What's the best way to cope with stress? Approach vs avoidance
Summary
TLDRThis video explores coping strategies, emphasizing the superiority of approach coping over avoidance. It defines coping as efforts to manage stress when demands exceed resources. Studies show approach coping, which includes active problem-solving like time management and seeking support, correlates with better mental health and life satisfaction. In contrast, avoidance coping, such as substance abuse or skipping school, is linked to lower academic performance and increased distress. The presenter advocates for adopting approach strategies, illustrating their benefits through personal anecdotes and a reference to a short animated film on stress management.
Takeaways
- 🔍 Coping is defined as a person's efforts to manage demands that are appraised as taxing or exceeding available resources.
- 📈 Stress occurs when demands exceed resources, leading to various types of stress such as financial or academic.
- 🧠 Approach coping involves actively dealing with stressors, while avoidance coping involves efforts to distance oneself from stressors.
- 📊 Research indicates that approach coping is generally more effective and is associated with better mental health outcomes.
- 📚 A study on IB and AP students revealed that higher stress levels in these students correlated with poorer mental health, but positive appraisals and good family communication were linked to higher life satisfaction.
- 📈 Approach coping strategies such as time management, reappraisal, seeking support, spirituality, and relaxation are contrasted with avoidance strategies like skipping school, excessive sleeping, dropping classes, and substance abuse.
- 📉 Avoidance coping is correlated with lower GPA, lower exam scores, and higher psychopathology, suggesting it's less effective for managing stress.
- 💡 Approach coping can provide more resources to manage stress and increase one's sense of control, which is beneficial for mental health and success.
- 🎓 The video encourages viewing stress as a challenge to be dealt with rather than something to be avoided, emphasizing the importance of personal sacrifices for success.
- 🔗 The concept of approach versus avoidance coping can be applied to health psychology topics, such as risk and protective factors for health problems.
Q & A
What are the two general categories of coping strategies discussed in the video?
-The two general categories of coping strategies discussed are approach coping and avoidance coping.
Which type of coping is generally regarded as better according to psychological literature?
-Approach coping is generally regarded as the better strategy compared to avoidance coping.
What is the technical definition of coping mentioned in the video?
-Coping is defined as a person's efforts to manage demands that are appraised as taxing or exceeding resources.
What is the relationship between stress and resources as explained in the video?
-Stress occurs when the demands exceed the resources a person has available.
What was the finding from the study on IB students regarding stress and mental health?
-The study found that higher stress in IB students correlated with poorer mental health and lower life satisfaction.
What factors were found to be associated with higher life satisfaction among IB students?
-Positive appraisals and good family communication were associated with higher life satisfaction among IB students.
What does approach coping involve, as described in the video?
-Approach coping involves actively dealing with the stressor, which can include time management, reappraisal, seeking family support, academic support, spirituality, and relaxation.
What are some examples of avoidance coping strategies mentioned in the video?
-Examples of avoidance coping strategies include skipping school, sleeping or napping instead of doing work, dropping classes, and substance abuse.
What are the outcomes associated with approach coping as per the study discussed in the video?
-Approach coping is correlated with higher life satisfaction, lower psychopathology, and less burnout.
What are the outcomes associated with avoidance coping as per the study discussed in the video?
-Avoidance coping is correlated with lower GPA, lower exam scores, and higher psychopathology.
Why is approach coping considered more beneficial than avoidance coping?
-Approach coping is considered more beneficial because it provides access to more resources, increases one's sense of control over stress, and is associated with better mental health outcomes.
How does the video relate to personal sacrifice and coping with stress?
-The video relates personal sacrifice to coping with stress by showing how making small daily sacrifices, like getting up early or maintaining a healthy lifestyle, can lead to better stress management and success.
Outlines
📚 Understanding Coping Strategies
This paragraph introduces the concept of coping strategies, dividing them into two categories: approach and avoidance. It emphasizes that approach coping is generally considered more effective. The narrator explains what coping is, defining it as a person's efforts to manage demands that exceed their resources. Stress is described as occurring when demands outstrip available resources. The paragraph also references a study on IB students, which found that higher stress levels correlated with poorer mental health, but positive appraisals and good family communication were linked to higher life satisfaction. Approach coping is contrasted with avoidance coping, with the former involving active engagement with stressors and the latter involving attempts to avoid them. The paragraph concludes by stating that approach coping is associated with better health outcomes.
