- Email: [email protected]
Personality and coping strategies on a stressful expedition
Person. individ. Diff: Vol. 17, No. 5. pp. 647-656, 1994 Copyright 0 1994 Elsevier Science Ltd Printed in Great Britain. All rights reserved 0191.8?369(94)000?30-8 0191-8869/94 $7.00 + 0.00
Pergamon
PERSONALITY AND COPING STRATEGIES ON A STRESSFUL EXPEDITION FRASER N. WANTS,‘,* JOHN COHEN* and RACHEL TOPLIS’ ‘MRC Applied Psychology Unit, 15 Chaucer Road, Cambridge CB2 2EF and ‘Department Health Care, University
College
and Middlesex School of Medicine, London, England (Received 30 November
University
of Primary of London,
1993)
Summary-Previous research has found that participation by young people in an international expedition organized by the British Schools Exploring Society is associated with positive change in a variety of self-report personality dimensions. The purpose of the present study was to supplement self-report questionnaire data with observers’ ratings made by expedition leaders. The coping strategies used in relation to the physical and social stresses of the expedition were also assessed. Finally the relationship of optimism to both coping and personality processes was studied. The leaders’ ratings showed stronger evidence of personality change than self-report measures. The correlations found between self-report measures and observer ratings of personality dimensions suggested that the expeditioners’ self-perceptions were affected by the expedition and converged with the ratings of observers. Analysis of coping processes indicated that several strategies were used less in coping with a specific stress such as an expedition than they were reported as being used in general. Physical and social stresses of the expedition were handled differently, confirming the distinction between these two types of stress. In general the results expand upon current research on stress and coping, with the opportunity that an expedition provides for studying the same stress in a predictable sample of subjects.
INTRODUCTION
Expeditions provide a valuable context in which coping and personality processes associated with stress can be studied. Though expeditions have the methodological advantages of being a predictable and time-limited form of stress, they often pose considerable physical and social challenges. Several studies of scientific expeditions have been reported, including expeditions to the Antarctic, (McCormick, Taylor, Rivolier & Cazes, 1985), the North Pole (Leon, NcNally & Ben-Porath, 1989), and Alaska (Leon, Kanfer, Hoffman & Dupre, 1991). Other expeditions are organized, not primarily for scientific purposes, but because it is believed that the stresses associated with expeditions will be helpful in promoting coping processes, and perhaps lead to personality change. Examples of such expeditions that have been studied from a psychological point of view are those of the British Schools Exploring Society (BSES) to Ladakh in India (Watts, Webster, Morley & Cohen, 1992; Watts, Webster, Morley & Cohen, 1993b), and to the Artic (Watts, Apps & East, 1993a). The purpose of the present study was to extend findings from these previous investigations concerning whether personality changes are associated with such expeditions, and what coping processes are involved. The previous research of Watts et al. (1992) and Watts et al. (1993a) have found indications of positive change associated with such expeditions on a psychometrically-sound personality questionnaire, the Gordon Personal Profile and Inventory (GPP-I) (Gordon, 1978). The GPP-I has the attraction of measuring aspects of personality that might be expected to change as a result of demanding expeditions. It also has a good track record, both of predictive validity, and of showing correlations with observer ratings (Gordon, 1978). Of the eight scales of the GPP-I, Watts et&. (1992) found positive changes in ascendancy, emotional stability, sociability and responsibility, and a decrease in cautiousness. One deficiency of this study was that there was no control group. To remedy this, Watts et al. (1993a) asked expeditioners to find someone they regarded as similar to themselves, not going on the expedition, and to have them also complete the GPP-I before and after the expedition. They found the hypothesized interaction between groups and occasions on summed scales of the GPP-I, and near-significant interactions on the individual scales of ascendancy and sociability. A remaining limitation of both studies was that they were entirely dependent on self-report measures *Present
address:
Faculty
of Divinity,
St John’s
Street, Cambridge 641
CB2 ITW, England.
648
FRASERN. WATTS et al.
of personality. The purpose of the present study was to supplement self-report questionnaire data with observers’ ratings made by expedition leaders. The GPP-I was once again used as the personality questionnaire, and the leader’s ratings were made for exactly the same set of personality dimensions as those measured by the questionnaire. Though data on coping strategies on expeditions are available from several recent studies (McCormack et al., 1985, Leon et al. 1989, 1991; Watts et al. 1993b), much of this data is either qualitative, or based on quantitative instruments of unknown psychometric properties. Also, apart from the study of Watts et al. (1993b), the samples have generally been too small for sensitive statistical analysis. Watts et al. (1993b) made a distinction, among coping strategies, between positive reformulations and avoidance/resignation strategies. The former were found to be more frequently used, but it was the absence of avoidance/resignation strategies which best predicted personality change on the expedition. They also found indications of different coping approaches in men and women, and in handling physical and social stresses. For example, men were particularly likely to rely on personal resources, rather than social support, in handling physical stresses; women were particularly likely to do this with social stresses. It was also found that the social stresses of the expedition were more unexpected than the physical ones, perhaps therefore presenting a particular challenge to coping. A central objective of the present study was to follow up such leads, using a psychometrically-sound measure of coping. A wide range of questionnaire measures of coping have been developed in recent years, and have been reviewed by Parker and Endler (1992). A limitation of many such instruments is that they do not cover the full range of coping strategies which have either been established empirically, or are of interest on theoretical grounds. A questionnaire which is attractive in terms of its comprehensiveness is the COPE instrument developed by Carver, Scheier and Weintraub (1989). COPE measures five different aspects of problem-focussed coping, five aspects of emotion-focussed coping, and three more maladaptive coping strategies (see the Method section of this paper for details). COPE is based on a sound, empirical procedure of item analysis, and has shown a network of relationships with personality