The impact of a sustained stress response on psychological and physical health is well established. However, the moderating role in this relationship of coping, and especially maladaptive avoidance coping, has been hampered by psychometric shortcomings in existing coping scales. Some of these shortcomings include generating items based on theory or face-validity alone, the extraction of too many factors, and the absence of confirmatory factor analytic (CFA) evidence for the obtained structure. This thesis describes the development of a new avoidance coping scale, the General and Specific Avoidance Questionnaire (GSAQ), to address these issues in multidimensional avoidance coping scales in particular. In contrast to previous scales, the GSAQ items were derived from a scenario technique which elicits responses from participants' experience. Exploratory factor analysis extracted a three-factor solution comprising General, Emotional, and Conflict Avoidance. The scales showed satisfactory reliability, and the structure was confirmed by CFA in independent English and Spanish samples. Concurrent validation and an exploration of differences between high and low avoiders showed that General Avoidance and Conflict Avoidance related to criterion measures in predictable ways, but Emotional Avoidance showed an unexpected pattern. An analysis of the role of avoidance coping in deliberate self-harm showed no statistically significant effects in a non-clinical university student sample, but the overall trend suggested that self-harmers do, on average, score higher on avoidance coping than non-self-harmers. A subsequent laboratory study introducing research participants to a mild laboratory stressor suggested that individuals who score high on avoidance coping showed greater cardiovascular reactivity compared to low conflict avoiders. The findings reported in this thesis show that the GSAQ is a reliable tool to use for future research on the role of multidimensional avoidance coping in psychological and physical health.

I conduct two experiments to examine the effects of different types of stress on individuals' willingness to cooperate. The experience of stress is characterized by the primary cognitive appraisal of threat. It activates the emotion of anxiety and induces stress coping behaviors. I posit that because different types of stress differ in terms of the secondary dimension of cognitive appraisal, the responsibility of possible failure, they lead to different stress coping behaviors in collaborative contexts. Based on the attribution of threat, I classify stress into two types, ego and external stress. Under ego stress, the possible failure is attributed to one's capabilities. Ego stressors, such as lack of skill, cause individuals to worry about their capabilities, posing a threat to goal achievement. I argue that ego stress motivates an individual to seek affiliations for joint protection. I provide experimental evidence that ego stress increases cooperation. Under external stress, on the other hand, the possible failure is attributed to factors in the environment. External stressors, such as environmental uncertainty, cause individuals to worry about threat related factors in the environment, which also may hinder goal achievement. I argue that external stress motivates people to avoid risks, including the risk of being exploited by a partner. I provide evidence that external stress reduces cooperation.

Stress är ett allt mer vanligt problem i dagens samhälle, och det finns tydlig forskning som visar att allt fler ungdomar drabbas av psykisk ohälsa. Syftet med studien var att undersöka hur ungdomar (18-19 år) på en gymnasieskola i Norrbotten upplevde stress och hur de beskrev att det påverkade dem. Två ungdomar valde att delta i studien. Dessa två ungdomar intervjuades och delade med sig av sina erfarenheter och upplevelser av stress, varpå intervjuerna bearbetades enligt kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Resultatet visade att det fanns ett flertal saker som bidrog till stress hos informanterna, bland annat press, krav och förväntningar på körkort samt ideal. Resultatet visar även upp en rad olika copingstrategier så som strukturering, planering och tid för återhämtning. Slutsatsen av resultatet visar att det finns en rad olika stressorer i ungdomars liv men att den är hanterbar om rätta copingstrategier används.

Tracking and addressing police members' effectiveness in areas that could impact on the standard of their services are important. Burnout, job stress and ways to cope are specific focus areas in this regard. Previous research indicates relationships between burnout, job stress and coping while such relationships in the SAPS in the Free State have not yet been investigated. The objectives of this research were to determine the reliability and validity of the MBI-GS for SAPS members in the Free State, and secondly to determine the relationship between job stress and burnout, and thirdly to determine whether coping strategies can moderate or mediate the relationship between job stress and burnout A stratified random sample of 332 police personnel in the Free State was taken. The Maslach Burnout Inventory - General Survey (MI-GS), Police Stress Inventory (PSI) and the Cope Questionnaire (COPE) were used as measuring instruments. Cronbach alpha coefficients, inter-item correlation coefficients, Pearson-product correlation coefficients and canonical correlation coefficients were used to analyse the data. Structural equation modelling (SEM) methods were used to construct coping models of burnout. Structural equation modelling confirmed a 3-factor model of burnout. All three factors showed acceptable internal consistencies. Job stress was associated with exhaustion, which led to cynicism. Job stress was independently related to lower levels of professional efficacy. Active coping and seeking emotional support moderate the relationship between job stress and professional efficacy. Avoidance moderates the relationship between job stress and exhaustion and mediates the relationship between job stress and cynicism. Recommendations for future research were made. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2004.

Heightened levels of stress are observed in mothers of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), yet little is known about the relationship between stress and coping in mothers of children recently diagnosed with an ASD. The objectives of this study were to determine the levels of maternal stress, identify coping strategies used by mothers, examine the relationship between stress and coping, and ascertain whether coping mediated the relationship between ASD symptom severity and subsequent maternal stress. Data on 128 mothers of children who had received a diagnosis of ASD in the last four months were examined. Results indicated that mothers presented with elevated levels of stress. With regards to coping, escape-avoidance and confrontive coping were positively correlated with stress, while seeking social support was negatively correlated with stress. Confrontive coping did not mediate the relationship between ASD symptom severity and maternal stress. Results confirm previous findings, while underscoring the importance of helping mothers understand the relationship between the coping strategies they adopt and the subsequent stress they experience.

