Skip to main content

Active Coping

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research

Synonyms

Approach coping; Engagement coping; Problem-focused coping

Definition

Coping is defined as efforts to prevent or diminish threat, harm, and loss from a given event or to reduce the distress associated with those experiences. Several distinctions are made within this broad concept. Problem-focused coping, or active coping, is effort directed at the stressor itself: taking steps to remove or to evade it or to somehow diminish its impact if it cannot be evaded. Emotion-focused coping is aimed at minimizing the emotional distress that is triggered by stressful events.

Description

A person who must deal with an adversity is engaged in coping. Thus, the concept of coping is inextricably linked to stress. Stress exists whenever people confront situations that tax or exceed their ability to manage them (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984). Adversity takes several forms. Threat refers to the impending occurrence of an event that may have bad consequences. Harmrefers to the perception that bad...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Carver, C. S. (2007). Stress, coping, and health. In H. S. Friedman & R. C. Silver (Eds.), Foundations of health psychology (pp. 117–144). Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carver, C. S., & Connor-Smith, J. (2010). Personality and coping. Annual Review of Psychology, 61, 679–704.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lazarus, R. S., & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, appraisal, and coping. Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morling, B., & Evered, S. (2006). Secondary control reviewed and defined. Psychological Bulletin, 132, 269–296.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Park, C. L. (2010). Making sense of the meaning literature: An integrative review of meaning making and its effects on adjustment to stressful life events. Psychological Bulletin, 136(2), 257–301.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Park, C. L., & Folkman, S. (1997). Meaning in the context of stress and coping. Review of General Psychology, 1, 115–144.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Skinner, E. A., Edge, K., Altman, J., & Sherwood, H. (2003). Searching for the structure of coping: A review and critique of category systems for classifying ways of coping. Psychological Bulletin, 129, 216–269.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tennen, H., Affleck, G., Armeli, S., & Carney, M. A. (2000). A daily process approach to coping: Linking theory, research, and practice. American Psychologist, 55, 626–636.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Thomas C. Tsai .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Section Editor information

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2021 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Tsai, T.C., Carver, C.S., Kim, Y. (2021). Active Coping. In: Maggino, F. (eds) Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69909-7_17-2

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69909-7_17-2

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-69909-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-69909-7

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Social SciencesReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics