Dispositional Self-Control Capacity and Trait Anxiety as Relates to Coping Styles

Chris Englert,Alex Bertrams,Oliver Dickhäuser

doi:10.4236/psych.2011.26092

Abstract

In the present article, we analyzed the relationship between dispositional self-control capacity, trait anxiety, and coping styles. Since self-control is often crucial for adapting one’s behavior to be positive, we predicted that dispositional differences in the capacity to exert self-control play a role in determining individuals coping styles. To test this assumption, we assessed participants’ (N = 163) dispositional self-control capacity using the Self-Control Scale, and their dispositional coping styles by using the short version of the German Coping Questionnaire SVF78 (German: Stressverarbeitungsfragebogen). A path analysis supported our hypothesis; higher levels of dispositional self-control capacity were positively associated with positive coping style and negatively associated with negative coping style. Basing on attentional control theory, we further assumed that this relationship was mediated by trait anxiety. In a second study based on a sample of N = 98 participants, we additionally applied the trait version of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. The results of a path analysis revealed that trait anxiety mediated the relationship between dispositional self-control capacity and coping styles. The results suggest that it may be useful to take a closer look at the role of self-control in the anxiety-coping relationship.

Highlights

Chronic stress can cause serious health problems such as depression or coronary heart disease (e.g., Miller & Blackwell, 2006), which is why an appropriate handling of stress is inevitable
The hypothesis of Study 2 can be summed up as follows: The relationship between dispositional self-control capacity and coping styles is mediated by trait anxiety, since individuals with lower dispositional self-control capacity are more likely to experience higher levels of anxiety because they have less capacity to regulate their anxiety
The results of our analysis support our hypothesis that the relationship between dispositional self-control and coping styles is mediated by trait anxiety

Summary

Introduction

Chronic stress can cause serious health problems such as depression or coronary heart disease (e.g., Miller & Blackwell, 2006), which is why an appropriate handling of stress is inevitable. Each individual has his or her own way of dealing with stressful encounters. Viewing coping as a personality trait describes an individuals’ habitual preference to use particular coping strategies in stressful situations, while situational coping is the actual behavior in a stressful situation, which results from the interaction between coping styles with situational and personal characteristics (Endler & Parker, 1994). Many researchers view personality traits as immutable aspects of personality (e.g. Costa & McCrae, 1997) there is another point of view: Personality aspects can change over the course of a life time because of complex interactions between an individual and his or her environment (Baltes, 1987; Baltes, Staudinger, & Lindenberger, 1999)

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