Coping with acute stress in the military: The influence of coping style, coping self-efficacy and appraisal emotions

Abstract

It is of utmost importance to better understand how professionals in high-risk organizations, such as the military and police, appraise and cope with acute stress situations. The goal of this two-wave study was to investigate the role of two individual characteristics, coping style and coping self-efficacy, for recruits' appraisal emotions and subsequent coping behavior during a high-stress exercise at the end of a 18–33week training period. Three different military samples were studied (officer cadets, special infantry and Marine corps recruits, and recruits). Multi-group comparison showed that coping style was directly related to coping behavior. Coping self-efficacy was indirectly related to coping behavior through threat and challenge emotions. Together, these findings provide insights for appraisal research and practice.