Date of Award

1-1-2016

Language

English

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

College/School/Department

Department of Psychology

Program

Industrial/Organizational Psychology

Content Description

1 online resource (ii, 45 pages) : illustrations (some color)

Dissertation/Thesis Chair

Michael T Ford

Committee Members

Sylvia Roch

Keywords

Coping, Episodic stressor, Perceived control, Personality, Stress, Transactional Model, Stress (Psychology), Test anxiety, Stress management, College students, Adjustment (Psychology)

Subject Categories

Psychology

Abstract

Stress is a dynamic process. For episodic task-related stressors, four stages – the anticipatory stage, the confronting stage, the waiting stage, and the outcome stage – can be defined. Using a student sample, in this study I employed a longitudinal design to examine how exam-related coping unfolds across these stages, how perceived control predicts the use of coping strategies, and how personality moderates the relations between perceived control and the selection of coping strategies. The results show that across time behavioral disengagement and substance use had a convex trajectory, and that seeking of emotional social support and positive reinterpretation had e a concave trajectory. Perceived present control was positively related to positive reinterpretation, and negatively related to restraint, denial, religious coping, venting of emotion, behavioral disengagement, and substance use. Future control was positively related to active coping, planning, and positive reinterpretation, and negatively related to restraint, denial, venting of emotion, behavioral disengagement, and substance use. Neuroticism moderated the relations between present control and planning and positive reinterpretation, and those between future control and restraint, positive reinterpretation, acceptance, and venting of emotion. Aside from relations between future control and restraint, these relations were all weaker for individuals high in neuroticism than for individuals low in neuroticism. These results contribute to the field’s understanding of dynamic stress, appraisal, and coping processes.

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