Coping Capacity Research Articles

WHAT IS IMPORTANT FOR THE FEELING OF MEANINGFULNESS? A STUDY OF SWEDES AGED 76–101 YEARS

Abstract Sense of coherence (SOC) reflects the coping capacity to deal with everyday life stressors and consists of comprehensibility, manageability and meaningfulness. Meaningfulness is the motivational component and sometimes considered the most important part in SOC. Meaningfulness is about the extent to which a person feels that life has an emotional meaning. Meaningfulness is important in aging since many old people suffer from health problems and meaningfulness is important for coping. We examine which factors that are important for the feeling of meaningfulness in a nationally representative random sample of 777 Swedes aged 76-101 years. Meaningfulness is measured with a single item question “Do you usually feel that your daily life is a source of personal satisfaction?”. 11% answered “no”, 20% “yes, sometimes”, 59% “yes, often”. Analyzed with ordered logistic regressions. Control variables: sex, age, education, frailty index, mobility, and psychological wellbeing. Mobility and psychological wellbeing were significant and kept in the analyses, The main independent variables were having a faith (or philosophy), cultural, intellectual, outdoor activities and the social variables loneliness, social contacts outside home, social relations to relatives and friends, contact with children/grandchildren, and phone contacts with children/grandchildren. The social variables were analyzed simultaneously. Loneliness, social relations to relatives and friends, phone contacts with children/grandchildren were significant as well as all other main independent variables. Analyzed simultaneously, controlled for each other, mobility and psychological wellbeing, faith, loneliness, social relations to relatives/friends, and contacts with children/grandchildren were significant. This indicates that these factors are important for meaningfulness in old age.

Body Image and its Relation with Coping Strategies in Breast Cancer Patients: A Descriptive Study in Sulaimaniyah, Iraq

Background: Breast cancer is several of the worst severe illnesses for women, which influences their physical and mental quality of life and acceptance of their bodies. It affects patients' views of their bodies; thus, finding effective coping mechanisms is essential. 
 
 Objective: This study aimed to discover body image and its relation with coping mechanisms in breast cancer patients admitted to Hiwa Hematology/Oncology Hospital in Sulaimaniyah, Iraq.
 
 Materials & Methods: This Cross-sectional study was conducted on women diagnosed with breast cancer admitted to the Hiwa Hematology/Oncology Hospital Sulaimaniyah, Iraq. A three-part questionnaire was utilized to gather information to determine body image and coping mechanisms that were demographic and clinical form, body image scale and Coping Orientation to coping or regulating cognitions in response to stressors (Brief-COPE).
 
 Results: The mean score for the body image was reported as 7.86±7.73, the mean score for coping strategies, including problem-focused /active coping strategies items was reported as 2.74±0.67, and functional items as 2.82±0.43. Considering the calculated mean scores, the distress or concerns of the participants about their body image were lower. The most frequent coping strategies were religious coping (3.88±0.32), while the least active coping approach was humor (1.96±1.08). Self-distraction (3.13±1.03) was the least avoidant coping strategy. A significant positive relationship between the coping strategies with body image was reported as (p=0.032, r=0.200).
 
 Conclusions: Good body image in women was associated with increased usage of practical acceptance. Therefore, it is advised to promote a positive view of physical appearance and having skilled nurses assess all breast cancer patients' capacity for coping following surgery. Nurses and patients can effectively communicate about body image and coping techniques through these assessments.

Fourteen-item perceived stress scale assessment using item response theory among pregnant women.

The current study aimed to assess the psychometric properties of the Spanish language version of the 14-item Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-S) in a population of pregnant women who speak Spanish in Peru using item response theory (IRT). Our study consisted of 5,435 pregnant women who participated in the Pregnancy Outcomes Maternal and Infant Study (PrOMIS) cohort in Peru. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to determine dimensionality of the scale in this population, and item response theory was conducted to determine the applicability of the PSS. The PSS consisted of a 2-factor questionnaire measuring perceived stress and coping capacity accounting for 77% of variability. The IRT analysis showed differences in item difficulty and discrimination. Item difficulty represents the level of the latent construct where 50% of respondents endorse a particular response, and item discrimination determines the rate of change of the probability of endorsing an item for differing ability levels. For the first factor, perceived stress, item 12 was the least difficult and item 2 was the most difficult. For the second factor, coping capacity, item 9 was the least difficult and item 6 was the most difficult. The Spanish version of the 14-item PSS can be a useful assessment tool for perceived stress, but more IRT should be done to delve further into the psychometric properties of the questionnaire to inform clinicians and policy makers more appropriately.