variables (Carver et al., 1989). Of particular interest, it includes negatively-oriented coping strategies, such as denial and behavioural disengagement, that are similar to those that Watts et al. (1993b) had found were particularly characteristic of those who did not show personality change on the expedition. COPE has also succesfully picked up sex differences in coping strategies. In two successive studies, Carver et al. (1989) found that women showed more seeking of social support, for both instrumental and social reasons, and more focussing on and ventilation of emotions. COPE also has the breadth of coverage to be sensitive to whatever differences there may be in coping strategies for the physical and social stress of an expedition. One of the interesting issues about coping is whether the strategies people say they use in generul are the same as those they report using to cope with those specific events. One way of formulating this question is in terms of the degree of correspondence between dispositional coping and situational coping. To investigate this, Carver et al. (1989, Study 3) gave Ss the normal version of their COPE questionnaire, which measures how people cope in general, and also asked them to recall the most stressful event which had happened within the last 2 months and to complete a situational version of COPE for how they had coped with that specific event. Most scales showed correlations that were significant, but not large, between the dispositional and situational versions. The exceptions were (a) religion, which showed much the highest correlation between the two versions, and (b) restruint coping, suppression of competing activities and seeking social support for instrumental reasons, where the correlations between dispositional and situational versions were non-significant. The present study provides an opportunity to follow up this research on the relationship between dispositional and situational coping, but with the advantage that situational coping can be measured “on-line”, while the stresses were actually being experienced. METHOD
Subjects The expedition consisted of 84 young expeditioners, aged 17-19%yr, including Canadian who did not complete any of the questionnaires. There were 20 leaders
one young comprising
Personality and coping strategies on a stressful expedition
649
educationalists, scientists and outdoor specialists, two doctors and two nurses. The leaders and members had all volunteered and were selected on the basis of written applications, interviews and referees’ comments. Likely benefit from the expedition was an important selection criterion, but an attempt was nevertheless made to create a broad and diverse group. Except for the one Canadian all the members were British, 53 were male and 31 female. The leaders on the expedition were not studied. Expedition The expedition visited British Columbia and lasted for 6 weeks from mid-July to the end of August 1993, but for everyone there was a lot of preliminary involvement for approx. 6 months and involving raising funding, organizing personal and scientific equipment and preliminary reading and map study. Travel was by air to Vancouver and onwards by train and bus to Tweedsmuir Provincial Park, an isolated area of over l,OOO,OOOha 450 miles north east of Vancouver. After the journey with over 170 pieces of personal and expedition equipment, the whole party moved unaided 32 km and up 1500 m to a Base Camp on the southern end of Turner Lake. From here the expedition divided in to seven groups to study large mammals, small mammals, invertebrates, birds and fish, plants and trees, landforms, hydrology and meteorology, and one group to produce accurate maps of the activities of the other six. The groups spread out and travelled on foot over a long area of the Park including lower level lakes and forests and high level alpine slopes, rock and snow and ice. The scientific phase lasted 3 weeks and was followed by 2 weeks of adventure where the young expeditioners were encouraged to plan and organize their own journeys. The expedition returned to Vancouver by bus and ship along the Coast. Weather conditions varied from warm sun and clear skies to snow, fog and frost. There were a large number of personal and group challenges for the young expeditioners to overcome right from the beginning. By the final week there was a general feeling of sadness at leaving such a beautiful if isolated place, but a feeling of considerable achievement. Measures As a questionnaire measure of personality, the expeditioners completed the Gordon Personal Profile and Inventory (Gordon, 1978) which provides measures of ascendancy (i.e. leadership items such as being active and self-assured in groups, taking independent decisions, etc.), responsibility (i.e. being persevering, reliable, etc.), emotional-stability (i.e. being relatively free from worries and anxiety), sociability (i.e. enjoying being with others, being gregarious and sociable), cautiousness (i.e. being careful about decisions, avoiding risks, etc.), original thinking (intellectual curiosity, etc.), personal relations (being tolerant and trusting with others), and vigour (being energetic and vigorous). The GPP-I was completed by expeditioners on the air journeys at the beginning and end of the expedition. As a further measure of personality, expeditioners were rated by leaders on the same eight personality dimensions as measured by the GPP-I. The definitions of these dimensions supplied to the leaders were taken from the manual of the GPP-I. The expeditioners spent the majority of the expedition divided into seven groups of 12 expeditioners and two leaders. The two leaders in each group conferred and produced a consensus rating of their 12 expeditioners. Each expeditioner was rated on each of the eight dimensions on a nine-point scale. The first ratings were made at the end of the first week of the expedition. The final ratings were based on the last week of the expedition. Small changes were made to the items of the COPE measure of coping strategies. The items relating to mental disengagement were deleted, as some of these referred to activities such as watching T.V. and sleeping more, which were not available to the expeditioners. The other 12 strategies covered in the published version of COPE were all used. These included five problem-focussed coping strategies (i.e. active coping, planning, suppression of competing activities, restraint coping and seeking of social supportfor instrumental reasons), five emotion-focussed coping strategies (i.e. seeking of social support for emotional reasons, positive reinterpretation, acceptance, denial, and religion), and two other strategies presumed to be less constructive (i.e. focus on and ventilation of emotions, and behavioural disengagement). Of two further exploratory scales, not included in the published version of COPE, the items relating to humour were included, though not those relating to alcohol/drug use. Small re-wordings of a limited number of items were made to render the instruments suitable to British rather than American Ss.
