Appraisals and coping with workplace interpersonal stress: A model for women managers.

Abstract

This study extended a previously developed integrative model of workplace stress by focusing specifically on interpersonal stressors. After controlling for negative affect, results of the prospective study of 157 Canadian managerial women indicated that conflicts appraised as threats to self-interest, less perceived control over the stressor, and more upsetting appraisals led to the use of disengagement coping, whereas conflicts appraised as threats to social relationships and greater control were associated with the use of engagement coping. Individual differences were also associated with primary appraisals and perceptions of the work environment. Primary appraisals had both direct and indirect effects on psychosomatic distress and fully mediated the effects of individual differences on distress.