Task-oriented Style Research Articles

Gender differences in school leadership: Collaborative and task-oriented styles of principals in Andalusia, Spain

School leadership plays an integral role in meeting educational quality standards. In recent years, the interplay between gender and leadership has emerged as a contentious subject of discussion. This study delves into how the gender of school principals influences their perception and administration of designated professional competencies. Engaging 470 school leaders from state-owned schools from Spain (Andalusia), this analysis uncovers notable distinctions in the leadership styles and approaches employed by male and female principals, underscoring the significance of acknowledging the cultural and societal backdrop. Our findings indicate a pronounced appreciation for competencies linked with collaborative and transformational leadership among female principals. This observation underscores the imperative for the development of inclusive educational policies that recognize and leverage gender diversity as a pivotal resource for augmenting leadership in educational settings. The study accentuates the essential need for the establishment of educational strategies and policies that not only discern gender differences but also valorize them, enhancing the caliber of leadership across educational frameworks.

The problem of loneliness and coping with stress in the context of life situations experienced by war refugees (based on the research conducted in Rivne, Ukraine)

The article presents the findings of a thorough investigation of the problem of loneliness and coping with stress in the context of life situations experienced by war refugees, based on an empirical study of 304 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the city of Rivne. The study has shown that IDPs are currently the most vulnerable category of the population due to the following factors: these people have suffered a deterioration of their life quality in terms of the financial and social status which they enjoyed before displacement; they are emotionally unstable and psychologically exhausted as a result of the traumatic war-related events they experienced. Stress, anxiety, fear, and uncertainty have become typical reactions characteristic of displaced persons of any age. The psycho-emotional state of war refugees causes a feeling of alienation, severe stress and loneliness — phenomena that are the result of a number of factors associated with war as one of the most serious crisis situations. As part of the Science for Society II program, the Minister of Education and Science of Poland launched the Faces of Stress and Loneliness in the Context of Military Migration project (November 2023 – March 2024), which envisages conducting a comparative study with the participation of groups of refugees currently living in the cities of Legnica and Krakow (Poland), Drohobych and Rivne (Ukraine). The purpose of the study is to gain an insight into the feeling of loneliness experienced by refugees and internally displaced persons and the coping strategies they use, to determine the level of awareness of global loneliness and its three aspects (emotional, social, existential), to determine the characteristic features of coping strategies used by the respondents in various stressful situations, as well as their long-term and far-reaching social consequences for the further psychosocial functioning of a person in various areas of life. The objectives of the project include determining the possibility of coping with stress by refugees in order to adapt to new circumstances and to continue living an active life under the conditions of war and in the period of transition to peace. A theoretical analysis has been conducted of the phenomenon of loneliness and coping strategies as defined and described in the humanities; the methodology of the research has been substantiated, and the characteristic features of the respondents have been analysed. Based on a statistical analysis of possible loneliness factors and responses to stress, the relationship between socio-demographic and socio-economic variables and stress coping styles has been examined; the link between the feeling of loneliness and stress coping styles has been studied; the hypotheses that the existential face will be predominant among the other faces of loneliness and that war refugees are characterized by differentiated stress-coping styles have been verified. It has been proven that the existential loneliness rate is significantly higher than that of social and emotional loneliness, that is, the dominant face of loneliness is the existential one. As regards the positive statistically significant correlation, it has been found primarily between active and productive/semi-productive coping strategies: the intensity of the task-oriented style differs significantly from that of the emotion-focused and the avoidance-oriented styles. The research data show that the task-oriented style prevails among refugees. The obtained findings necessitated the development of a loneliness and stress coping training program, consisting of 10 sessions, and its implementation in working with war refugees in order to teach them constructive strategies and techniques for coping with stress and the feeling of loneliness under the conditions of reintegration.