Perception of agroforestry practices and factors influencing adoption among shifting cultivators in Tripura, India

ABSTRACT Agroforestry, with benefits including resource diversity, improved nutrition, climate change mitigation, and increased income, can ensure financial stability for small farmers by diversifying yields. However, its widespread adoption in traditional farming communities encounters challenges. Focusing on two districts in Tripura with resettled former shifting cultivation-dependent communities, the study used a mixed methods approach, collecting data from 221 households, assessing socio-economic status, farming practices, and agroforestry adoption. Statistical analyses revealed that most common commercial species were Arecanut, Rubber, Jackfruit, and Pineapple, and households practicing agroforestry had notably higher annual farm incomes over other systems. Over 80% households recognized agroforestry's self-sufficiency, with 50% noting improved financial security, diversity, and coping capacity. Socio-economic benefits were better understood than environmental benefits. Plot diversity variations were influenced by seed procurement source, system type, and tribe. Challenges in adopting scientific agroforestry, such as long maturation, land insufficiency and labor demands, were identified. Suggested solutions included increased seed availability, more land for agroforestry, and skill training. This study emphasizes the potential of agroforestry in offering sustainable livelihoods to traditional smallholders and promoting agroecological sustainability in the North-eastern Region of India.

Development and Validation of a Patient Discharge Readiness Scale for Daytime Cataract Surgery (DRS-CAT)

PurposeTo ensure the safety of patients discharged from the hospital, a nurse-assessed scale for outpatient cataract surgery patients was constructed to provide a special tool for cataract patients’ discharge readiness evaluation. DesignThis is a methodological study. MethodsThe development of the tool was completed between 2021 and 2022. Based on the literature review and qualitative interviews, the initial entry pool of the discharge readiness scale was established. After consultation with Delphi experts, the preliminary scale was tested by 312 participants to screen items and test reliability and validity. The analysis included internal consistency, content validity, and construct validity. The Strengthening the Reporting of Observation studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) checklist was used as the reporting guideline for this study. FindingsThe final Discharge Readiness Scale for Cataract surgery consists of 21 items in five dimensions: cognition of discharge readiness, personal status, mastery of health education knowledge, coping capacity, and social support. Five common factors were extracted from the exploratory factor analysis, and they explained 70.12% of the total variance. All of the indexes of the confirmatory factor analysis were within the theoretical allowable range. The Cronbach's α of the total scale was 0.903, and the scale-level content validity index/average variance extracted was 0.99. ConclusionsThe Discharge Readiness Scale for Cataract surgery, evaluated by nurses, has good reliability and validity and can be used to determine the discharge readiness of cataract patients undergoing day surgery.

Examination of the Effect of Task Complexity and Coping Capacity on Driving Risk: A Cross-Country and Transportation Mode Comparative Study.

The i-DREAMS project established a 'Safety Tolerance Zone (STZ)' to maintain operators within safe boundaries through real-time and post-trip interventions, based on the crucial role of the human element in driving behavior. This paper aims to model the inter-relationship among driving task complexity, operator and vehicle coping capacity, and crash risk. Towards that aim, data from 80 drivers, who participated in a naturalistic driving experiment carried out in three countries (i.e., Belgium, Germany, and Portugal), resulting in a dataset of approximately 19,000 trips were collected and analyzed. The exploratory analysis included the development of Generalized Linear Models (GLMs) and the choice of the most appropriate variables associated with the latent variables "task complexity" and "coping capacity" that are to be estimated from the various indicators. In addition, Structural Equation Models (SEMs) were used to explore how the model variables were interrelated, allowing for both direct and indirect relationships to be modeled. Comparisons on the performance of such models, as well as a discussion on behaviors and driving patterns across different countries and transport modes, were also provided. The findings revealed a positive relationship between task complexity and coping capacity, indicating that as the difficulty of the driving task increased, the driver's coping capacity increased accordingly, (i.e., higher ability to manage and adapt to the challenges posed by more complex tasks). The integrated treatment of task complexity, coping capacity, and risk can improve the behavior and safety of all travelers, through the unobtrusive and seamless monitoring of behavior. Thus, authorities should utilize a data system oriented towards collecting key driving insights on population level to plan mobility and safety interventions, develop incentives for road users, optimize enforcement, and enhance community building for safe traveling.

