Coping patterns and affective reactions under community crisis and daily routine conditions

Abstract

This study compared the coping patterns of Israeli adults during and after a grave collective disaster situation — the recent Persian Gulf war missile crisis. The samples consisted of 462 Israelis who reported on their coping reactions during the war, and 822 Israelis who reported on their coping strategies in day-to-day life three months after the crisis. Data on state anxiety and bodily symptoms were collected for both samples. Most coping strategies were reported to be used less during the war than after the war, with a relatively higher frequency of emotion-focused coping reported during the crisis than in daily routine situations in the period following the war. By contrast, problem-focused coping was more prevalent after than during the crisis. In both war and post-war samples affective reactions (i.e., state anxiety and bodily symptoms) were positively related to emotion-focused coping. The relationship between problem-focused coping and affective reactions varied for the war and post-war periods: Whereas anxiety and bodily symptoms were negatively related to problem-focused coping after the war, these variables were positively related to problem-focused coping during the war. Certain coping subscales, e.g., ventilation of emotion and emotional social support, showed stronger positive relationships with affective variables during the war than after the war. Other coping subscales, such as acceptance, humor and denial, showed stronger negative relationships with affective variables during the war than after the war. The differences between coping patterns observed during and after the crisis were discussed in terms of their potential contributions to the well-being of a nation at risk.

Key Words:

• community crisis
• Gulf war
• coping
• anxiety
• stress