The problem of loneliness and stress coping styles among war refugees in the context of their life experience (based on a study conducted in Drohobych)

This article presents the findings of an empirical study of the feeling of loneliness experienced by war refugees relocated to Drohobych, and the stress coping styles they use. The study included a theoretical analysis of available materials on the issue of loneliness and stress coping styles. The conducted analysis has shown that the problem of loneliness is widely described and interpreted from different aspects in literature on psychology. According to the sources, the problem is complex and there is no unambiguous solution to it. The phenomenon of loneliness is examined from the standpoint of numerous conceptual approaches. However, there is rather little research into the subject of loneliness experienced by war refugees in Ukraine and its connection with the stress coping styles they use. The aim of the study was to identify the specific manifestations of loneliness, in particular its three aspects: the social, emotional, and existential ones, and also its relationship with the stress coping styles used by forced migrants living in the territory of Drohobych and the Drohobych district. The above phenomena were analysed using the following psychodiagnostic tools: a short scale for measuring loneliness (SBS-AD), developed by Z. Dołęga; the Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations (CISS), developed by N. S. Endler and J. D. A. Parker, in the Polish adaptation of P. Shchepanik, Ya. Strelau, and K. Wrzeshnevsky (P. Szczepanik, J. Strelau, K. Wrześniewski); an original questionnaire, specifically developed for the needs of the research. The findings of the study of the theoretical and methodological aspects of the issue and the conducted empirical research have confirmed the hypothesis that loneliness experienced by war refugees has an existential face and is related to their stress coping styles. It has been found that the task-oriented style dominates among war refugees. The research has shown that the problem of loneliness and the related stress coping styles requires further study, while the research findings should be implemented in the provision of psychological help to war refugees.

The significance of the senior pastor for change and growth

This is a literature-based article on the importance of the pastor for change and growth in the local church. The article discusses five themes derived from a review of the research literature, namely the general leadership literature and the church leadership literature. The contribution of this article is its discussion of the church leadership literature on the role of the pastor, taking into account the general research on the role of a top leader. Six propositions on how the pastor contributes to change and growth in the church are derived: 1) The pastor, as the senior leader, is vital for team development, change, and growth. 2) The personality traits and gifts of the pastors are important. 3) To increase change and growth, the senior pastor must emphasize a change-promoting leadership role and style, moderated by the roles and styles of the leadership team members. 4) A change- and task-oriented style must be moderated and reinforced - probably more so than in other organizations - by a transformational and relational leadership style. 5) The pastor should build an influential top-leader team to create direction, strategy, and change. Diversity facilitates the necessary discussion within the team. A common goal and appealing vision contribute positively to cooperation within the team. 6) Leadership should not only be understood as what the leader or pastor does but also as a complex interaction with other actors and the context. Building trust and good relationships with subordinate leaders and coworkers is thus vital for change and growth. Finally, a model for understanding the connection between the pastor, change, and growth is outlined.

영어 교사의 학습지도성과 초등학생의 영어 학습역량 간의 관계성 연구

The study aims to verify the impact exerted by task-oriented and relationship-oriented
 teaching styles adopted by English teachers on the cognitive, motivational, and
 behavioral proficiencies of elementary school students learning English. To this end,
 online questionnaires with questions about the English teachers’ teaching styles as
 well as their own English learning competencies were distributed and collected from
 after-school programs of public schools and private educational institutions and 262
 students in grades 4 to 6 across six provinces in Korea. The major findings are as
 follows: First, both task-oriented and relationship-oriented styles influenced students’
 learning competencies significantly. However, the impact of the task-oriented teaching
 style was relatively stronger on cognitive competence than that of the
 relationship-oriented style. Next, the relationship-oriented style significantly influenced
 motivational and behavioral competence, while the task-oriented style had none.
 Therefore, this study suggests that English teachers should exercise a
 relationship-oriented teaching style to enhance students’ English learning competencies.
 However, teachers should prioritize task-oriented teaching for students who lack
 cognitive competence. Moreover, to effectively demonstrate teaching styles, teachers
 should adapt their instructional approaches based on the educational situations at hand
 and the individual characteristics of their students.

