Synopses & Reviews
The central role that coping plays in moderating negative effects of stress has emerged over the past two decades. Literally thousands of studies have been done on this topic, scattered across several disciplines. This volume brings together for the first time the cross-disciplinary findings on stress and coping from the fields of psychology, human physiology, sociology, and anthropology. Taking an approach that is both transactional and developmental, the author traces the personality, situational, social, and cultural influences on individual coping, then shows how coping strategies can change not only the individual and the social context, but the broader culture as well.
The book is structured around the interplay among theory, method, and relevance to everyday adaptation. The author delineates the major assumption systems underlying the various approaches to stress and coping through a careful examination of the historical context and concepts contributing to each approach. A discussion of the psychophysiology of stress provides a useful overview of both neuroendocrine and immunological responses.
Measurement and design issues are also examined in great depth. Chapters describe the various measurement approaches to both stress and coping, providing sample items from different scales and comparing the strengths and weaknesses of the various types of measures. An appendix lists over 60 different coping scales that have been developed in the past two decades. The author also discusses the circumstances under which different scales may be more or less appropriate. Especially useful is a chapter on statistical issues in which the author elucidates the techniques used to examine both mediating and moderating effects of coping on the relationship between stress and health.
Four different coping literatures are then reviewed. The chapter on coping and trauma presents an in-depth look into how people survive concentration and POW camps, natural and technological disasters, and individual trauma such as rape and incest. The impact of coping strategies on mental and physical health are examined, as well as how individuals cope with illnesses including chronic pain, heart disease, and cancer. Emphasizing ways in which children cope with such situations as divorce and medical procedures, the chapter on development explores how coping strategies develop in childhood and whether this process extends into adulthood. Finally, the author reviews the literature on how the social context and broader culture affect stress and coping processes.
The final two chapters are particularly insightful and thought provoking. In them, the author examines an often overlooked topic: the beneficial effects that arise from coping with stress. She integrates the physiological, developmental, and social literatures detailing the positive effects of stress--from "physiological toughening" and the association of genius and creativity with parental bereavement to the social solidarity created by natural disasters. Viewing stress as a universal context in which adult development can occur, she demonstrates that coping with stress can result in the development of new resources. Moreover, because stress is often accompanied by uncertainty, individuals are forced to examine their own assumptions, a necessity for the development of mindfulness and wisdom.
Steeped in scholarship, this book is a valuable reference for anyone in the fields of clinical, health, and developmental psychology, as well as those in adult development and gerontology, sociology, and anthropology. Providing important insights in an accessible manner, it also serves as a primary or supplemental text for advanced courses in health psychology and behavioral medicine.
Review
"Aldwin's integration of many disciplines should be of great value for graduate classes and will be useful as well to researchers in realted areas who need a state-of-the-art overview of the field." --Lynne A. Sturm
"Carolyn Aldwin has taken on a challenging task with great success in Stress, Coping, and Development: A Lifespan Perspective. This is an exceptionally fine book that makes sense of the multidisciplinary literature on stress and adaptation across the life course and charts promising lines of inquiry for the coming years. Few health issues have captured more attention in scientific study than problems of stress and adaptation. With impressive scope and mastery, Aldwin advances our understanding of this surging field by identifying the exciting frontiers that extend across disciplines and by reporting what we know and should know. I warmly applaud her insistence that stress and coping are lifelong problems that call for multidisciplinary inquiry." --Glen H. Elder, Jr., Ph.D., Howard W. Odum Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Research Professor of Psychology
"This book presents an elegant synthesis of contemporary research and thinking about the role of stress and coping in human development. It offers us a provocative theory of adaptation that should generate a great deal of debate and stimulate interdisciplinary research that cuts across the human lifespan. I recommend it very highly to any reader who marvels at the resilience of the human spirit." --Emmy E. Werner, Ph.D., Professor of Human Development, University of California at Davis
"Stress, Coping, and Development: A Lifespan Perspective is the right book at the right time. The field has needed a book that pulls together the major theoretical and empirical research in the field. Carolyn Aldwin has done this for us, and done it well. This book has breadth, depth, and balance, and it provides an excellent account of contemporary coping theory and research. The discussion of sociocultural, developmental, and transformational aspects of coping is especially rich and points to exciting new areas for coping theorists and researchers to explore. This is an important book for students as well as experienced researchers, and it can be used by people in diverse behavioral, social, and health science disciplines." --Susan Folkman, Ph.D., Professor of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, California
