Interaction of Cognitive Appraisals of Stressful Events and Coping: Testing the Goodness of Hypothesis I

The present study investigated interactions between cognitive appraisals of, and coping with, stressful life events and their relationship with psychological symptomatology. Specifically, the "goodness o f f i t " between appraisals o f the controllability o f events and the use o f problemand emotion-focused coping was assessed for major life events and daily hassles. In relation to major life events, symptomatology was high when there was a poor f i t between appraisals and coping (e.g., trying to change a stressor that was appraised as uncontrollable) and low when there was a good f i t between appraisals and coping (e.g., palliating one's emotions when a stressor was perceived as uncontrollable). No effects were found in relation to daily hassles. Results were generally consistent with cognitive-transactional models o f stress and coping.