Stress coping strategies of Iranian healthcare staff during the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional study

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed healthcare staff to mental distress. Given the importance of applying effective strategies to cope with stress caused by COVID-19, this study aimed to assess the stress-coping strategies of Iranian healthcare providers. This cross-sectional study was performed through a web-based survey. Data collection was done online using a demographic data questionnaire and the short form of Endler and Parker’s coping inventory. The mean scores of task-oriented strategies (27.06 ± 5.13) were higher than avoidance-oriented (19.42 ± 5.77) and emotion-oriented strategies (18.45 ± 5.76), and the healthcare workers mainly used task-oriented styles to cope with COVID-19-related stress. There was a significant difference between the score of task-oriented strategy in terms of age groups (P < 0.001), work experience (P = 0.018), level of education (P < 0.001), having children (P = 0.002), and type of hospital (P = 0.028). The score of task-oriented strategies was lower in employees who were in the age group of 20–30 years and had less than 10 years of work experience, and it was higher in employees who had children, worked in private hospitals, and had a master's degree or higher. The score of emotion-oriented strategies in the age group of 51–60 years was significantly lower than other age groups (P < 0.01) and was significantly higher in employees with a bachelor's degree than those with a master's degree or higher (P = 0.017). There was no significant difference between the scores of avoidance-oriented strategies and any socio-demographic variables. According to the findings of this study, young and less experienced employees were more inclined to utilize emotion-oriented coping styles. Therefore, considering appropriate training programs for these employees to apply effective coping strategies is extremely important.

How entrepreneurial competencies influence the leadership style: A study of Saudi female entrepreneurs

This study examines a group of women entrepreneurs of small and micro businesses in Hail, Riyadh and Eastern regions of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The study aims to identify the particular style of leadership displayed by these women entrepreneurs; and whether all their competencies have the same or different influence on their task-oriented or people-oriented leadership styles. The respondents were initially identified through various organizations such as Wa’ed (Aramco’s entrepreneurship centre), MISK Foundation and Monsha’at. Subsequently, we finalized female-owned small businesses that are operating for minimum two years in their respective business area as our target respondents. The survey questionnaire was sent to 310 women entrepreneurs after obtaining their approval. A total of 211 filled surveys were received. The responses having repetition or missing data were deleted which resulted in 174 surveys which were analyzed using SPSS. Surprisingly, the results indicate that our respondents exhibit a higher score of task-oriented leadership style. The female entrepreneurs who possess high degrees of business and management, relationship, entrepreneurial and human relation skills are found to incline towards task-oriented leadership style. The relationship and entrepreneurial competencies show a positive influence on the people-oriented leadership style. On the other hand, business and management, as well as entrepreneurial and human interactions, show a positive influence on task-oriented style of leadership.

Academic burnout, self-esteem, coping with stress and gratitude among Polish medical students – a cross sectional study

Abstract Introduction: Academic burnout is emerging as an essential obstacle in education process. Students of the most challenging fields of study with high degrees of stress are thought to be at the highest risk. Medical studies are considered one of them. The aim of the study was to measure the levels of academic burnout, stress and gratitude among Polish medical students of Medical University of Lublin, and determine their styles of coping with stress. Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted using a questionnaire comprised of the following: Maslach Burnout Inventory – Student Survey (MBI-SS), Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (SES), a Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations (CISS) and a Gratitude Questionnaire Six-Item form (GQ-6). The data was obtained from 773 medical students. Results: Total number of 169 students (21.86%) met criteria for academic burnout. When it comes to 354 participants, they displayed signs of low self-esteem (45.8%). The number of 18 students showed low level of gratitude, while gratitude level of the majority of them – 496 (64.17%) was high. The most common style of coping with stress was emotions-oriented style – 354 students (48.29%), followed by task-oriented style – 345 students (47.07%). Burnout subscales turned out to be associated with age, year of study, self-esteem, gratitude and different styles of coping with stress to the various extent. Conclusions: The prevalence of academic burnout among Polish medical students is high compared with general population across various occupations. Utilisation of protective characteristics of high self-esteem, gratitude and healthy coping methods can result in development of efficient anti-burnout prevention strategies and intervention tools.

