Citation

Kraaij V, Garnefski N, Maes S. Anxiety Stress Coping 2002; 15(2): 163-177.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2002, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/10615800290028468

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The objective of the present study was to examine the joint effects of stress, coping, and coping resources in predicting depressive symptoms. A community sample comprising 194 people aged 65 and older was interviewed. Task-oriented coping and emotion-oriented coping both appeared to be directly related to depressive symptoms. In addition, emotion-oriented coping moderated the impact of stress to varying degrees, depending on the amount of stress experienced. Coping resources (social support and coping self-efficacy) also were directly related to depressive symptoms. Furthermore, coping self-efficacy appeared to be related to the kind of coping strategies used. Respondents with higher coping self-efficacy used more task-oriented coping and less emotion-oriented coping. These findings suggest that it is advisable to include coping resources when studying stress-coping processes. Developing prevention and intervention programs aimed at teaching people adaptive coping strategies and helping them to build up their coping resources seems advisable.