Till Sverige kommer dagligen ensamkommande flyktingbarn som söker asyl. Barnen har ofta varit med om svåra upplevelser som påverkat dem svårt med psykisk ohälsa, ångest och oro som följd. Vissa av barnen placeras i familjehem men de flesta placeras på speciella boenden, så kallade HVB-hem. Syftet med denna studie var att ta reda på hur personalen på dessa boenden upplever sitt arbete och vilka copingstrategier de använder. Uppsatsen bygger på fyra intervjuer med personal från olika boenden i Västerbottniska kommuner. Intervjuerna visar på fördelar och nackdelar med arbetet samt vikten av goda copingstrategier och att ta hand om sig själv. Samtliga intervjupersoner beskriver hur träning, samtal med kollegor, handledning och vila är centralt för att de ska orka med och kunna prestera bra på sitt arbete. / Unaccompanied children seeking asylum arrive to Sweden every day. Many of the children have experienced trauma and are sometimes suffering from PTSD, anxiety or other psychiatric symptoms. These children are sometimes being placed in ordinary families but mostly they stay at residential care homes for children and young persons. In this essay we are interested in the staff at these homes. We wanted to find out how they experienced their work and how they coped with difficult situations. Through interviews we talked with four social workers, working at residential care homes in different municipalities in the north of Sweden. During the interviews the staff explained how they felt about their work, both the positive and the negative sides. Further results show that the staff uses coping strategies. They told us that especially exercise, talking to co-workers and rest is essential to do a good work.

No description available.

Syftet med studien var att undersöka: (1) vilka stressorer som elitgolfare exponeras för; (2) hur elitgolfare reagerar på stress samt (3) hur elitgolfare hanterar stress som uppkommer. Totalt deltog tio elitgolfare i studien, av vilka fem var kvinnor och fem var män. En semistrukturerad intervjuguide användes under personliga intervjuer. Intervjuerna analyserades genom en kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Resultatet som framkom i denna studie ligger huvudsakligen i linje med den tidigare forskningen som har gjorts inom området där stressreaktioner såsom nedstämdhet och frustration var frekvent förekommande bland elitgolfarna. Vidare visade resultatet att de flesta elitgolfare som deltog i studien använde sig av två olika former av copingstrategier. Emotionsfokuserad coping där bland annat acceptans var förekommande och problemfokuserad coping där målorienterad fokusering förekom mest frekvent. De mest förekommande stressorer som elitgolfarna belyste var egna förväntningar, omgivningens förväntningar samt undermåliga förberedelser inför en tävling.

The main purpose of this series of studies was to investigate the efficacy of attentional coping strategies in altering children's responses to a painful experience. After a review of the theoretical and empirical links between pain experience and attention, Studies 1-4 compared the efficacy of imagery-based strategies that focussed attention away from a painful experience (distraction) or towards a painful experience (sensory-focussing) on 7- to 14-year-old children??s responses to cold-pressor pain. Image calibration studies (Studies 1-2) ensured that the imagery interventions were matched for other important parameters including affect and vividness. Studies 3 and 4 found that imagery-based attentional coping strategies led to increased tolerance of cold-pressor pain relative to a no-treatment control. Study 3 found that younger children (7-9 years) had better pain outcomes when assigned to the distraction condition than the sensory-focussing condition. For older children (10-14 years) the efficacy of different attentional interventions depended on the degree to which the strategy matched the child's preferred use of distraction as a coping style, providing partial support for the congruence hypothesis. Studies 5-6 tested the novel hypothesis that provision of sensory information before a painful experience may enhance the efficacy of an attentional coping strategy such as distraction. In line with self-regulation theory, children who received preparatory sensory information as well as a distraction intervention showed longer pain tolerance, lower pain intensity ratings, and a trend towards less facial pain expressions than if they received either intervention alone. These findings are discussed in terms of key attentional theories, and theories of attentional development. Implications for theory, clinical practice and further research are also considered.

<p>Inom ambulanssjukvården utsätts personalen dagligen för olika stressmoment och detta kan leda till att ambulanssjuksköterskor drabbas av posttraumatiskt stress syndrom. Flera olika stressfaktorer påverkar arbetet och därmed den enskilde ambulanssjuksköterskans psykiska och fysiska hälsa. Syftet med denna litteraturstudie är att belysa yrkesrelaterade stressfaktorer inom ambulanssjukvården och vilka copingstrategier som ambulanssjuksköterskan använder sig av i sitt dagliga arbete. Studien har en deskriptiv design och genomfördes som en litteraturstudie. Vi har använt oss av tre olika databaser, PsycINFO, PubMed och CINAHL. Vi har använt oss av 10 artiklar, 3 artiklar med kvalitativ och 7 med kvantitativ ansats. Artiklarna var från Sverige och engelsktalande länder. Resultatet visar att traumatiska incidenter som involverar barn är de jobbigaste att hantera och att stress kan inverka negativt på individens psykiska och fysiska hälsa samt att detta kan få sociala konsekvenser.</p><p>Socialt stöd, kognitiva metoder samt humor är viktiga copingmetoder för att kunna hantera traumatiska incidenter.</p>