Coping with Stress of Uncertainty

Abstract

The stress of uncertainty is an inherent characteristic of modern life. Phenomenologically, uncertainty is represented by such categories as emotional experiences (usually negative), limited information about the world and about oneself, lack of control over events, unpredictability of choice results, uncertainty in relationships with other people. Coping strategies may include active actions, seeking help from other people, passive waiting, analyzing and searching for information, changing attitudes to the situation, self-regulation, compromise and intuition. The key factors in the manifestation of stress of uncertainty include not only the unpredictability of life events due to limited information about the world, but also an overabundance of contradictory and unverified data. As a rule, uncertainty is associated with negative feelings of anxiety and uncertainty about the future. This corresponds to the concept of distress, which is destructive in nature and has a disorganizing effect on the state and behavior of a person. However, the perception of uncertainty can occur from the position of new opportunities and ways of development within the constructive so-called eustress. It can be assumed that a number of individual personality characteristics allow a person to better adapt and navigate in stressful situations of uncertainty, cope with negative emotions, and also perceive these situations as a field of new opportunities. Individual personality characteristics may act as positive personality resources that perform a buffer function when interacting with subjective uncertainty and predict the dynamics of changing attitudes to situations of uncertainty, which shows a more successful adaptation to stress factors.