A comparison of migrant and non-migrant households’ choices on migration and coping mechanisms in the aftermath of cyclone Aila in Bangladesh

This research focuses on understanding the complex impact of Cyclone Aila on migration decisions, particularly regarding the motivations that compel specific vulnerable populations to remain in their current locations despite severe consequences. It conducts a comparative analysis of migration choices, adaptive strategies and capacities of migrant and non-migrant populations in Bangladesh after the 2009 Cyclone Aila, focusing on the severely affected districts of Satkhira and Khulna. To achieve this, a comprehensive survey of 284 households was conducted, including 130 migrant and 154 non-migrant households. The research utilized statistical techniques, such as frequency distribution, chi-squared tests, and multinomial logistic regression, along with qualitative insights gathered through in-depth interviews and analyzed using NVivo software to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the coping capacities of these households. The findings indicate that the severity of the cyclone experience significantly impacted migration choices, with non-migrant households displaying a firm attachment to their original location because of better economic opportunities, emotional bonds, vibrant social networks, and a higher tolerance for adversity. Migrants are attracted to locales, providing better living conditions, safety, and access to healthcare and education. This research also revealed differences in the adaptive strategies adopted by migrants and non-migrants. Migrants have more options for housing, agriculture, livestock management, food security, health and sanitation, and employment. Most migrant households (47.7%) had high adaptive capacities across various domains, such as food security, housing and shelter, crop production, livestock and poultry rearing, health and sanitation, and livelihood prospects. Non-migrant households had much lower percentages of high adaptive capacity, ranging from 5.3 percent to 9.7 percent. These findings suggest that migration can improve adaptive capacity, especially when responding to weather events, such as Cyclone Aila. Therefore, it is important to create targeted support measures that cater to the unique needs of both migrant and non-migrant households to promote resilience and improve wellbeing during the post-crisis period.

‘It’s about mindset’. How do young migrants in Poland build their resilience?

ABSTRACT The aim of this article is to investigate how young migrants’ resilience manifests in different spheres of their lives. Adapting the Keck and Sakdapolrak's framework, we define resilience as being comprised of coping, adaptive and transformative capacities. While coping capacities are a post-crisis short-term response, adaptive and transformation capacities encompass more proactive and long-term planning. Drawing on interviews with young Third Country Nationals living in Poland, conducted within the framework of H2020 project MIMY, we analyse how the different types of resilience capacities intersect with different areas of integration. We also highlight that resilience is not only the ability to bounce back, but also the power to bounce forward, which implies the capacity to transform individual lives and their environments. Interestingly, in young migrants’ narratives their personal resources, such as a positive mindset, persistence etc. play a crucial role. While community resources (family support and social capital) were mentioned, structural opportunities were largely absent in their narratives on resilience. Therefore, we can talk about a process of (self-)responsibilization of migrants for integration, which relates to the neoliberal discourse on newcomers’ self-reliance.

STRATEGIES TO RESPONSE TO PSYCHOLOGICAL TRAUMA OF HEALTHCARE WORKERS IN VIETNAM DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC: IMPLICATION FOR THE FUTURE

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought great challenges and stress to healthcare workers (HCWs). The application of appropriate strategies to respond to psychological trauma contributes to the protection of HCWs’ well-being. The objective of this study is to discover the strategies that HCWs used for psychological trauma coping during their participation in COVID-19 prevention and control. This is a qualitative study, conducted in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), Vietnam, collecting information by in-depth interviews with 40 HCWs participating in COVID-19 prevention and control in HCMC in 2021. Findings showed that strategies of stress coping that HCWs used in the pandemic management are diverse. There were six main themes identified as positive coping solutions in this study including rest and entertainment activities; improving the working environment; maintaining social interaction; positive thinking and action; strengthening personal coping capacity; and showing professionalism at work. In addition to these positive coping solutions, some participants expressed that they have used negative coping skills including using stimulants; taking their anger out on others; running away from work; refusing contact with others; surrendering to their own fate; and quitting their jobs. In addition to general solutions, the participants in charge of different working groups had some specific solutions to deal with the psychological trauma.

Qualitative evaluation of a Salutogenic Healthy Eating Programme for Dutch people with type 2 diabetes.

