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Age differences and changes in the use of coping mechanisms
1Personality, Stress, and Coping Section, Gerontology Research Center, Baltimore, MD 21224.
Journal of Gerontology
|November 1, 1989
Summary
Aging appears to have minimal impact on coping behaviors. Individual differences in coping mechanisms show modest stability over time, suggesting enduring personal characteristics influence responses.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Gerontology
- Behavioral Science
Background:
- Coping strategies are crucial for navigating life events.
- Understanding age-related changes in coping is important for psychological well-being.
- Previous research suggested potential age differences in coping.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the impact of aging on coping mechanisms.
- To examine the stability of individual differences in coping over time.
- To differentiate between age effects and cohort effects on coping.
Main Methods:
- Longitudinal analysis of two cross-sectional studies on coping.
- Data collected from 405 individuals initially in 1980, with 191 retested in 1987.
- Subjects reported on stressful events (loss, threat, challenge) and their coping responses.
Main Results:
- Cross-sectional analyses indicated some age or cohort differences in coping mechanisms.
- Longitudinal and cross-sequential analyses did not consistently support these age-related changes.
- Modest retest correlations suggested stability in individual coping differences.
Conclusions:
- Aging has a limited effect on coping behavior in community-dwelling adults.
- Enduring individual characteristics significantly influence coping responses.
- Coping strategies are relatively stable throughout adulthood.