Exploring the relationship between primary appraisal and coping using a work setting

This research explores the relationship between primary appraisal and copin g. More particularly, it examines the proposal that the use of a coping str ategy will differ depending on the nature of the primary appraisal. This re search used a sample of 174 civic administration workers and measures speci fically designed to capture primary appraisal and coping. Using both regres sion analysis and structural equation modeling, the findings of this study suggest that the role of primary appraisal may need to be considered from a number of perspectives. In terms of the appraisal-coping relationship thes e would include, first the consistency or sense of "congruence" between app raisal and coping strategies. Second, whether coping could be activated wit hout appraisal; and third, whether a more complex relationship between appr aisal and coping exists, such that coping is dependent on whether the relat ionship is either stressor or appraisal "dominated." The results point to t wo other issues that need further examination. These are the way in which d ifferent coping strategies are used in combination and the relationship bet ween appraisal and coping when an event is appraised in a number of differe nt ways.