The salutogenic model of health (SMH) is a health-promoting theory that focuses on resources, strengths, and coping capacities in everyday life as a way to improve health and wellbeing. The SMH was applied to develop a programme for enabling healthy eating practices among people with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM): the SALUD programme. This study aims to gain insight in how participants with T2DM experienced the content and meaning of the SALUD programme. Three focus groups with participants (six to eight participants/group) that finished the SALUD programme were conducted. The focus groups were video-recorded, transcribed ad verbatim and thematically analysed. The SALUD programme was perceived by the participants as a positive, meaningful learning experience. Key factors why the participants described the programme as positive were that they felt a sense of social-belonging and (emotionally) safe (theme 1). The SALUD programme's positive encouraging approach presented by the coach invited participants to join an active learning process (theme 2). Performing trial-and-error experiments and weekly reflecting on goals is what characterized active learning. The meaningfulness of the learning process (theme 3) was derived from (i) positive self-confrontation; (ii) exploring mind-body connections and perceiving improved health and (iii) noticing positive changes in their social environment (theme 3). To conclude, the study uncovered that the SALUD programme incited a positive, meaningful learning process for healthy eating and the contextual factors important in this. Potential leads to further improve the SALUD programme are discussed in order to maximize the chance of inciting an inclusive, active learning process.

Analysis of Review of Literature on Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana

Agriculture, being first order economic activity, is highly susceptible to vagaries of climate. With small land holdings and low coping capacity, vulnerability of Indian farmer is high to deviations in monsoons. This vulnerability level becomes a serious concern during drought years. To provide some relief to farmers, States have evolved a few instruments, such as Input Subsidy, Minimum Support Price (MSP), Crop Insurance etc. Input Subsidy provides minimum support to farmers to continue with farming in subsequent post damage season and thus becomes operational only when there is a significant damage due to drought or excessive rainfall. Present study analyzes literature review on Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana. This paper aims to provide a selective literature review of articles published in the last decade on Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana. The review also found that this research lacked a theoretical underpinning and that more research studies are needed to empirically validate some of the key variables emerging in this area of research. The study concludes with a literature synthesis and recommendations for future research.

Do natural disaster affect rural labor migration? Evidence from the Wenchuan earthquake in China

A stable labor supply is pivotal for the economic development of rural areas. However, the response of the rural workforce in developing countries to the natural disasters has received limited attention. This paper examines the causal relationship between severe earthquake shock and rural labor migration, utilizing a unique micro-panel dataset from Sichuan province in China. Using a difference-in-differences model, we find that the earthquake significantly increases rural labor migration, and this effect is primarily manifested in the medium to long term after the disaster. Rural laborers mainly migrated to work within the county, primarily in the construction and manufacturing sector. Furthermore, the majority of these migrating workers are male. Individuals from households with minimal agricultural ties and limited social networks are more vulnerable to the disaster. To mitigate the loss of rural labor due to natural disasters, we provide several recommendations at the end of the paper. These include enhancing the adaptive and coping capacities of farmers, offering them stable demand within the industrial chain, agricultural operational subsidies, and policy-based insurance, as well as promoting the development of cooperative economic organizations in villages.

The Impact of the Source-Text Syntactic Characteristics on the Sight-Translation Strategies and Quality

Introduction. The aim of this first research in the Slovak-English language pair, is to establish the impact of the source-text (ST) syntactic structure on the target-text (TT) quality and its delivery in sight translation (SiT), as well as to identify the problems the interpreter students have in it, and the strategies they apply to solve them. Procedure. The participants, six Slovak graduate university students, sight-translated a non-specialized 250-word text from Slovak into English. The ST structure was deliberately changed in the way that, while remaining within the source-language norms, it considerably differed from the structure of the normative version of its English translation. If the structure of a specific student's TT was close to that of the ST, it was considered an evidence of the surface-oriented strategy (SurfOS), while the ST structure transformation was viewed as an indication of a sense-oriented strategy (SensOS). Results. The syntactic similarity in the two languages facilitates anticipation and replication of the ST syntactic structures in the TT. However, SurfOS does not dominate in the composition of the participants’ translation competence. When the unsuitability of the ST structure for its transfer to the TT is obvious, most of the participants use the SensOS, which requires the transformation of the ST structure. The complicated ST syntactic structure has a negative impact upon the students’ anticipation mechanism and their processing capacity. It results in a higher short-term memory load, because of the need to retain the ST information before reformulating it in the TT. The transformation effort imposes additional limits on the overall utterance control effort. It results in unmotivated pauses, backtracking, omissions, distortion of the ST information in the TT, and the inability to simultaneously control the transformation of the structure, preservation of the ST meaning and compliance with the target-language norms. Conclusion. The ST syntactic complexity is a factor influencing the SiT efficiency. The research results also confirm the authors’ hypothesis that the lack of the required processing capacity for coping with syntactic discrepancies between the ST and TT is one of the principle difficulties the interpreters face in SiT.

