Coping profiles, perceived stress and health-related behaviors: a cluster analysis approach
Résumé
Using cluster analytical procedure, this study aimed (i) to
determine whether people could be differentiated on the basis
of coping profiles (or unique combinations of coping strategies);
and (ii) to examine the relationships between these
profiles and perceived stress and health-related behaviors.
A sample of 578 French students (345 females, 233 males;
Mage= 21.78, SDage= 2.21) completed the Perceived Stress
Scale-14 (Bruchon-Schweitzer, 2002), the Brief COPE
(Muller and Spitz, 2003) and a series of items measuring
health-related behaviors. A two-phased cluster analytic procedure
(i.e. hierarchical and non-hierarchical-k-means) was
employed to derive clusters of coping strategy profiles. The
results yielded four distinctive coping profiles: High Copers,
Adaptive Copers, Avoidant Copers and Low Copers. The
results showed that clusters differed significantly in perceived
stress and health-related behaviors. High Copers and
Avoidant Copers displayed higher levels of perceived stress
and engaged more in unhealthy behavior, compared with
Adaptive Copers and Low Copers who reported lower levels
of stress and engaged more in healthy behaviors. These
findings suggested that individuals’ relative reliance on some
strategies and de-emphasis on others may be a more advantageous
way of understanding the manner in which individuals
cope with stress. Therefore, cluster analysis approach may
provide an advantage over more traditional statistical techniques
by identifying distinct coping profiles that might best
benefit from interventions. Future research should consider
coping profiles to provide a deeper understanding of the relationships
between coping strategies and health outcomes and
to identify risk groups.
Domaines
Psychologie
Origine : Fichiers produits par l'(les) auteur(s)
Loading...