TITLE:
Problem Solving Style and Coping Strategies: Effects of Perceived Stress
AUTHORS:
Margaraet Maghan
KEYWORDS:
Problem Solving Style VIEW, Coping, Stress, Creativity
JOURNAL NAME:
Creative Education,
Vol.8 No.14,
November
30,
2017
ABSTRACT: One hundred and seven community college students completedVIEW:An Assessment of Problem Solving Styleand theCOPE Inventory. They then were randomly assigned to one of three groups. Group 1 received a vignette of a more serious personal problem. A second group was given a vignette depicting a less stressful problem situation. The third group was given a simple passage about a geography topic. OnVIEW, Developer- and Internal problem-solving-styled participants across all conditions reported higher stress ratings, suggesting greater sensitivity to stressful situations. Additionally, there were significant correlations between theVIEWandCOPEscores, suggesting that Explorer-, External-, and a Task-oriented problem-solving-styled individuals were more likely to use Restraint as a coping strategy, all of which suggest that in the context of a personal problem, individuals may be more likely to recognize that any solution will take time to solve, perhaps requiring “new thinking” (Explorer style), help from others (External style), and “hard” choices to be made (a Task-oriented decision-making style).