The Study of Coping

Abstract

A primary focus of this volume centers on a pivotal domain of the stress process; namely, those conditions having the capacity to blunt what would otherwise be the severe stressful impact of difficult life experiences. Generically, these conditions are referred to as mediators (or moderators). In addition to coping, they include social support, mastery or sense of control, self-esteem, and, potentially, various personality dispositions. Although my attention in this chapter is largely confined to coping, much of my discussion is equally applicable to other mediators. Regardless of the particular mediator that is under study, there is usually a single question that draws the interest of the researcher to it: Does it help to account for the fact that people experiencing the same stressors are differentially affected by them?