The Managerial Performance of Megou Pak Tulang Bawang University

The changes in the regulation of accreditation criteria from 7 standards to 9 standards and the inconsistency of the results of previous research regarding the effect of incentives, non-financial performance, and leadership style on managerial performance have become an interest in conducting this research again. This study aims to provide empirical evidence about the effect of incentives, non-financial performance, and leadership style on managerial megou pak tulang bawang university performance. This research was conducted at megou pak tulang bawang university in menggala Lampung with its unit of analysis Good-accredited study program which has 12 study programs, consisting of samples obtained from as many as 121 Lecturer. The sampling technique used was purposive sampling. The data analysis method used is a quantitative method that the multiple regression analysis tested with Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) V24. This study's results indicate that incentives consisting of bonuses, rewards, and professional and honor allowances have a significant positive effect on managerial performance. The non-financial performance, which consists of the work and environmental dimensions, has a significant positive effect on managerial performance. Leadership styles which consist of participative style, authoritarian style, and task-oriented style significantly negatively affect managerial performance. The implication of this research is to provide additional indicators such as the professional allowances &amp; honor in incentive variable indicators not only limited to bonuses and rewards.

Causes of Stress Among Poles and How They Cope With Stress During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

This study aimed to learn about causes of stress among adult Poles and their ways of dealing with stress during the COVID-19 pandemic. A survey questionnaire was used, as well as two standardized research tools: Endler and Parker’s Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations (CISS), and Watson and Clark’s Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS). The research group comprised 595 people, including 80.5% women. They were 18–75 years old. The most important stress factors were concern for one’s health, as well as the current political and economic situation in the country. Most of the participants lean toward avoidance-oriented coping with stress, fewer of them prefer emotion-oriented coping, and the remaining ones focus on task-oriented coping. Task-oriented style is typical of those who are older, married and those who have children. Emotion-oriented coping is more common among women, young people, unmarried people and those without children. Avoidance-oriented style is connected with those who are single, childless, and combining study with work. The most adaptive style of dealing with stress in terms of emotions was task-oriented coping. Psychological support focused on strengthening adaptive strategies of coping with stressful situations is an important task for professionals in the field.

Unpacking Leadership Style Values on Motivating New Generation Employees’ Prosocial Organizational Behaviors

Based on current data derived from the International Labour Organization, in 2018, there was a significant rise of Chinese female entrepreneurs in workplaces. One industry that has been viewed the most significantly rise in female leadership is Internet industry, as Chinese women now account for 55% of entrepreneurs within new economy companies. Existing researches distinguished leadership styles into two types based on gender differences. More specifically, men are generally viewed to lead with Task-oriented styles while women have been shown to lead with Interpersonal-oriented styles. However, no studies have directly examined which leadership style can be the most effective when directing GenZ employees in China in terms of prosocial organizational behaviors. In this paper, the author profoundly extends the leadership style values and latent women leadership superiority on motivating prosocial organizational behaviors of Genz employees. Extracting from shared points of leadership styles based on gender types, the author generated 3 hypotheses: Compared with Task-orientated leadership style, interpersonal leadership style is more accepted by Genz employees compared to Millennial (Hypothesis1) and Women prosocial leadership are more acceptable by female GenZ employees (Hypothesis2). Notably, GenZ employees’ prosocial organizational behaviors are motivated when collaborated with most felicitous leaders (Hypothesis3). A sample of 500 applicants in a top internet company were expected to accomplish this research. Consequences provided sufficient evidences for hypothesis 2 through both quantitative and qualitative statistics as well as hypothesis 3. Nevertheless, Hypothesis 1 have not been proved in an accurate manner that generational differences in employees have paltry ramifications of leadership styles preferences. As a matter of fact, both leadership styles are popular among Millennial and Genz employees.

