Interaction of cognitive avoidance coping and stress in predicting depression/anxiety

This study investigated (I) the moderating effects of gender and cognitive avoidance coping on the negative life events-depressive/anxious symptoms re lationship, and (2) the validity of the cognitive avoidance coping construc t. One hundred seventy-nine men and women completed the Coping Responses in ventory (CRI), Negative Life Events Questionnaire, and Beck Depression and Anxiety Inventories at Time I and 3 weeks Inter, at Time 2. A confirmatory factor analysis of the forts CRI Avoidant Coping subscales revealed that a two-factor model, comprising Cognitive and Behavioral Avoidance Coping, was superior so the one-factor model composed of Avoidant Coping. Multiple reg ression analyses revealed that high negative life event scores were predict ive of significant increases in symptoms among females who endorsed greater rise of cognitive avoidance coping, but not among males. Behavioral avoida nce coping was unrelated to changes in depressive and anxious symptoms.