650
FRASER Table
I. Correlations
between
N. WATTS
et
questionnaire
al
measures
of personality
ttaits
Questionnaire
measure
and leaders’
(Leaders’
Before 1st
Scale
ratings
ratings)
After 2nd
1st
2nd
Ascendancy
~ 0.04
- 0.04
0.45*
0.42*
Responsibility
~ 0.07
- 0.16
0.34*
0.22 0.18
Emotional
rtability
- 0.09
- 0.20
0.06
- 0.06
~ 0.02
0.20
Cautiousnes\
- 0.04
- 0.09
0.42*
Original
thinking
-0.17
~ 0.14
0.00
Personal
relations
- 0.00
- 0.07
0.40*
0.37*
- 0.04
- 0.05
0.33*
0.30*
Sociability
Vigour
0.23 0.44* - 0.00
*p
COPE was completed, in its general form, on the air journey at the beginning of the expedition. It was then completed in a form which related to the coping strategies that Ss had actually been used during the expedition. In this specific form, the instrument was completed twice at the middle of the expedition, once for coping strategies that had been used in connection with physical stresses, and once for strategies used in connection with social stresses. The questionnaire, in this specific form, was also completed twice more on the air journey at the end of the expedition, again once for physical and once for social stresses. RESULTS
Personulity
truit measures
To validate the leaders’ ratings and the Gordon scales against each other, correlations were run, for each trait, between both sets of GPP-I (self-report) data and both sets of leaders’ ratings. Significant correlations were found between self-report and leaders’ ratings for five of the eight traits (ascendancy, sociability, cautiousness, personal relations and vigour) but not for responsibility, emotional stability or original thinking. For each the five traits where correlations were found between leaders’ ratings and self-report data, the general pattern was that the self-report measure at the beginning of the expedition showed no correlation with either set of leaders’ ratings, whereas the self-report measure at the end of the expedition was significantly correlated with leaders’ ratings at both occasions. The correlations are given in Table 1. To examine whether there was any evidence of personality change associated with the expedition, a series of three-way Analyses of Variance was run on the eight scales of the GPP-I. Before/after, sex and expedition sub-group were the three factors. Expeditioners showed only a significant increase in vigour [means 24.9 and 26.3, F( 1,57) = 6.55, P < 0.051, and slight but non-significant trends towards an increase in ascendancy and sociability. Comparable analyses were run on the leaders’ ratings of the same eight personality traits. The main effects of time (before/after) and the interactions involving sub-group on time are given in Table 2. (None of the other interactions involving time was significant.) Vigour once again showed an increase over the expedition, but there were also significant increases in ascendancy, responsibility and original thinking. Though several ratings showed significant interactions between time and sub-group, these will not be presented further as there was too little precise information about the different experiences of the seven groups for differential personality change to be readily interpretable. Coping rneusures First, correlations were run between the dispositional version COPE and the situational versions specifically concerned with the physical and social stresses of the expedition. To simplify the data, the situational versions completed in the middle and at the end of the expedition were averaged. In Table 3, correlations are given, for each scale, between the physical stress/social stress scales and the dispositional version. The correlations were significant for each scale, and were particularly high for turning to religion.
651
Personality and coping strategies on a stressful expedition Table
2. Change
in leaders’
ratings F-values
Means Before
Scale
After
Time
Time
I
X group
( .68)
(6.68)
Ascendancy
5.11
5.98
25.52*
2.12
Responsibility
5.84
6.32
11.15’
0.86
Emotional
6.57
6.62
0.21
1.07
6.18
6.30
2.09
3.28*
Cautiousness
6.06
6.30
1.44
1.39
Original
thinking
5.89
6.48
19.82”
3.29*
Personal
relations
6.40
6.21
0.24
0.68
5.85
6.20
9.67*
3.61*
stability
Sociability
Vigour *p
Next, to compare the level of use of each coping strategy in the dispositional version and the situations versions, a series of analyses of variance were run, firstly comparing the dispositional version with the social situational version, then comparing the dispositional version with the physical situational version. The means and the results of the F-tests are given in Table 4. Again, the situational versions of COPE given in the middle and at the end of the expedition were averaged. In general, strategies were reported as being used less frequently in the situational than the dispositional version. In coping with the social aspects of the expedition, subjects reported lessfocussing OIZand ventilating emotions, suppression of competing activities, and seeking social support for instrumental reasons than in the dispositional version. There were even more differences between the physical situational version and the dispositional version, with less frequent reported use of focussing on and ventilating emotions, seeking support for instrumental reasons, acceptance, active coping, behavioural disengagement, and seeking social support for emotional reasons. The next analysis of coping measures focussed solely on those relating specifically to coping with the stresses of the expedition and examined, in a three-way Analysis of Variance, the contrasts of (a) men and women, (b) coping with physical and social stress, and (c) the middle and the end of the expedition. The main effects only will be reported and are given in Table 5. None of the interaction terms was significant. By the end of the expedition, there was more seeking of social support for both instrumental and emotional reasons, and more restraint coping. No coping strategies were used less by the end of the expedition than in the middle. Women showed more seeking of social supportfor emotional reasons, more focus on and ventilation of emotions, more denial and more restraint coping. There were, in contrast, no forms of coping used more by men than by women. There were also different patterns of coping for physical and social stress. With physical stress there was more active coping and suppression of competing activities. With social stress, there was more seeking of social support for emotional reasons and behavioural disengagement. Next, the relationship was examined between coping measures and personality traits. The analysis focussed directly on leaders’ ratings of personality traits, as these were methodologically more
Table
3. Correlations
for each COPE
the physical
and social
scale between
the dispositional
scales of the situational
Physical Active
coping
Planning Seeking
social
support
for instrumental
Seeking
social
support
for emotional
Suppression
of competing
activities
Religion Positive
coping
Acceptance Focus on and venting
emotions
Denial Behavioural Humour
reasons
disengagement
Social
0.52**
0.52**
0.66**
0.56**
0.35**
0.41**
0.45**
0.43**
0.45**
0.52**
0.84**
0x2**
0.57**
reinterpretation
Restraint
reasons
version
versions
0.50**
0.64**
0.64**
0.65**
0.62**
0.27*
0.51**
0.46**
0.34**
0.43**
0.33**
0.59**
0.59**
and
FRASER N. WATTS et al.