COVID-19, subjective resilience, adaptive, and coping capacities in hurricane-prone regions

This study focuses on understanding perceptions of recovery and resilience by employing the theoretical lens of subjective resilience, adaptive, and coping capacities to understand individual cognition of risks and perceptions of recovery from the pandemic for those living in hurricane-prone areas. We explore several factors affecting perceptions of resilience and recovery, such as capacities to adapt and cope, risk perceptions, communication sources, levels of physical and social vulnerabilities, the ability to prepare for hurricanes during the pandemic, perceptions of government policies, social capital, and partisanship. To analyze these factors, we use individual-level data that were collected using a survey population drawn from both random (via telephone landlines) and nonrandom (via the internet) sampling in Florida. We find that expectations of recovery were positively associated with several factors, including risk perceptions with higher levels of concern about the pandemic, higher self-reported levels of stress, lack of preparation for a hurricane making landfall during the pandemic, less social connectedness, and political party affiliation. The results help inform pandemic preparedness and management.

Allostasis and Resilience from a Neuroendocrine Perspective

Resilience is a term that describes the capacity of coping with and recovering from stress and adversity. In terms of the concept of allostasis, resilience is the ability to appropriately regulate allostasis, efficiently terminate the allostatic response, prevent the occurrence of allostatic load/overload or restore homeostasis. Recently, it has been shown that oxytocin may be involved in this series of stress adaptation systems. We aim to discuss the changes in oxytocin neuron activation, oxytocin release and its actions of stress adaptation in response to internal and external environmental changes, and the regulation of resilience by oxytocin.

An Index-Based Approach to Assess Social Vulnerability for Hamburg, Germany

AbstractIn this study, we set out to develop a new social vulnerability index (SVI). In doing so, we suggest some conceptual improvements that can be made to existing methodical approaches to assessing social vulnerability. To make the entanglement of socio-spatial inequalities visible, we are conducting a small-scale study on heterogeneous urban development in the city of Hamburg, Germany. This kind of high-resolution analysis was not previously available, but is increasingly requested by political decision makers. We can thus show hot spots of social vulnerability (SV) in Hamburg, considering the effects of social welfare, education, and age. In doing so, we defined SV as a contextual concept that follows the recent shift in discourse in line with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) concepts of risk and vulnerability. Our SVI consists of two subcomponents: sensitivity and coping capacity. Populated areas of Hamburg were identified using satellite information and merged with the social data units of the city. Areas with high SVI are distributed over the entire city, notably in the district of Harburg and the Reiherstieg quarter in Wilhelmsburg near the Elbe, as well as in the densely populated inner city areas of Eimsbüttel and St. Pauli. As a map at a detailed scale, our SVI can be a useful tool to identify areas where the population is most vulnerable to climate-related hazards. We conclude that an enhanced understanding of urban social vulnerability is a prerequisite for urban risk management and urban resilience planning.

How do we know vulnerability when we see it? An approach to integrating ethical reflections into empirical disaster research

While ethics assessments have become a standard in many research areas as well as in disaster studies, the tools used to reflect on normative issues remain in many cases underspecified. In this article, we seek to provide an example of how to integrate ethics into an inter- and transdisciplinary research consortium. Disaster research regularly engages with sensitive issues. More often than not, it deals with vulnerability, marginalisation and (lacking) societal coping capacities. Those who provide us with information are in many cases those who suffered from the events we analyse. This situation creates the moral obligation for disaster researchers to reflect their work. While normative questions certainly differ between research projects, we hold that some principles are highly transferable – particularly within the field of disaster research. The article proceeds in three steps: First, and after briefly arguing for the importance of ethics in disaster research, we present the ethics framework developed in the project. Second, we sketch out how we transferred this framework into the practical research setting. Third, we reflect particular ethical challenges we witnessed in the research process. Rather than providing a one-size-fits-all approach, we hope to fuel the debate about the reflection of normative issues in disaster research.