Coping with stress in parents of children with developmental disabilities

Background/ObjectivePrevious findings indicated that parents of children with developmental disabilities face greater care giving demands and report higher levels of stress. This study explores the styles and strategies of coping with stress among parents of children with developmental disabilities compared to parents of children with typical development.Method167 parents of children with developmental disabilities and 103 parents of typical development children participated as a voluntary. The CISS and the COPE Inventory were used to assess the coping styles and strategies in rearing a child.ResultsThe results from Multivariate Analysis indicated significant differences between parents of children with and without developmental disabilities in one of three coping styles and one of eight coping strategies. Parents of children with developmental disabilities less often used the avoidance-oriented style and emotional support strategy. The task-oriented style and strategies were the dominant approach in both groups of parents. In stressful situations connected with rearing a child, parents of children with developmental disabilities do not use as dominant strategies connected with seeking emotional support and religion, which occur in the parents of typical development children.ConclusionsThe results suggest areas where coping may be different than in families of children without DD.

The Polish Version of the Resilience Scale 25: Adaptation and Preliminary Psychometric Evaluation.

Background: The aim of the presented series of studies was to test the factor structure and assess the psychometric properties of the Resilience Scale 25 in the Polish population. It was developed and tested during the course of four independent studies analysing various aspects of the validation of the RS 25 questionnaire’s Polish version.Method: Study 1 concerned the procedure for developing the Polish language version. Study 2 (N = 2716) consisted of reliability tests and a confirmatory factor analysis. In Studies 3 (N = 733) and 4 (N = 431), the validity was assessed by examining the relationship between resilience and the assessment of ego-resiliency, the risk of depression, styles of coping with stress, perceived stress, and satisfaction with life.Results: The presented research results obtained using the measure indicate that it can be considered to be a reliable and valid research tool. A five-factor solution showed a good fit to the data: χ2/df = 12.85; RMSEA = 0.066 (low = 0.064; high = 0.068; 90% CI); GFI = 0.90; AGFI = 0.90. An assessment of the internal consistency was carried out on the basis of Cronbach’s alpha. The values achieved were satisfactory and indicate acceptable internal reliability of the questionnaire (0.89) and of the five dimensions: (1) purpose (0.65); (2) equanimity (0.65); (3) self-reliance (0.75); (4) perseverance (0.72); and (5) existential aloneness (0.66). In accordance with the predictions and earlier studies, resilience was correlated positively with ego-resiliency, a task-oriented style of coping with stress, and life satisfaction and negatively with perceived stress, the risk of depression, and an emotion-oriented coping style.Conclusion: The Polish version of the RS 25 allows the assessment of the intensity of resilience as a general indicator and its five constituting dimensions. Such a measurement seems to be important from the perspective of assessing the role of an individual’s resources in clinical psychology, health psychology, and psychotherapy.

Coping with Stress and Sense of Efficacy, as well as Satisfaction with Life in Young Athletes - a Pilot Study

Introduction: In research on styles of coping with stress conducted among athletes has demonstrated various variables determining these styles, e.g. age [1], gender [2], and styles of thinking [3]. Factors responsible for effective coping with difficult situations are sought, and consequently, greater satisfaction with life. In the presented report, it was recognised that one of the variables related to effective coping and thus, with life satisfaction, is self-efficacy. Aim of research: In this work, it was decided to establish relationships between styles of coping with stress by athletes, their sense of self-efficacy and overall satisfaction with life, as well as the type of difficult situations experienced by them. Group and method: The study comprised 40 participants, 14 women and 26 men practicing sports, 1st-year students of the Faculty of Physical Education and Sports. The mean age was 20.43±1.22 years. Of the subjects, 25 people practiced individual disciplines, while 15 team sports. The questionnaire “Perception of difficult situations by adolescents in sport”, the Generalised Self-Efficacy Scale, the Satisfaction with Life Scale and the Coping In Stressful Situations Questionnaire were used. Results: The results showed a relationship between life satisfaction and the task-oriented style of coping with stress (positive correlation) as well as the emotional style of coping with stress, engaging in substitute activities, and stressful situations - except those related to academic stress (negative correlation); self-efficacy and the task-oriented (positive correlation) and emotional style of coping with stress (negative correlation) and sense of self-efficacy and satisfaction with life (positive correlation). Conclusion: There is a relationship between the styles of coping with stress and the level of satisfaction with life as well as the level of self-efficacy among individuals practicing sports.