652
Table 4. Means and f-tests comparing frequency of use of coping strategies in dispositional and situational versions of COPE Means Scale
SO&l situational
Physical situational
Disposition vs social
Disposition vs physical
12.59 12.14 10.32
0.0 I 0
12.07
I I .97 I I .79 IO.49
24.57**
6.77* 2.41 27.54**
9.93 9.88 6.15 12.14 IO.51 12.35 8.395 5.84 5.94 9.41
9.35 9.26 5.94 12.77 10.87 12.63 7.42 5.5 5.59 9.35
9 IO.11 6.02 12.88 10.68 12.73 7.84 5.54 5.23 9.39
2.19 7.45*+ 0.89 0.61 2.08 1.84 7.30** 0.92 I .08 0.04
6.66* 0.6 0.38 I .88 0.49 4.6-V 0.8 I.16 8.78** 0.06
Dispositional Il.91
Active coping Planning Seeking social support for instrumental reasons Seeking social support for emotional reasons Suppression of competing activities Religion Positive reinterpretation Restraint coping Acceptance Focus on and venting emotions Denial Behavioural disengagement Humour
F-Tests
I I .72
independent of the coping questionnaire. An initial analysis included all four coping measures and both sets of leaders’ ratings. However, it was found that the four measures of each type of coping showed very similar correlations with personality traits. This increases confidence in the reliability of the findings. The number of correlations involved is too large to be presented in detail, so the four measures of each type of coping were summed to provide a single, reliable index, and these were correlated with the sum of the two sets of leaders’ ratings. The resulting matrix of correlations is given in Table 6. One of the striking facts is that many of the correlations are negative. For example, expeditioners perceived as lacking emotional stability were using, as their coping mechanisms, behavioural disengagement, denial, focus on and ventilation of emotions and seeking social supportfor emotional reasons. A similar profile of coping measures is found in those perceived as being poor at personal relations. Looking at coping methods, those that showed most significantly negative correlations with personality traits were denial, seeking social supportfor emotional reasons, focus on and ventilation of emotions and behavioural disengagement. An interesting coping approach, which had a mixed impact, was humour. Use of humour in coping was associated with good ratings of ascendancy and sociability, but with poor ratings on cautiousness and personal relations. The only other coping approaches to show any positive correlations with leaders’ ratings of personal qualities were positive reinterpretation, restraint coping, and religion. The ability of the coping measures to predict change in the leaders’ ratings was also examined, and a comparable matrix of correlations, based on change in leaders’ ratings, is given in Table 7. There
Table 5. Means and main effects in analysis of variance of coping scales Time
Sex
Scale
Mid
After
Active coping
12.14 I I .86 10.28
12.37 12.06 10.73
9.02 9.54 6.17 12.91 10.61 12.63 7.59 5.7 5.55 9.23
Planning Seeking social support of
instrumental reasons Seeking social support of emotional reasons Suppression of competing activities Religion Positive reinterpretation Restraint coping Acceptance Focus on and venting emotions Denial Behavioural disengagement Humour
strew
Women
Men
F
Phvsical
Social
2.53 I .78 7.18**
12.45 11.84 I I .os
12.14 12.03 IO.2
0.38 0.28 I .75
12.56 12.16 10.42
II.95 I I .76 10.59
9.94** 2.85 3.04
9.5
3.17
10.78
8.41
17.10**
9.07
9.45
5.64*
9.79 5.87 12.84 10.87 12.63 7.78 5.46 5.34 9.5
0.99 I .08 0.03 3.98* 0.09 0. I3 0.9 0.18 I .94
9.87 6.38 13.32 I I .42 12.85 8.81 6.02 5.72 9.25
9.55 5.81 12.64 10.37 12.5 7.05 5.33 5.3 9.42
0.99 0.43 2.33 4.56* 0. I5 4.99* 3.7 I I .28 0.05
IO.07 6.06 12.94 IO.65 12.7 7.85 5.58 5.25 9.4
9.26 5.98 12.82 10.83 12.56 7.53 5.57 5.64 9.32
20.25** 14
F
F
6.26 I .72 0.61 0.21 0.01 4.49* 0.04
Personality and coping strategies on a stressful expedition Table 6. Correlations
Coping
scale
Active coping Planning Seeking social support for instrumental reasons Seeking social support for emotional reasons Suppression of competing activities Religion Positive reinterpretation Restraint coping Acceptance Focus on and venting emotions Denial Behavioural disengagement Humour
Ascendancy
between coping measures
Responsibility
-0.12 - 0.04
-
-0.21
-0.19
- 0.2
Emotional stability
-
653
and leaders’ ratings of personality
Sociability
-
Cautiousness
traits
Original thinking
Personal relations
Vigour
0.05 - 0.02
0.30* 0.21
0.07 0.16
0.14 0.14
- 0.03 0.05
- 0.22
-0.15
0.16
0.04
0.06
- 0.26*
- 0.27*
- 0.24*
- 0.02
0.14
0.03
0.09
- 0.27*
- 0.24* - 0.01 -0.15 - 0.21 -0.19
- 0.1 - 0.02 - 0.08 -0.14 - 0.01
-0.18 0.15 0.07 - 0.08 0.06
- 0.18 0.16 0.01 - 0.1 I - 0.25*
0.0 I 0.09 0.22 0.25* 0.2
-0.12 0. I 0.02 0.05 - 0.07
- 0.06 0.25* 0.27* 0.06 0.08
-0.16 0.04 -0.13 - 0.2 - 0.08
- 0.04 - 0.03
-0.11 -0.11
- 0.27* - 0.29*
- 0.04 0.06
- 0.03 - 0.24*
0.03 - 0.07
- 0.30’ - 0.35**
-0.17 - 0.05
-0.16 0.35**
-0.11 -0.12
-0.41** - 0.06
- 0.05 0.25*
-0.19 - 0.30*
- 0.01 - 0.09
- 0.23* - 0.24*
-0.13 0.1 I
0.04 0.15
0.1 0.09
were only three personality traits on which change was significantly correlated with coping to any significant extent. Gains in ascendancy are associated with focus on and ventilation of emotions and behavioural disengagement. Gains in cautiousness were associated with active coping, seeking social support for both instrumental and emotional reasons, planning and suppression of competing activities. Finally, gains in vigour were associated with not using active coping, seeking social support for instrumental reasons, and with positive reinterpretation.
DISCUSSION
The pattern of correlations between questionnaire measures and leaders’ ratings of the eight personality traits had not been predicted, but it is of interest. For those traits where correlations are found, the pattern is that the second questionnaire measure was correlated with the leaders’ ratings, whereas the first questionnaire measure was not. This suggests that expeditioners’ self-perceptions, as reflected in their completion of the questionnaire, were affected by the expedition. It seems that their self-perceptions were influenced by their behaviour as manifest on the expedition, and converged with the ratings of leaders’ which were based on that behaviour. It is not known, of course, whether the impact of the expedition on self-perception was temporary, or relatively permanent.
