Problem-focused and emotion-focused coping options and loneliness: how are they related?
Tóm tắt
We examine the extent to which coping options endorsed by older adults help alleviate loneliness, and experiences with loneliness influence the coping options. Two ways of coping are distinguished: problem-focused, i.e., improving one’s relationships, and emotion-focused, i.e., lowering one’s expectations about relationships. Loneliness is assessed using three observations over 6 years among 1,033 61- to 99-year-old respondents in the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam. Combining the first two observations yielded four loneliness types: not lonely at T0 and T1, recently lonely, persistently lonely, and recovered from loneliness. Between the second and third observations, respondents were asked to evaluate which coping options lonely peers described in various vignettes had. From this, individual coping scores were calculated. The option to improve relationships did not affect the likelihood of one’s own loneliness, and the option to lower expectations even increased it. Compared to non-lonely respondents, recently lonely ones endorsed both ways of coping equally frequently, persistently lonely ones endorsed improving relationships less frequently and lowering expectations more frequently and recovered respondents endorsed improving relationships equally frequently and lowering expectations more frequently. We conclude that considering various ways of coping does not help alleviate loneliness and that persistently lonely and recovered respondents are at risk of a circular process with loneliness experiences resulting in considering lowering expectations more frequently, which results in a greater likelihood of loneliness, thus contributing to sustaining or re-establishing loneliness.
Tài liệu tham khảo
Abramson A, Silverstein M (2006) Images of aging in America 2004. AARP and the University of Southern California, Washington
Aldwin CM, Revenson TA (1987) Does coping help? A reexamination of the relation between coping and mental health. J Pers Soc Psychol 53:337–348. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.53.2.337
Baker JP, Berenbaum H (2007) Emotional approach and problem-focused coping: a comparison of potentially adaptive strategies. Cogn Emot 21:95–118. doi:10.1080/02699930600562276
Cacioppo JT, Ernst JM, Burleson MH, McClintock MK, Malarkey WB, Hawkley LC et al (2000) Lonely traits and concomitant physiological processes: the MacArthur social neuroscience studies. Int J Psychophysiol 35:143–154. doi:10.1016/s0167-8760(99)00049-5
Carstensen LL, Fung HH, Charles ST (2003) Socioemotional selectivity theory and the regulation of emotion in second half of life. Motiv Emot 27:103–123. doi:10.1023/A:1024569803230
Carver CS, Scheier MF, Weintraub JK (1989) Assesing coping strategies: a theoretically based approach. J Pers Soc Psychol 56:267–283. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.56.2.267
Cecen AR (2008) The effects of gender and loneliness levels on ways of coping among university students. Coll Stud J 42:510-516. Retrieved from: http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?sid=c2dd7cfe-2498-4296-b835-50121464a23c%40sessionmgr112&vid=1&hid=127&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=pbh&AN=32544885
Dahlberg K (2007) The enigmatic phenomenon of loneliness. Int J Qual Stud Health Well-being 2:195–207. doi:10.1080/17482620701626117
De Jong Gierveld J (1998) A review of loneliness: concept and definitions, determinants and consequences. Rev Clin Gerontol 8:73–80. doi:10.1017/S0959259898008090
De Ridder D (1997) What is wrong with coping assessment? A review of conceptual and methodological issues. Psychol Health 12:417–431. doi:10.1080/08870449708406717
DiTommaso E, Brannen-McNulty C, Ross L, Burgess M (2003) Attachment styles, social skills and loneliness in young adults. Pers Indiv Differ 35:303–312. doi:10.1016/S0191-8869(02)00190-3
Dysvik E, Natvig GK, Eikeland OJ, Lindstrøm TC (2005) Coping with chronic pain. Int J Nurs Stud 42:297–305. doi:10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2004.06.009
Folkman S (2007) The case for positive emotions in the stress process. Anxiety Stress Coping 21:3–14. doi:10.1080/10615800701740457
Folkman S, Moskowitz JT (2004) Coping: pitfalls and promise. Annu Rev Psychol 55:745–774. doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.55.090902.141456
Folkman S, Lazarus RS, Gruen RJ, DeLongis A (1986) Appraisal, coping, health-status, and psychological symptoms. J Pers Soc Psychol 50:571–579. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.50.3.571
Folkman S, Lazarus RS, Pimley S, Novacek J (1987) Age differences in stress and coping processes. Psychol Aging 2:171–184. doi:10.1037/0882-7974.2.2.171
Hansson RO, Jones WH, Carpenter BN, Remondet JH (1986) Loneliness and adjustment to old age. Int J Aging Hum Dev 24:41–53. doi:10.2190/82XB-5L9T-JWKE-U6T8
Hawkley LC, Cacioppo JT (2010) Loneliness matters: a theoretical and empirical review of consequences and mechanisms. Ann Behav Med 40:218–227. doi:10.1007/s12160-010-9210-8
