THE EFFECTS OF COPING ON ADJUSTMENT - REEXAMINING THE GOODNESS-OF-FITMODEL OF COPING EFFECTIVENESS

The primary aim of the present study was to examine the extent to whic h the effects of coping on adjustment are moderated by levels of event controllability. Specifically, the research tested two revisions to t he goodness of fit model of coping effectiveness. First, it was hypoth esized that the effects of problem management coping (but not problem appraisal coping) would be moderated by levels of event controllabilit y. Second, it was hypothesized that the effects of emotion-focused cop ing would be moderated by event controllability, but only in the acute phase of a stressful encounter. To test these predictions, a longitud inal study was undertaken (185 undergraduate students participated in all three stages of the research). Measures of initial adjustment (low depression and coping efficacy) were obtained at Time 1. Four weeks l ater (Time 2), coping responses to a current or a recent stressor were assessed. Based on subjects' descriptions of the event, objective and subjective measures of event controllability were also obtained. Meas ures of concurrent and subsequent adjustment were obtained at Times 2 and 3 (two weeks later), respectively. There was only weak support for the goodness of fit model of coping effectiveness. The beneficial eff ects of a high proportion of problem management coping (relative to to tal coping efforts) on Time 3 perceptions of coping efficacy were more evident in high control than in low control situations. Other results of the research revealed that, irrespective of the controllability of the event, problem appraisal coping strategies and emotion-focused st rategies (escapism and self-denigration) were associated with high and low levels of concurrent adjustment, respectively. The effects of the se coping responses on subsequent adjustment were mediated through con current levels of adjustment.