Table 7. Correlations
Coping
scale
Active coping Planning Seeking social support for instrumental reasons Seeking social support for emotional reasons Suppression of competing activities Religion Positive reinterpretation Restraint coping Acceptance Focus on and venting emotions Denial Behavioural disengagement Humour
between coping measures
and leaders’ change
Ascendancy
Responsibility
Emotional stability
Sociability
0.01 - 0.07
- 0.05 0.06
-0.16 - 0.08
0.04 0.08
0.35** 0.24*
0.13
- 0.03
- 0.02
0.18
0.17
- 0.05
0.05
0.07 0.05 - 0. I6 0.03 - 0.01
0.2 - 0.09 -0.13 - 0.05 0.04
0.28* 0.15 0.26* 0.19
Original thinking
Personal relations
Vigour
-0.11 -0.19
- 0.22 0.01
- 0.26* -0.16
0.34**
-0.17
-0.17
- 0.24*
0.1 I
0.27*
- 0.03
- 0.04
-0.14
- 0.01 - 0.13 -0.14 - 0.08 - 0.06
- 0.01 -0.14 0.12 0.11 0.15
0.25* 0.09 0.23 0.16 0.09
-0.11 0.2 - 0.25* - 0.05 0.03
- 0.08 - 0.14 -0.16 -0.13 - 0.22
-0.18 0.02 - 0.23’ - 0.08 - 0.23
0.1 0.16
0.23 0.17
- 0.05 - 0.2
- 0.07 -0.14
0.1 I 0.06
-
0.05 0.01
0.07 0.09
0.08 0.04
0.12 0.06
0.03 - 0.09
- 0.08 -0.12
0.07 0.15
- 0.06 -0.15
0.18 0.15
Cautiousness
654
FRASERN. WATTS et al.
If these unpredicted findings about self-perception are substantiated, they suggest a rather precise hypothesis about one aspect of the benefit to be derived from such expeditions. Rather than necessarily leading to a development of personal characteristics among the expeditioners, it may be that, under the challenging circumstances of the expedition, they see more clearly what are their personal strengths and limitations, and that their self-perceptions are influenced accordingly. There are, of course, no indications from the present data whether this phenomenon is to be found ort1.v after challenging experiences. It may be the case that, after a few weeks spent in any unusual environment, self-perceptions come to reflect the behaviour manifested in that situation. An outstanding puzzle is why three of the personality traits show no correlation between questionnaire measures and leaders’ ratings. It is possible that these were difficult traits to rate, or that the trait definitions on which leaders’ ratings were based did not correspond well with the actual questions in the GPP-I, even though the trait definitions were drawn from the GPP-I manual. The GPP-I in the present study shows little evidence of personality change, except for an increase in vigour. This is in contrast to the previous studies of Watts et al. ( 1992) and Watts et al. (1993a), both of which studied change in the GPP-I scales associated with a BSES expedition. The reasons for this discrepancy can only be a matter of speculation. However, a procedural change made in this study may be relevant. In the previous studies, expeditioners completed the ‘before’ questionnaire some weeks before they set out, and again some weeks after they had returned. In the present study, the GPP-I was completed on the air journeys at the beginning and end of the expedition. The state changes (associated with the journey presumably of excitement on the way out and fatigue on the way back) may have obscured any personality change associated with the expedition. The other possibility is, of course, that there were critical differences in the nature of the expedition experience, a hypothesis that is difficult to evaluate on the basis of the available data. The leaders’ ratings show stronger evidence of personality change. It has to be recognized that the leaders wished to believe that such changes were taking place, and this may have biased their ratings. However, they did not report changes on all the traits studied. Those in which changes were perceived (ascendancy, original thinking, responsibility, and vigour) are those most related to the task requirements of the expedition. Socio-emotional aspects of personality (emotional stability. sociability and personal relations) were not perceived as showing any change. The GPP-I data in the previous studies of Watts et al. (1992) and Watts et al. (1993) had suggested a more balanced profile of personal changes associated with BSES expeditions. It is possible that, in as far as changes did take place, this represented adaptation to the unusual demands of the expedition, rather than sustained personality change. Nevertheless, the leaders’ ratings are at least consistent with the hypothesis that the expedition was associated with positive developments in personal qualities. It should, of course, not be assumed that this would be true of participants on all expeditions. Positive changes are no doubt more likely to be found in young expeditioners who volunteered for the experience because they relished the challenge it would present. The fact that some groups showed more change than others is difficult to interpret. The groups had different experiences, though no data are available that allows these to be quantified. It should also be noted that leaders’ ratings for the different groups were completed by different people, and the group differences could just as well be attributable to differences between raters as to differences in the experiences of the groups. The study also provides significant data on coping processes, as measured by COPE, one of the more comprehensive of recently developed questionnaire measures of coping strategies. The study provided a good opportunity to examine the relationship between dispositional coping (i.e. strategies that people report using in general) and situational coping (i.e. that strategies that people report using in particular cases). Like Carver et al. (1989) we found significant correlations between the two and a particularly high correlation for turning to religion. The present data are perhaps more powerful than those of Carver er al. because situational coping was assessed concurrently with the stress, rather than retrospectively. Our study also goes further than that of Carver et al. in contrasting the ratings given for each coping strategy in dispositional and situational coping. Such differences as were significant were all in the same direction, i.e. coping strategies were used less in actually coping with a particular stress than Ss said they were used in general. This raises the methodological concern that what people report about coping strategies on general questionnaires may give a misleading indication of what they do in
Personality
and coping
strategies
on a stressful
expedition
655
