PROBLEM-FOCUSED VS. MEANING-FOCUSED COPING AS MEDIATORS OF THE APPRAISAL-ADJUSTMENT RELATIONSHIP IN CHRONIC STRESSORS

According to the transactional model of stress and coping, problem- and emotion-focused coping mediate the impact of appraisals on adjustment following stressful events; problem-focused coping appears to be particularly helpful. Recently,researchers suggested that. a third type of coping, meaning-focused, is helpful, perhaps more so than problem-focused coping, but little research has directly compared their effects, especially in the context of ongoing stressors. In this study, 181 undergraduate students reported on their most stressful ongoing stressor at three time points over two months, including their cognitive appraisals, coping, and adjustment (depressive symptoms and posttraumatic stress symptoms [PTSS]). We examined the extent to Which problem-focused and meaning-focused coping mediated the relationships between event appraisals and adjustment, controlling for initial distress. While most models tested demonstrated that initial distress drove the relationships, one model showed that problem-focused coping partially mediated the relationship between appraisals of controllability and PTSS.