🛠️ The Benefits of Approach Coping
The second paragraph delves into the reasons why approach coping is beneficial. It suggests that approach coping provides access to more resources, which is crucial when demands exceed resources. The paragraph also discusses how approach coping can increase a sense of control over stress, which is most felt when there is a lack of predictability and control. The narrator shares a personal anecdote about managing stress through approach coping strategies, such as time management, reappraisal, seeking support, spirituality, and relaxation. The paragraph also touches on the negative outcomes associated with avoidance coping, such as lower GPA and exam scores, and higher psychopathology. The narrator concludes by encouraging viewers to view stress as a challenge to be dealt with rather than something to be avoided, and suggests that making small daily sacrifices can lead to significant changes in coping with stress.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Coping
💡Approach Coping
💡Avoidance Coping
💡Stress
💡Resources
💡Appraisal
💡Motivation
💡Psychopathology
💡Life Satisfaction
💡Burnout
Highlights
Coping strategies are categorized into approach and avoidance coping, with approach being more effective.
Coping is defined as a person's efforts to manage demands that exceed their resources.
Stress occurs when demands exceed available resources, leading to various forms of stress like financial or academic.
A study in 2008 grouped IB and AP students and found they experienced higher stress levels.
IB students with positive appraisals and good family communication had higher life satisfaction.
High motivation in students was negatively correlated with school burnout.
Approach coping involves actively dealing with stressors, while avoidance coping involves efforts to get away from them.
Approach coping is correlated with fewer health issues and higher life satisfaction.
Avoidance coping is linked to lower GPA, exam scores, and higher psychopathology.
Approach coping provides access to more resources, which is crucial when demands exceed resources.
Approach coping can increase one's sense of control over stressors, reducing stress.
The speaker emphasizes the importance of not avoiding stress but dealing with it as a challenge.
Personal sacrifices, like waking up early, can lead to less stress and more control over demands.
The video discusses how approach coping versus avoidance coping is a key lesson in stress and resilience.
The study on IB and AP students can be used to explain risk and protective factors in health psychology.
Avoidance coping is a risk factor, while approach coping is a protective factor against health problems.
The video concludes by encouraging the use of approach coping strategies for better stress management.
Transcripts
so in this video we're going to look at
a range of
different coping strategies but they're
generally regarded and broken down into
two categories approach verse avoidance
coping and most psychologists would
agree with the literature the studies
point towards approach coping being the
better strategy so we're going to look
at why approach coping is better than
avoidance coping first of all we need to
know what is
coping coping
technical definition a person's efforts
to manage demands that are appraised as
taxing or exceeding resources now
remember stress occurs when the demands
exceed the resources you have available
so you feel financially stressed when
the demands your bills to pay exceed
your resources the money that you have
you might feel academic stress when the
demands the amount of work you have to
do your homework assignments tests and
exceeding the resources you have the
time the effort the energy you have to
prepare for those things even the you
know your cognitive capabilities or your
academic abilities to to achieve in
those
so coping is well how do we manage
those situations when demands exceed
resources so how do we try to deal with
our stress
so if just to recall as a previous video
of explaining this study on ib students
back in 2008 so they grouped ib and ap
students together and they compared them
with other students in high schools and
they looked at their stress levels and
their coping styles well they found ibn
ap students were more stressed ib
ibn ap students watching this would
probably not be surprised by that um
they found that in ib students higher
stress correlated with poorer mental
health lower life satisfaction was one
of the measures they used for that but
ib students with positive appraisals and
good family communication had higher
life satisfaction a positive appraisal
appraisal is how we think of a stressor
right do we think of it as a threat or
as a challenge what are the ways we're
thinking about the
about the things that are stressing us
out that's an appraisal
right and motivation negatively
correlated with school burnout meaning
if you were highly motivated to do well
you had lower rates of school burnout
okay now remember this is correlation or
causation so it could go the other way
now so approach avoidance coping so
approach means actively dealing with the
stressor avoidance means putting all
your efforts to get away from the
stressor so you could be ignoring it
denying it withdrawing from it
completely
so approach coping generally is the more
effective strategy and it's correlated
with fewer health issues we'll look at
some examples of particular approach and
avoidance coping strategies in a moment
and in fact in the study they broke it
down for us and they looked at a
different range so those same
researchers sorrel 10 years later did
another study about coping in ib and ap
students so over 2 000 students in u.s
schools ibn ap and they looked at their
stresses how they cope with it their gpa
exam scores and mental health and here
we have a range of different coping
strategies they measured in the study
approach coping so time management right
if you've got a lot of stresses you've
got a lot of work on right now you've
got to figure out a strategy to manage