practice. The most marked difference was that there was much less seeking of social support for instrumental reasons on the expedition than people said generally occurred. It is not known whether there are some strategies which are consistently used less in specific contexts than people claim to use in general. That would require the investigation of situational coping in a broad sample of different contexts. It is clear from the assessment of situational coping in the present study that the pattern of coping strategies people use is not invariant. The greater use of social support as a coping mechanism (for both emotional and instrumental reasons) by the end of the expedition than in the middle may simply reflect the fact the expeditioners were getting to know each other increasingly well. In contrast, the greater use of restraint coping over time may reflect genuine learning about how best to cope with difficulties. The findings regarding differences in coping strategies for the physical and social aspects of the expedition support those of Watts et al. (1993b) that these two kinds of stress are handled differently. It makes intuitive sense that physical stresses should be handled by strategies such as active coping and suppression of competing activities. The two strategies particularly used in coping with social stress, seeking social support and behavioural disengagement, seem to represent alternative and contrasting ways of handling social stress. The present findings confirm that the distinction between physical and social stress is likely to repay further attention in coping research. Though women reported fuller use of several forms of coping than men, there were none that men reported more than women. This was in accord with the findings of Carver er al. Indeed the sex differences in coping found here are very similar to those they obtained. In future research, it might be fruitful to explore relationships between the different coping profiles of men and women and their different patterns of socialization. The way women are socialized may facilitate the development of particular coping strategies. The fact that coping mechanisms show largely negative relationships with leaders’ personality ratings suggest that perceived limitations in personal qualities such as emotional stability were in part functional, i.e. they arose out of a need to cope with the considerable stresses of the expedition in certain ways. If this is correct, it suggests that the personal limitations perceived by the leaders were tendencies that were likely to become manifest under particular conditions, rather than invariant trait-like characteristics. It also suggests that, if expeditioners had learned to use different coping mechanisms, they would have been perceived as having different personal qualities. The benefits of the expedition may indeed have been greater had the experience ,been combined with explicit help and advice in coping techniques. Change in personality traits, as rated by the leaders, was associated with particular patterns of coping. However, the hypothesis derived from the previous research of Watts et al. (1993b) that negative coping strategies (such as denial and behavioural disengagement) would be good predictors of who did not benefit from the expedition failed to be supported. Indeed, one of the coping approaches which showed the most negative association with personality change was, surprisingly, positive reinterpretation. The capacity of coping to predict personality change was also confined to certain traits. Of the four traits that showed significant overall change, changes in ascendancy were predictable from coping, and changes in vigour were at least negatively predicted from the lack of use of certain coping strategies. However, changes in responsibility and original thinking showed no significant associations with coping measures. Expeditions provide a rich opportunity for studying coping processes. They present a broad range of stresses, which are experienced by a substantial sample of Ss at the same time. In particular, they offer a good opportunity for studying situational rather than dispositional coping. The present results suggest a number of specific conclusions about stress that it would be worthwhile to test in future research on expeditions.
REFERENCES Carver, C. S., Scheier, M. F. & Weintraub, J. K. (1989). Assessing coping strategies: A theoretically based approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56, 267-283. Gordon, L. V. (1978). Gordon personal profile invenrory. New York: Psychological Corporation. Leon, G. R., Kanfer, R., Hoffman, R. G. & Dupre, L. (1991). Interrelationships of personality and coping in a challenging extreme situation. Journal of Research in Personality, 25, 357-371.
FRASER N. WA-R-Set
656
al.
Leon, G. R., McNally, C. & Ben -Porath, Y. S. (1989). Personality characteristics, mood and coping patterns in a successful North Pole Exoedition team. Journal of Research in Personaliw. 23. 162-l 79. McCormick, 1. A.: Taylor, A. J.. Rivolier,“J. & Gazes, G. (1985). .A psychometric study of stress and coping during the International Biomedical Expedition to the Antarctic (IBEA). Journal of Human Stress, II, 150-156. Parker, J. D. A. & Endler, N. S. (1992). Coping with coping assessment: a critical review. European Journal c#Personality, 6, 321-344. Scheier, M. F., Weintraub, J. K. & Carver, C. S. (1986). Coping with stress: Divergent strategies of optimists and pessimists. Personaliv
and Social Psychology,
51, 1251-I
264.
Watts, F. N., Apps, J. & East, M. P. (1993a). Personality and Individual
Differences,
change produced
by expedition
stress: A controlled
study. Personality
15, 603-605.
Watts, F. N., Webster, S. M., Morley, C. J. & Cohen, J. (1992). Expedition stress and personality change. British Journal of Psychology, 83, 331-34 1. Watts, F. N., Webster, S. M., Morley, C. J. &Cohen, J. (I 993b). Cognitive strategies in coping with expedition stress. European Journal of Personality, 7, 255-266.
Pergamon
PERSONALITY AND COPING STRATEGIES ON A STRESSFUL EXPEDITION FRASER N. WANTS,‘,* JOHN COHEN* and RACHEL TOPLIS’ ‘MRC Applied Psychology Unit, 15 Chaucer Road, Cambridge CB2 2EF and ‘Department Health Care, University
College
and Middlesex School of Medicine, London, England (Received 30 November
University
of Primary of London,
1993)
Summary-Previous research has found that participation by young people in an international expedition organized by the British Schools Exploring Society is associated with positive change in a variety of self-report personality dimensions. The purpose of the present study was to supplement self-report questionnaire data with observers’ ratings made by expedition leaders. The coping strategies used in relation to the physical and social stresses of the expedition were also assessed. Finally the relationship of optimism to both coping and personality processes was studied. The leaders’ ratings showed stronger evidence of personality change than self-report measures. The correlations found between self-report measures and observer ratings of personality dimensions suggested that the expeditioners’ self-perceptions were affected by the expedition and converged with the ratings of observers. Analysis of coping processes indicated that several strategies were used less in coping with a specific stress such as an expedition than they were reported as being used in general. Physical and social stresses of the expedition were handled differently, confirming the distinction between these two types of stress. In general the results expand upon current research on stress and coping, with the opportunity that an expedition provides for studying the same stress in a predictable sample of subjects.
