Coping Challenges pf Aging and Fear of Death

We all face coping challenges of varying intensity in our lives, and the ways in which we meet these has been the focus of much psychological research. Most researchers have been interested in finding out which coping skills or styles are most effective in dealing with a given problem and in mediating the stress-strain relationship. In this paper I will examine four recent research studies exploring the coping challenges presented by aging and the fear of death, living with chronic ulcerative colitis, acting as the primary caregiver for an Alzheimer's patient, and being a single mother.

Goebel & Boeck (1987) studied the relationship between Ericksonian stage theory and coping with the fear of death. Specifically, they tested the hypothesis that the level of resolution of Erickson's ego integrity versus despair stage is inversely related to the fear of death in older adults. In other words, they expected that a high level of ego integrity would lead to (or at least be significantly correlated with less fear of death; a low level of ego integrity was expected to be associated with a greater fear of death.

Goebel & Boeck (1987) were also interested in the effect that a major life event/stressor such as institutionalization would have on the fear of death. They hypothesized that being in an institution would lead to a greater fear of death because of the lack of personal control, reduced social supports, and ever-present evidence of death.

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entify the most and least common styles, and the most and least effective styles (by which I mean the most or least conducive to overall well-being). The most common coping styles were inhibited, sensitive, and cooperative: the least common were forceful, introversive, and sociable. The most effective styles were cooperative and sensitive: the least effective were forceful and introversive (Alberts, Lyons, & Anderson, 1988). Both of the most effective and two of the most common coping styles were of the Type B variety. The researchers speculated that because the disease is so unpredictable and uncontrollable, it might be more adaptive to alter the feelings and perceptions rather than to try to fight the disease itself, as a forceful style might dictate. The cooperative style is by far the most conducive to global well-being, possibly because its focus is on satisfaction in interpersonal relationships; the satisfactory doctor-patient relationship entails reporting all symptoms to the doctor and following the doctor's advice. This leads to the patient experiencing the least possible discomfort (as reflected in perceived illness improvement and effectiveness of treatment) and having the best prognosis (Alberts, Lyons, & Ander

Category: Psychology - C