Territorial vulnerability to natural hazards in Europe: a composite indicator analysis and relation to economic impacts

AbstractThis article presents an assessment of territorial vulnerability to natural hazards in Europe at the regional level (NUTS3). The novelty of the study lies in assessing vulnerability to natural hazards through a composite indicator analysis over a large extension (1395 territories in 32 different countries), and in analysing the relation between vulnerability and economic impacts of past disasters. For responding to the first goal, a principal component analysis (PCA) was performed over 25 indicators, previously grouped into susceptibility and coping capacity, and subsequently combined to obtain the final vulnerability. The main result is the spatial distribution of vulnerability to natural hazards across Europe through a normalised and comparative approach, which indicates that 288 out of 1395 regions presented a high or a very high level of vulnerability. They are concentrated in Eastern and Southern Europe, and in the Baltic Region, and the sum of their population lives in territories with high or very high vulnerability level, representing 20% of the total sample, i.e. 116 out of 528 million inhabitants. Regarding the methodology for analysing the relation between vulnerability and economic impacts, a spatial regression model has been used to combine hazard, exposure and vulnerability. The outcomes indicate a high level of agreement between vulnerability and the distribution of past economic impacts, which confirm that the indicator-based approach is a good proxy for assessing vulnerability to natural hazards. Knowing the distribution of vulnerability is of high relevance for targeting disaster risk management and climate change adaptation actions to the highest priority regions.

Assessment and analysis of social vulnerability to island seismic disasters

More than 11,000 islands in China are located at the intersection of the Circum-Pacific and Eurasian seismic belts. The current research on the Social Vulnerability of Seismic Disasters (SVSD) mainly focuses on inland area, which has limited applicability for islands field. This paper set China island counties as the research object. We established a comprehensive index system to express islands' unique SVSD characteristics, consisting of 27 indicators in three aspects: exposure, sensitivity, and coping capacity. Afterwards, taking China island counties as the research object, Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Pearson correlation analysis were used to screen the indicators, and the CRITIC and entropy weight methods were used to assign weights. Then the Social Vulnerability Index (SoVI) was calculated to express the islands' SVSD, which is further discussed to get the spatial distribution and possible causes. The assessment method established in this paper could be a reference for quantitative analysis of the islands’ SVSD. This research is fundamental for the implementation of island seismic disaster prevention, mitigation planning, and sustainable development.

Brown and white layer pullet hybrids show different fear responses towards humans, but what role does light during incubation play in that?

Good early life conditions are increasingly recognized as essential to animal welfare later in life. The use of light during incubation might improve coping capacities and welfare in later life in poultry, by more closely approximating chicken natural environments compared to the current conventional incubation in darkness. Previous studies showed that lighted incubation resulted in more lateralized chicks, a more pronounced daily behavior rhythm, earlier onset of melatonin rhythms, and lower stress reactions to various stressors after hatching. Most existing research, however, has been conducted on broilers, and little information on lighted incubation is available for laying hens. In the current research, Dekalb White and ISA Brown eggs were incubated in complete darkness or in a cycle of green 12 L:12D throughout incubation, and five fear of human tests were performed on the 387 chickens during the rearing phase. We expected dark-incubated chickens to show stronger fear responses than light-incubated chickens. That was only the case for one of 15 behavior measurements taken during the tests (p < 0.05). In addition, white layer hybrids are known to be flightier and more fearful than brown hybrids. In this study, white chickens indeed showed stronger fear responses than brown chickens in 12 of the 15 behavior measurements (p ≤ 0.002). Furthermore, we expected light during incubation to have stronger effects on white chickens than on brown chickens, because of the stronger transmission of light through white eggshells. However, the interaction between hybrid and incubation was never significant (p ≥ 0.18). Finally, contrary to our expectations, there was no effect of the incubation treatments or the hybrid on plasma corticosterone responses to a manual restraint test (p ≥ 0.36). Since there was a hybrid effect on behavior in this test, it is reasonable to think that behavior reflected coping style, rather than fear level. To conclude, the light regime used in this study does not seem as promising as expected to improve laying hen welfare. Finally, the brown hybrid was usually less fearful than the white hybrid, though there were some exceptions depending on the stressor, and that should be taken into account in research and in laying hen management.