"Stress, Coping, and Development is a clearly written, inclusive, and integrative presentation of theory and research. It offers students an opportunity to examine the richness and depth of what is known and what is important about stress and coping. The book is a breath of fresh air in an area in which an important topic is typically presented in a superficial manner." --Professor Franklin Goodkin, PhD, Department of Psychology, Castleton State College, Castleton, Vermont
"This text will be an important addition to advanced human behavior courses. Helping us conceptualize life challenges and transitions from a biopsychosocial and spiritual perspective, the book also enhances our understanding of the psychophysiology of stress. Emphasis is placed upon much of the newer knowledge that social workers need to incorporate into their practice." --Rosemary Farmer, PhD, LCSW, School of Social Work, Virginia Commonwealth University
Review
"In this second edition, Aldwin provides an informed overview of the huge body of research and theory on coping. She presents potentially difficult content in easy-to-digest terms and covers a broad array of important issues. Thus, the book is ideal for graduate-level classes. It also will be of great interest to social and behavioral scientists and professionals who want to understand the basic empirical findings on this important topic and their relevance to real-world concerns, particularly in the areas of mental and physical health and aging."--Nancy Eisenberg, PhD, Department of Psychology, Arizona State University "Carolyn Aldwin has further enriched a book that was already rich in ideas, facts, and theory. This second edition offers a comprehensive account of the field of stress and coping with some very appealing new material, especially in the areas of development, positive aspects of stress, social aspects of stress, and stress and health. Aldwins multidisciplinary perspective is exactly what is needed in the field."--Susan Folkman, PhD, Osher Center for Integrative Medicine, University of California, San Francisco "I didn't realize that there was so much I didn't know about stress until I read this book. While giving fair coverage to reductionism and interactionism, Aldwin makes a convincing case for transactionism as a way to integrate a vast amount of research on stress. Anyone interested in health psychology will find this work very useful."--Ellen J. Langer, PhD, Department of Psychology, Harvard University "I know of no other book that has accomplished what this work does: It provides an insightful and thorough examination of stress and coping research as it relates to human development across the lifespan. The second edition includes valuable new chapters on the physiology of stress; transformational coping; and self-regulation, self-development, and wisdom. Also laudable is the discussion of methodological advances, such as methods for the analysis of longitudinal data, which have permitted the field to examine the effects of stress and coping on human development more rigorously."--Manfred Diehl, PhD, Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Colorado State University
Synopsis
Tracing the personality, situational, social, and cultural influences on individual coping, this volume then shows how coping strategies can change not only the individual and the social context, but the broader culture as well.
Synopsis
This volume provides a much-needed integration of major issues and research in the field of stress and coping. Focusing on transactions between mind and body and between persons and environments, the book examines how physiological, psychological, social, and cultural factors come together to influence both what people perceive as stressful and how they cope with it. Basic conceptual and methodological issues are reviewed in depth, and the strengths and weaknesses of various research models and measurement techniques are detailed. Topics covered include the psychophysiology of stress; the relationship between coping and health; coping with trauma; the development of coping strategies through the lifespan; cultural ramifications of coping; and the adaptive effects of stress.
Synopsis
How do people cope with stressful experiences? What makes a coping strategy effective for a particular individual? This volume comprehensively examines the nature of psychosocial stress and the implications of different coping strategies for adaptation and health across the lifespan. Carolyn M. Aldwin synthesizes a vast body of knowledge within a conceptual framework that emphasizes the transactions between mind and body and between persons and environments. She analyzes different kinds of stressors and their psychological and physiological effects, both negative and positive. Ways in which coping is influenced by personality, relationships, situational factors, and culture are explored. The book also provides a methodological primer for stress and coping research, critically reviewing available measures and data analysis techniques.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 287-319) and index.
About the Author
Carolyn M. Aldwin, PhD, is Professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Sciences at Oregon State University. She received her doctorate from the University of California, San Francisco, in 1982, and was a National Institute of Mental Health postdoctoral scholar in Human Development, Environmental Demands, and Health at the University of California, Irvine. Dr. Aldwin received a FIRST award from the National Institute on Aging for her study of psychosocial factors and health in aging early in her career at the Boston Veterans Administration, and has published over 90 articles and chapters in this area. She is a fellow of both Divisions 20 (Adult Development and Aging) and 38 (Health Psychology) of the American Psychological Association, as well as of the Gerontological Society of America.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction and Purpose of the Book
2. Why Is Stress Important?
3. Definitions of Stress
4. The Physiology of Stress
5. Design and Measurement Issues in Stress Research
6. Why is Coping Important?
7. Theoretical Approaches to Coping
8. Measurement of Coping Strategies
9. Statistical Issues in Coping Research
10. Coping and Mental Health
11. Coping and Physical Health
12. Coping with Traumatic Stress
13. Sociocultural Aspects of Coping
14. Developmental Studies of Coping
15. Stress-Related Growth and Transformational Coping
16. Self-Regulation, Self-Development, and Wisdom