Managing Your Stress
How Do You Cope?
Briefly describe a situation that you experienced recently that you considered stressful. Answer these questions:
What was the event?
What made it stressful to you?
Indicate by using this 0–4 scale which methods of coping you found useful:
0 = Not used
1 = Used somewhat
2 = Used quite a bit
3 = Used a great deal
(NOTE TO STUDENT: A “P” indicates problem-focused; an “E” indicates emotion-focused.)
____ 1. Tried to get the person responsible to change his or her mind. (P)
____ 2. Tried to keep my feelings to myself. (E)
____ 3. Criticized or lectured myself. (E)
____ 4. Changed or grew as a person in a good way. (E)
____ 5. Stood my ground and fought for what I wanted. (P)
____ 6. Knew what had to be done, so I doubled my efforts to make things work. (P)
____ 7. Found new faith. (E)
____ 8. Made a plan of action and followed it. (P)
____ 9. Refused to believe it had happened. (E)
____ 10. Came up with a couple of different solutions to the problem. (P)
Scoring: Add up the scores for P and E to indicate which method, if any, is predominantly used.
Source: Folkman, S., & Lazarus, R. (1984). Stress, appraisal, and coping. New York: Springer.