Positive reappraisal as a stress coping strategy during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Introduction. The stress coping strategies people rely on impact their psychological well-being and may be related to the risk of developing psychopathology in the short- and long-term after an unfortunate event. Objective. To define the main stress coping strategies in our region as a first step in assessing the risk of developing psychopathology derived from the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Method. This is an observational, cross-sectional, analytical study that includes 396 participants over 18 years of age residents of the state of Nuevo Leon. Using an online form, the participants were asked to complete the Coping Strategies Questionnaire (CAE). Results. In general, after two months of mitigation measures in Mexico, positive reappraisal was the stress coping strategy with the highest score in the population studied. We found higher scores on negative auto-focused and overt emotional expression on the comparation between sociodemographic subgroups. Discussion and conclusion. The present study shows that, in our community, positive reappraisal was the stress coping strategy with the highest score. Positive reappraisal is an active form of coping associated with greater psychological well-being and fewer risk of developing psychopathology in the short and long term. Based on this, our hypothesis is that the predominant use of this strategy could translate into a higher psychological well-being during and after the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in the studied sample.