Can Coping Styles and Beliefs About Yourself Predict Coping Strategies in a Pandemic? Longitudinal Study on the Role of Hope, General Self-Efficacy, Prioritizing Positivity and Coping in the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected people’s lives and mental health. Living through a pandemic is a new type of challenge for most people, one beyond their previous experiences. Individuals are unable to end the current situation and have no control over various issues. This study aims to examine how general self-efficacy (GSE), hope and prioritizing positivity (PP) as measured before COVID-19 affect coping strategies during the pandemic, and see if there is a relationship between coping styles  measured before the pandemic and corresponding coping strategies during COVID-19. The first stage of the study was conducted in October 2019 (a few months before the COVID-19 pandemic began) and the second was conducted in November 2020 during the pandemic’s second wave. Participants (n?=?66) were Polish university students who completed a Brief Cope Scale, a General Self-Efficacy Scale, a Prioritizing Positivity Scale, an Adult Dispositional Hope Scale, a Modified Differential Emotions Scale and the Impact of Events Scale. The results indicate that hope and GSE as measured several months before the pandemic are predictors of the intensity of positive emotions during the pandemic but not of the level of stress. Coping styles primarily predicted coping strategies associated with COVID-19. Although coping styles were found to be related to the levels of hope, GSE and PP, the relationships between these variables were weaker just the same as the specific strategies used during the pandemic which turned out to occurred less frequently.

Key words: COVID-19, coping strategies, coping styles, self-efficacy, prioritizing positivity, hope