INTRODUCTION
Expeditions provide a valuable context in which coping and personality processes associated with stress can be studied. Though expeditions have the methodological advantages of being a predictable and time-limited form of stress, they often pose considerable physical and social challenges. Several studies of scientific expeditions have been reported, including expeditions to the Antarctic, (McCormick, Taylor, Rivolier & Cazes, 1985), the North Pole (Leon, NcNally & Ben-Porath, 1989), and Alaska (Leon, Kanfer, Hoffman & Dupre, 1991). Other expeditions are organized, not primarily for scientific purposes, but because it is believed that the stresses associated with expeditions will be helpful in promoting coping processes, and perhaps lead to personality change. Examples of such expeditions that have been studied from a psychological point of view are those of the British Schools Exploring Society (BSES) to Ladakh in India (Watts, Webster, Morley & Cohen, 1992; Watts, Webster, Morley & Cohen, 1993b), and to the Artic (Watts, Apps & East, 1993a). The purpose of the present study was to extend findings from these previous investigations concerning whether personality changes are associated with such expeditions, and what coping processes are involved. The previous research of Watts et al. (1992) and Watts et al. (1993a) have found indications of positive change associated with such expeditions on a psychometrically-sound personality questionnaire, the Gordon Personal Profile and Inventory (GPP-I) (Gordon, 1978). The GPP-I has the attraction of measuring aspects of personality that might be expected to change as a result of demanding expeditions. It also has a good track record, both of predictive validity, and of showing correlations with observer ratings (Gordon, 1978). Of the eight scales of the GPP-I, Watts et&. (1992) found positive changes in ascendancy, emotional stability, sociability and responsibility, and a decrease in cautiousness. One deficiency of this study was that there was no control group. To remedy this, Watts et al. (1993a) asked expeditioners to find someone they regarded as similar to themselves, not going on the expedition, and to have them also complete the GPP-I before and after the expedition. They found the hypothesized interaction between groups and occasions on summed scales of the GPP-I, and near-significant interactions on the individual scales of ascendancy and sociability. A remaining limitation of both studies was that they were entirely dependent on self-report measures *Present
address:
Faculty
of Divinity,
St John’s
Street, Cambridge 641
CB2 ITW, England.
648
FRASERN. WATTS et al.
of personality. The purpose of the present study was to supplement self-report questionnaire data with observers’ ratings made by expedition leaders. The GPP-I was once again used as the personality questionnaire, and the leader’s ratings were made for exactly the same set of personality dimensions as those measured by the questionnaire. Though data on coping strategies on expeditions are available from several recent studies (McCormack et al., 1985, Leon et al. 1989, 1991; Watts et al. 1993b), much of this data is either qualitative, or based on quantitative instruments of unknown psychometric properties. Also, apart from the study of Watts et al. (1993b), the samples have generally been too small for sensitive statistical analysis. Watts et al. (1993b) made a distinction, among coping strategies, between positive reformulations and avoidance/resignation strategies. The former were found to be more frequently used, but it was the absence of avoidance/resignation strategies which best predicted personality change on the expedition. They also found indications of different coping approaches in men and women, and in handling physical and social stresses. For example, men were particularly likely to rely on personal resources, rather than social support, in handling physical stresses; women were particularly likely to do this with social stresses. It was also found that the social stresses of the expedition were more unexpected than the physical ones, perhaps therefore presenting a particular challenge to coping. A central objective of the present study was to follow up such leads, using a psychometrically-sound measure of coping. A wide range of questionnaire measures of coping have been developed in recent years, and have been reviewed by Parker and Endler (1992). A limitation of many such instruments is that they do not cover the full range of coping strategies which have either been established empirically, or are of interest on theoretical grounds. A questionnaire which is attractive in terms of its comprehensiveness is the COPE instrument developed by Carver, Scheier and Weintraub (1989). COPE measures five different aspects of problem-focussed coping, five aspects of emotion-focussed coping, and three more maladaptive coping strategies (see the Method section of this paper for details). COPE is based on a sound, empirical procedure of item analysis, and has shown a network of relationships with personality variables (Carver et al., 1989). Of particular interest, it includes negatively-oriented coping strategies, such as denial and behavioural disengagement, that are similar to those that Watts et al. (1993b) had found were particularly characteristic of those who did not show personality change on the expedition. COPE has also succesfully picked up sex differences in coping strategies. In two successive studies, Carver et al. (1989) found that women showed more seeking of social support, for both instrumental and social reasons, and more focussing on and ventilation of emotions. COPE also has the breadth of coverage to be sensitive to whatever differences there may be in coping strategies for the physical and social stress of an expedition. One of the interesting issues about coping is whether the strategies people say they use in generul are the same as those they report using to cope with those specific events. One way of formulating this question is in terms of the degree of correspondence between dispositional coping and situational coping. To investigate this, Carver et al. (1989, Study 3) gave Ss the normal version of their COPE questionnaire, which measures how people cope in general, and also asked them to recall the most stressful event which had happened within the last 2 months and to complete a situational version of COPE for how they had coped with that specific event. Most scales showed correlations that were significant, but not large, between the dispositional and situational versions. The exceptions were (a) religion, which showed much the highest correlation between the two versions, and (b) restruint coping, suppression of competing activities and seeking social support for instrumental reasons, where the correlations between dispositional and situational versions were non-significant. The present study provides an opportunity to follow up this research on the relationship between dispositional and situational coping, but with the advantage that situational coping can be measured “on-line”, while the stresses were actually being experienced. METHOD
Subjects The expedition consisted of 84 young expeditioners, aged 17-19%yr, including Canadian who did not complete any of the questionnaires. There were 20 leaders
one young comprising
Personality and coping strategies on a stressful expedition
649
