g to Sue, Sue and Sue (1994), stressors, especially if they persist over time, can lead to physical and/or psychoemotional depletion and debilitation. However, there is great variation in how people respond to stress. Several variables have been postulated to explain this variation in people's reactions to stress (e.g., type of stressor, number of stressors, length of exposure to stressor, etc.); one of these explanative constructs is the concept of coping.
Specifically, both theory and research on coping supports the notion that one can avoid a good deal of the depleting and/or debilitating consequences of stress to the extent that he/she successfully copes with stressors (Sue, Sue & Sue, 1994). The key question here is then: What specifically is meant by the term "copes"?
Barocas, Reichman and Schwebel (1993) define coping as an individual's ability to utilize effective internal and external "resources" for reducing the anxieties and general psychoemotional imbalances associated with stress; any given "resource" is said to be a coping mechanism. The authors list several typical effective coping mechanisms including: listening to soothing music, eating a good meal, crying or screaming, talking things out, prayer, exercise, entertainment, daydreaming, acting it out, and going on a vacation or retreat.
It should be noted here that while any given individual may have several different internal/external resources (coping mechanisms) which they can utilize for coping, not all of these are effective. In this regard, Barocas, Reichman and Schwebel (1993) note that many times people utilize resources (coping mechanisms) which are completely ineffective. For example, they might attempt to cope with stressors by denying their existence or by attempting to escape or avoid them rather than deal with them, or by drinking and/or taking drugs.
How do older people cope with the stressors of later life? In an effort to answer th...