STRESS-COPING STYLES AND SATISFACTION WITH LIFE OF MILITARY AVIATION PERSONNEL DIFFERING IN BODY MASS INDEX

Introduction: Soldiers, due to the specific nature of their service, are one of the occupational groups particularly exposed to stress. The aim of this study was to assess the stress-coping styles and satisfaction with life in a group of military aviation personnel, differentiated in terms of the BMI (Body Mass Index). Methods: The research compared three groups of military aviation personnel, distinguished on the basis of BMI, i.e. people with normal body weight (25 people), overweight people (24 people) and people suffering from obesity (20 people). The CISS (Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations) Questionnaire by Endler and Parker was used to assess the stress-coping styles. Satisfaction with life was measured using the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) by Diener et al. Results: The data analysis did not reveal any statistically significant differences in CISS and SWLS scores between groups differing in BMI (p&gt;0.05). It was found that the style of coping with difficult situations that is most often manifested by the surveyed military aviation personnel is the task-oriented style (TOS). A comparable, high SWLS score was also revealed in all studied groups. Conclusions: The BMI turned out not to be a factor differentiating either the type of stress-coping styles or the level of satisfaction with life experienced by the military aviation personnel studied. It is likely that, due to the specificity of soldiers' work, the TOS may be a beneficial and adaptive style of dealing with stressful situations. The high level of general satisfaction with life found in the surveyed members of the military aviation personnel provides a reason to conduct further research aimed at identifying the factors determining this variable.

Occupational Activity After Renal Transplantation vs Quality of Life, Personality Profile, and Stress Coping Styles

IntroductionKidney transplantation (KT) increases the quality of life (QoL) of patients with chronic kidney disease. Employment is one the objective indicators of KT success. The aim of the presented study was to assess the psychological predispositions of KT and hemodialysis (HD) patients, such as stress coping styles, chosen personality features, and their relationship with employment and QoL. Material and MethodsOne hundred and sixty-one persons were examined, 101 after KT, and 60 HD patients. The following methods were applied: NEO-FFI Personality Inventory; Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations (CISS); WHOQoL-BREF; and general survey, measuring sociodemographic data and work experience. ResultsIn the KT group, 58 persons were employed and 43 were unemployed. HD patients were mostly unemployed, with only 15 persons working.Significant differences were identified between the results of the following variables: WHOQoL environmental scale (employed m= 16.8, standard deviation [SD] = 3; unemployed m= 15, SD = 2.8); extraversion (employed m = 6.7, SD = 2; unemployed m = 5.6, SD = 2); somatic WHOQoL scale (HD m = 12.2, SD = 2.7; KT m = 14.2, SD = 3.5).In the KT group, the following correlations were identified: extraversion with contact seeking strategy (r = 0.553), agreeableness (r = 0.245), and conscientiousness (r = 0.384); agreeableness with conscientiousness (r = 0.336).In the HD group, the following correlations were identified: task-oriented style with conscientiousness (r = 0.474); avoidance-oriented style with conscientiousness (r = -0.466); contact seeking with extraversion (r = 0.402) and agreeableness (r = 0.469). ConclusionsThe following conclusions were reached: Social competence, such as seeking and maintaining contacts, positively translates to features connected with occupational activity. Social skills strengthen the organization of healthier environment and increase QoL. Employed patients have higher social skills and QoL.

