• DOI:10.1037//0022-3514.50.5.992
• Corpus ID: 31847507

Dynamics of a stressful encounter: cognitive appraisal, coping, and encounter outcomes.

@article{Folkman1986DynamicsOA,
  title={Dynamics of a stressful encounter: cognitive appraisal, coping, and encounter outcomes.},
  author={Susan Folkman and R S Lazarus and Christine Dunkel-Schetter and Anita DeLongis and Rand J. Gruen},
  journal={Journal of personality and social psychology},
  year={1986},
  volume={50 5},
  pages={
          992-1003
        }
}

• S. Folkman, R. Lazarus, +2 authors R. Gruen
• Published 1 May 1986
• Psychology
• Journal of personality and social psychology

Despite the importance that is attributed to coping as a factor in psychological and somatic health outcomes, little is known about actual coping processes, the variables that influence them, and their relation to the outcomes of the stressful encounters people experience in their day-to-day lives. This study uses an intraindividual analysis of the interrelations among primary appraisal (what was at stake in the encounter), secondary appraisal (coping options), eight forms of problem- and emotion-focused coping, and encounter outcomes in a sample of community-residing adults. Coping was strongly related to cognitive appraisal; the forms of coping that were used varied depending on what was at stake and the options for coping. Coping was also differentially related to satisfactory and unsatisfactory encounter outcomes. The findings clarify the functional relations among appraisal and coping variables and the outcomes of stressful encounters.