s life keeps people from adopting risky behavior, leads to emotional well-being, increases the likelihood of adopting good health habits, and results in better immune response.

Question 2

Compare the following coping styles: avoidant vs. confrontative, problem-solving vs. emotion-focused.

Answer 2

Avoidant vs. confrontative coping: Some people cope with a threatening event by keeping their problems and worries to themselves and not dealing with them directly. Others cope by gathering information, discussing the situation, and taking direct action. Neither is more effective overall than the other in managing stress. Confrontative coping is more effective if one can focus on information rather than negative emotions, whereas avoidant coping is better for dealing with short-term stressors.
Problem-focused vs. emotion-focused: Problem-focused coping involves attempts to do something constructive to change stressful conditions. Emotion-focused coping involves efforts to regulate emotions experienced because of the stressful event. Problem-focused coping is effective for dealing with conditions that are under one’s control but can increase stress levels when a situation is uncontrollable. Some emotion-focused coping strategies are more effective than others: Ones that involve rumination, which is focusing on and replaying negative thoughts and feelings, can be detrimental to health. Buth those that involve clarifying and working through the emotions experienced in conjunection with a stressor can improve adjustment and response to treatment for conditions such as chronic illness, chronic pain, and various types of cancer.

Question 3

Discuss the effects of disclosure on stress and illness

Answer 3

Discussing and disclosing one’s emotional response to a stressor can have dramatic health benefits, including long-term beneficial effects on immune functioning. For instance, individuals who write about traumatic events in their lives have fewer health issues six months later. Also, talking about the death one’s spouse reduces the likelihood of illness for as long as two years following the loss.

Question 4

coping style

Answer 4

• An individual’s preferred method of dealing with stressful situations.

Question 5

avoidant (minimizing) coping style

Answer 5

The tendency to cope with threatening events by withdrawing, minimizing, or avoiding them; believed to be an effective short-term, though not an effective long-term, response to stress.

Question 6

approach (confrontative) coping style

Answer 6

The tendency to cope with stressful events by tackling them directly and attempting to develop solutions; may ultimately be an especially effective method of coping, although it may produce accompanying distress.