The construct of coping pervades most areas of behavioral medicine research, yet there is relatively little convincing evidence that coping With problems affects subsequent adjustment. This proposal is based 1) on potential problems that have been identified with current questionnaire methods of assessing situationally-specific coping and 2) on the relatively limited amount of research exploring the efficacy of coping efforts. To address these issues, we propose a study of 420 community-dwelling adults who will participate over a four month period. Subjects will be currently experiencing either marital or work stress. For two 1 -week periods, each period separated by three months, subjects will assess their coping efforts to the ongoing problems 20 times per day using a handheld computer (experience sampling). In addition to reporting about stressors and coping, subjects will also report about their mood and other situational characteristics. Twice during each 1-week recording period subjects will have their blood pressures and heart rates taken in conjunction with each computer report using ambulatory blood pressure monitoring devices. During the week periods, subjects will also complete daily and weekly coping questionnaires so that the validity of the questionnaires may be evaluated. In summary, the data provided by this study will address issues about the validity of self-report, situation-specific coping questionnaires, will provide new data about coping efficacy and several outcome variables, and will provide new information about the coping process. Importantly, the study provides an intensive replication of previous studies and provides new data on coping in timeframes that have not previously been examined. The data may significantly affect the way that coping is assessed and provide important insights into the nature of the coping process and its relationship to health.
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