Heinrich LM, Gullone E (2006) The clinical significance of loneliness: a literature review. Clin Psychol Rev 26:695–718. doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2006.04.002
Heylen L (2010) The older, the lonelier? Risk factors for social loneliness in old age. Ageing Soc 30:1177–1196. doi:10.1017/S0144686X10000292
Holwerda TJ, Beekman ATF, Deeg DJH, Stek ML, Van Tilburg TG, Visser PJ et al (2012) Increased risk of mortality associated with social isolation in older men: only when feeling lonely? Results from the Amsterdam Study of the Elderly (AMSTEL). Psychol Med 42:843–853. doi:10.1017/S0033291711001772
Huisman M, Poppelaars J, Van der Horst M, Beekman AT, Brug J, Van Tilburg TG et al (2011) Cohort profile: the longitudinal aging study Amsterdam. Int J Epidemiol 40:868–876. doi:10.1093/ije/dyq219
Jin B, Park N (2013) Mobile voice communication and loneliness: cell phone use and the social skills deficit hypothesis. New Media Soc 15:1094–1111. doi:10.1177/1461444812466715
Jöreskog KG, Sörbom D (1993) Lisrel 8 user’s reference guide. Scientific Software International, Chicago
Lazarus RS, Folkman S (1984) Stress, appraisal and coping. Springer, New York
Muthén L, Muthén B (1998–2002) Mplus user’s guide 3rd edn. Muthén & Muthén, Los Angeles
Ó Luanaigh C, Lawlor BA (2008) Loneliness and the health of older people. Int J Geriatr Psychiatry 23:1213–1221. doi:10.1002/gps.2054
Parker JDA, Endler NS (1992) Coping with coping assessment: a critical review. Eur J Pers 6:321–344. doi:10.1002/per.2410060502
Pearlin LI, Schooler C (1978) The structure of coping. J Health Soc Behav 19:2–21. doi:10.2307/2136319
Peplau LA, Perlman D (1982) Perspectives on loneliness. In: Peplau LA, Perlman D (eds) Loneliness: a sourcebook of current theory, research, and therapy. Wiley, New York, pp 1–18
Perese EF, Wolf M (2005) Combating loneliness among persons with severe mental illness: social network interventions’ characteristics, effectiveness and applicability. Issues Ment Health Nurs 26:591–609. doi:10.1080/01612840590959425
Pettigrew S, Roberts M (2008) Addressing loneliness in later life. Aging Ment Health 12:302–309. doi:10.1080/13607860802121084
Revenson TA (1981) Coping with loneliness: the impact of causal attributions. Pers Soc Psychol Bull 7:565–571. doi:10.1177/014616728174007
Rokach A, Brock H (1998) Coping with loneliness. J Psychol 132:107–127. doi:10.1080/00223989809599269
Rook KS, Peplau LA (1982) Perspectives on helping the lonely. In: Peplau LA, Perlman D (eds) Loneliness: a sourcebook of current theory, research, and therapy. Wiley, New York, pp 351–378
Routasalo P, Pitkala KH (2003) Loneliness among older people. Rev Clin Gerontol 13:303–311. doi:10.1017/S095925980400111X
Russell DW, Cutrona CE, McRae C, Gomez M (2011) Is loneliness the same as being alone? J Psychol 146:7–22. doi:10.1080/00223980.2011.589414
Schermelleh-Engel K, Moosbrugger H, Müller H (2003) Evaluating the fit of structural equation models: tests of significance and descriptive goodness-of-fit measures. Methods Psychol Res Online 8: 23–74. Retrieved from: www.dgps.de/fachgruppen/methoden/mpr-online/issue20/art2/mpr130_13.pdf
Schoenmakers EC, Van Tilburg TG, Fokkema T (2012) Coping with loneliness: what do older adults suggest? Aging Ment Health 16:353–360. doi:10.1080/13607863.2011.630373
Shankar A, Hamer M, McMunn A, Steptoe A (2013) Social isolation and loneliness: relationships with cognitive function during 4 years of follow-up in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. Psychosom Med 75:161–170. doi:10.1097/PSY.0b013e31827f09cd
Sheeran P (2002) Intention-behavior relations: a conceptual and empirical review. Eur Rev Soc Psychohol 12:1–36. doi:10.1080/14792772143000003
Shiovitz-Ezra S, Ayalon L (2012) Use of direct versus indirect approaches to measure loneliness in later life. Res Aging 34:572–591. doi:10.1177/0164027511423258
Skinner EA, Edge K, Altman J, Sherwood H (2003) Searching for the structure of coping: a review and critique of category systems for classifying ways of coping. Psychol Bull 129:216–269. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.129.2.216
Smith CA, Kirby LD (2009) Putting appraisal in context: toward a relational model of appraisal and emotion. Cognit Emot 23:1352–1372. doi:10.1080/02699930902860386
Thoits PA (1995) Stress, coping, and social support processes: where are we? What next? J Health Soc Behav 35:53–79. Retrieved from: www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/2626957.pdf
Tornstam L (2007) Stereotypes of old people persist: a Swedish, “facts on aging quiz” in a 23-year comparative perspective. Int J Ageing Later Life 2:33–59. doi:10.3384/ijal.1652-8670.072133
Torres S (2009) Vignette methodology and culture-relevance: lessons learned through a project on successful aging with Iranian immigrants to Sweden. J Cross Cult Gerontol 24:93–114. doi:10.1007/s10823-009-9095-9
Victor CR, Grenade L, Boldy D (2005) Measuring loneliness in later life: a comparison of differing measures. Rev Clin Gerontol 15:63–70. doi:10.1017/S0959259805001723
Walker A (1993) Age and attitudes: main results from a Eurobarometer survey. Commission of the European Communities, Brussels