A process-oriented perspective examining the relationships among daily coping, stress, and affect

We assess the daily relationships between age, three functional coping strategies, and positive and negative affect while accounting for the individual's cognitive appraisal of the severity and controllability of their encountered stressor. We collected 56 days of daily data from participants in the Notre Dame Study of Healthy & Well-Being assessing affect, the most bothersome event experienced each day, and coping strategies used to deal with that event (N = 371; Age 44-87; M = 67.41; SD = 8.87). Multi-level modeling allowed us to explore and compare the between- and within-person effects. The main effects revealed that coping strategies relate to affect differently. The interaction terms revealed that the effectiveness of each coping strategy depended on characteristics of the encountered stressor and/or characteristics of the individual. Average values of stress severity, Altering the Meaning, and Dispelling the Effects more strongly related to PA or NA than daily fluctuations on these constructs. Findings illustrate that certain coping strategies target affect differently. Approaching research questions regarding stress and coping with a process-oriented perspective, through the use of daily data, allows for a more thorough understanding of the real-time, lived relationships among the individual, stress, and coping.