Women Leadership in Indian Organizations

In today’s global economy, industries require a talented pool of candidates to create a comparative competitive advantage to address the global opportunities as well as to address these global trends and dynamic challenges factual and cognitive leadership is required to manage changes effectively. The nurturing and task-oriented style, managerial practices, organizational orientation, especially followed by women entrepreneurs/ leaders/ managers has carved a niche for women leadership in national as well as international platforms. The current financial crisis and long-term global trends are reshaping the corporate landscape, and there is an urgent need to accelerate some of the changes in corporations to seize the new opportunities that arise from time to time. This conceptual research paper analyzes that though the ages, how women have experienced the disadvantages of existing in a patriarchal framework designating them in a homemaker role and how women in business now, have broken that mold across the world and created new stories for themselves.

The Organisational Culture of Vietnamese and Chinese Corporations: Do Age and Gender Make a Difference?

Globalisation has developed the requirement for superiors to manage worldwide organisations across cultures successfully. Comprehending and setting up proper organisational cultures for corporations are urgent tasks for international leaders and managers. This research attempts to explore the organisational culture in Vietnam and China in terms of task and relationship orientations. Since the total sample of 498 respondents including 276 respondents from Vietnam and 222 respondents from China, it confirms that Vietnamese respondents are more task-oriented and relationship-oriented than Chinese respondents. Gender and age are not a factor in either the relationship-oriented or task-oriented styles of both respondents. Practical implications, limitations and recommendations for further studies are included in this study.

Resilience, sense of coherence and self-efficacy as predictors of stress coping style among university students

The purpose of this study was to identify the personality predictors of individuals with a stress coping style. In the study, we have attempted to establish which traits play a crucial role in the prediction of tendencies applicable to a specific style of stress coping. In this study, all personality predictors were included in one model. The study was conducted with a group of 632 students. The results demonstrate a positive relationship between both self-efficacy and resilience with a task-oriented style of coping. Both traits related to a task-oriented style to a similar extent. The relationship between participants’ sense of coherence and task-oriented style was non-significant. Participants’ emotion-oriented style was negatively related with not just the sense of coherence variable, but also with self-efficacy and resilience. Significant predictors of avoidance-oriented styles were the sense of coherence and resilience variables. Further analysis of the two forms of avoidance-oriented styles demonstrate that the sense of coherence variable was a significant predictor of both engaging in substitute activities and seeking contact with other people. Resilience was a significant predictor solely with regard to seeking contact with other people.

Sense of efficiency and helplessness, fear and styles of coping with stress in adolescents practicing sports

Introduction. Sense of efficacy is one of the important predictors of an athlete's efficiency [1]. The aim of the study was to show whether there is a relationship between the level of sense of efficacy vs. the sense of helplessness in girls and boys undertaking sports and level of anxiety (cognitive and somatic) as well as the dominant styles of coping with stress. Procedures. The study comprised 222 individuals - students of sport high-schools from the Małopolskie and Śląskie voivodeships (108 girls, average age =17.52 years and 114 boys, average age =18.47 years). The Intrapersonal, Interpersonal and World AttitudesQuestionnaire [Kwestionariusz Nastawień Intrapersonalnych, Interpersonalnych i Nastawień wobec Świata (KNIIŚ)] created by Ewa Wysocka was used [2] - the "Sense of efficacy" and "Sense of helplessness" scale (version for high-school students); Endler and Parker's "Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations (CISS)" in the Polish adaptation by Szczepaniak, Strelau, Wrześniewski [3] and "Reactions to Competition" by Smith, Smoll, Schutz in the Polish adaptation by Krawczyński, were also implemented [4]. Results. It has been shown in the research that respondents are dominated by a sense of efficacy over helplessness, a task-oriented style of coping with stress, and somatic fear before a start. In addition, it was found that there is a relationship between sense of efficacy and sense of helplessness with somatic anxiety that is moderated by sex, as well as a relationship between the sense of helplessness and the level of distraction, and a relationship between the sense of helplessness and the level of worrying that is also moderated by gender. Also observed was a correlation between the style of coping consisting in seeking social contacts with sense of helplessness among the surveyed girls. Conclusions. A practical postulate arises regarding strengthening sense of efficacy, especially among female competitors.