your time
colleagues have reappraisal so how are
they appraising thinking about the
stress and then how do they rethink
about it
the use of family support seeking
academic support so if you're looking
for a tutor or asking your teachers for
more help
spirituality and relaxation okay now
avoidance coping skipping school
sleeping i having a nap right you get
home from school instead of doing your
work you might take a nap or you and by
nap right maybe two or three hours
not doing so much school work um
dropping classes or trying to reduce
academic demands in some way
and
substance abuse all right substance use
this is a common avoidance coping so we
can see approach means
taking strategies to actively trying to
deal with the stressor and avoidance
means trying to get away from it now
approach coping correlated with higher
life satisfaction lower psychopathology
mean and in this case that means
symptoms of distress distress is like a
good kind of sound similar to chronic
stress
less burnout and avoidance scoping
correlated with lower gpa lower apn ib
exam scores psych and positively
correlated with psychopathology so from
this ib and ap psychology students we
hopefully take away from this that you
want to be using more approach coping
strategies now here are some reasons why
approach grouping could be beneficial so
stress occurs when demand exceeds
resources right so we need to get that
in our mind so what approach coping can
do
is it provides you access to more
resources
avoidance coping is trying to reduce the
demands right trying to and if and it's
just not an effective strategy because
well think about it if you're trying to
do ib and you're trying to achieve well
or you're doing a course a study and
you've got lots of things stressing you
out
they're stressing you out because
they're important to you because you
want to be successful in them to move
forward so if you try to reduce those
demands drop courses drop classes um
maybe even drop out of school together
well in the long term that's not going
to be good for your mental health it's
not going to be good for um for your
future either right and so you instead
of trying to reduce the demands you want
to get more resources that's key all
right so approach coping can also
increase one sense of control over
stresses so things are most stressful
when we feel like we can't control them
when there's a lack of predictability
and a lack of control so if you can use
an approach giving strategy you can get
a greater sense of control
all right um this is kind of i really
like this short video and i'll try to
remember to link it in the
description
i love how this shows small choices can
add up to big changes when it comes to
coping with stress in life in general
it's a really good three-minute
animation um and i like i would like to
think that i walk the walk not just talk
the talk on this one i have a lot of
work to do i do a lot of different
things i'm a full-time teacher and i
have this youtube and i um i also teach
online and i run a blog and it's there's
a lot and i have three kids and
lots of other things going on
and it's
i can definitely relate to this that
approach coping is better and so this is
it's currently 4 20 a.m while i'm
recording this and because i went to bed
at 9 a.m and i'm trying to eat well and
i try to exercise i try to do a lot of
daily things i've tried to make a lot of
sacrifices to give myself more energy to
cope with the work and the demands that
i have to do to keep on top of things
and ironically i've found the harder i
work the less stressed i am but that
means that i have to make certain
uh sacrifices so i
can't watch tv during the week i have to
be very careful with what i eat and what
i drink so i can wake up at 4am after
eight hours sleep and feel better
anyway so and i just would um urge you
to
um look at stresses as the same way as
they're not things to be avoided that
challenges to be dealt with and
sometimes yes if you want to be
successful it requires personal
sacrifice which is why not everyone will
end up being successful and this is why
i really like this great little choice
short animated movie because it just
shows the little sacrifices you can make
every day to try to keep on top of your
stresses are going to mount up to big
changes
so that's it approach gripping versus
avoidance coping it'd be one of the
biggest lessons i would hope people
would get from studying stress and
resilience and coping is that trying to
adapt as many approach coping strategies
as you can so after this i hope you can
explain how and why approach grouping is
better than avoidance coping and you'd
be able to use that soldo at all study
on ib and ap students to help you now
where this fits in is just generally
quite interesting i think but if you're
studying for the health psychology
option in ib psychology we could use
this for a
risk and protective factors so a risk
factor would be the avoidance coping and
the predictive factor could be the
approach coping explanations of health
problems so we had psychopathology there
and and psychological distress so high
levels of stress you could use this for
uh the explanation of health problems so
if you're using a
avoidance coping strategy that could uh
explain that so i think it can work for
both of those topics
all right now
approach grouping avoidance scoping is
are two general ways that these things
are grouped together but also they're
grouped together by emotion versus
problem focus coping and so these are
two other general categories that have a
lot of overlap with approach and
avoidance and we'll talk about these in
the next lesson and we'll look at what
they are and why
one of them is better than the other
all right thanks for listening this is
the first video i've recorded in my new
office my new quote unquote studio so if
the reverb is a little bad and the sound
quality is not great um i'll i'll get
there i need to do the sounding in the
room anyway right
i hope that was helpful bye
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