educationalists, scientists and outdoor specialists, two doctors and two nurses. The leaders and members had all volunteered and were selected on the basis of written applications, interviews and referees’ comments. Likely benefit from the expedition was an important selection criterion, but an attempt was nevertheless made to create a broad and diverse group. Except for the one Canadian all the members were British, 53 were male and 31 female. The leaders on the expedition were not studied. Expedition The expedition visited British Columbia and lasted for 6 weeks from mid-July to the end of August 1993, but for everyone there was a lot of preliminary involvement for approx. 6 months and involving raising funding, organizing personal and scientific equipment and preliminary reading and map study. Travel was by air to Vancouver and onwards by train and bus to Tweedsmuir Provincial Park, an isolated area of over l,OOO,OOOha 450 miles north east of Vancouver. After the journey with over 170 pieces of personal and expedition equipment, the whole party moved unaided 32 km and up 1500 m to a Base Camp on the southern end of Turner Lake. From here the expedition divided in to seven groups to study large mammals, small mammals, invertebrates, birds and fish, plants and trees, landforms, hydrology and meteorology, and one group to produce accurate maps of the activities of the other six. The groups spread out and travelled on foot over a long area of the Park including lower level lakes and forests and high level alpine slopes, rock and snow and ice. The scientific phase lasted 3 weeks and was followed by 2 weeks of adventure where the young expeditioners were encouraged to plan and organize their own journeys. The expedition returned to Vancouver by bus and ship along the Coast. Weather conditions varied from warm sun and clear skies to snow, fog and frost. There were a large number of personal and group challenges for the young expeditioners to overcome right from the beginning. By the final week there was a general feeling of sadness at leaving such a beautiful if isolated place, but a feeling of considerable achievement. Measures As a questionnaire measure of personality, the expeditioners completed the Gordon Personal Profile and Inventory (Gordon, 1978) which provides measures of ascendancy (i.e. leadership items such as being active and self-assured in groups, taking independent decisions, etc.), responsibility (i.e. being persevering, reliable, etc.), emotional-stability (i.e. being relatively free from worries and anxiety), sociability (i.e. enjoying being with others, being gregarious and sociable), cautiousness (i.e. being careful about decisions, avoiding risks, etc.), original thinking (intellectual curiosity, etc.), personal relations (being tolerant and trusting with others), and vigour (being energetic and vigorous). The GPP-I was completed by expeditioners on the air journeys at the beginning and end of the expedition. As a further measure of personality, expeditioners were rated by leaders on the same eight personality dimensions as measured by the GPP-I. The definitions of these dimensions supplied to the leaders were taken from the manual of the GPP-I. The expeditioners spent the majority of the expedition divided into seven groups of 12 expeditioners and two leaders. The two leaders in each group conferred and produced a consensus rating of their 12 expeditioners. Each expeditioner was rated on each of the eight dimensions on a nine-point scale. The first ratings were made at the end of the first week of the expedition. The final ratings were based on the last week of the expedition. Small changes were made to the items of the COPE measure of coping strategies. The items relating to mental disengagement were deleted, as some of these referred to activities such as watching T.V. and sleeping more, which were not available to the expeditioners. The other 12 strategies covered in the published version of COPE were all used. These included five problem-focussed coping strategies (i.e. active coping, planning, suppression of competing activities, restraint coping and seeking of social supportfor instrumental reasons), five emotion-focussed coping strategies (i.e. seeking of social support for emotional reasons, positive reinterpretation, acceptance, denial, and religion), and two other strategies presumed to be less constructive (i.e. focus on and ventilation of emotions, and behavioural disengagement). Of two further exploratory scales, not included in the published version of COPE, the items relating to humour were included, though not those relating to alcohol/drug use. Small re-wordings of a limited number of items were made to render the instruments suitable to British rather than American Ss.
650
FRASER Table
I. Correlations
between
N. WATTS
et
questionnaire
al
measures
of personality
ttaits
Questionnaire
measure
and leaders’
(Leaders’
Before 1st
Scale
ratings
ratings)
After 2nd
1st
2nd
Ascendancy
~ 0.04
- 0.04
0.45*
0.42*
Responsibility
~ 0.07
- 0.16
0.34*
0.22 0.18
Emotional
rtability
- 0.09
- 0.20
0.06
- 0.06
~ 0.02
0.20
Cautiousnes\
- 0.04
- 0.09
0.42*
Original
thinking
-0.17
~ 0.14
0.00
Personal
relations
- 0.00
- 0.07
0.40*
0.37*
- 0.04
- 0.05
0.33*
0.30*
Sociability
Vigour
0.23 0.44* - 0.00
*p
COPE was completed, in its general form, on the air journey at the beginning of the expedition. It was then completed in a form which related to the coping strategies that Ss had actually been used during the expedition. In this specific form, the instrument was completed twice at the middle of the expedition, once for coping strategies that had been used in connection with physical stresses, and once for strategies used in connection with social stresses. The questionnaire, in this specific form, was also completed twice more on the air journey at the end of the expedition, again once for physical and once for social stresses. RESULTS
Personulity
truit measures
To validate the leaders’ ratings and the Gordon scales against each other, correlations were run, for each trait, between both sets of GPP-I (self-report) data and both sets of leaders’ ratings. Significant correlations were found between self-report and leaders’ ratings for five of the eight traits (ascendancy, sociability, cautiousness, personal relations and vigour) but not for responsibility, emotional stability or original thinking. For each the five traits where correlations were found between leaders’ ratings and self-report data, the general pattern was that the self-report measure at the beginning of the expedition showed no correlation with either set of leaders’ ratings, whereas the self-report measure at the end of the expedition was significantly correlated with leaders’ ratings at both occasions. The correlations are given in Table 1. To examine whether there was any evidence of personality change associated with the expedition, a series of three-way Analyses of Variance was run on the eight scales of the GPP-I. Before/after, sex and expedition sub-group were the three factors. Expeditioners showed only a significant increase in vigour [means 24.9 and 26.3, F( 1,57) = 6.55, P < 0.051, and slight but non-significant trends towards an increase in ascendancy and sociability. Comparable analyses were run on the leaders’ ratings of the same eight personality traits. The main effects of time (before/after) and the interactions involving sub-group on time are given in Table 2. (None of the other interactions involving time was significant.) Vigour once again showed an increase over the expedition, but there were also significant increases in ascendancy, responsibility and original thinking. Though several ratings showed significant interactions between time and sub-group, these will not be presented further as there was too little precise information about the different experiences of the seven groups for differential personality change to be readily interpretable. Coping rneusures First, correlations were run between the dispositional version COPE and the situational versions specifically concerned with the physical and social stresses of the expedition. To simplify the data, the situational versions completed in the middle and at the end of the expedition were averaged. In Table 3, correlations are given, for each scale, between the physical stress/social stress scales and the dispositional version. The correlations were significant for each scale, and were particularly high for turning to religion.
651
Personality and coping strategies on a stressful expedition Table
2. Change
in leaders’
ratings F-values
Means Before
Scale
After
Time
Time
I
X group
( .68)
(6.68)
Ascendancy
5.11
5.98
25.52*
2.12
Responsibility
5.84
6.32
11.15’
0.86
Emotional
6.57
6.62
0.21
1.07
6.18
6.30
2.09
3.28*
Cautiousness
6.06
6.30
1.44
1.39
Original
thinking
5.89
6.48
19.82”
3.29*
Personal
relations
6.40
6.21
0.24
0.68
5.85
6.20
9.67*
3.61*
stability
Sociability
Vigour *p
Next, to compare the level of use of each coping strategy in the dispositional version and the situations versions, a series of analyses of variance were run, firstly comparing the dispositional version with the social situational version, then comparing the dispositional version with the physical situational version. The means and the results of the F-tests are given in Table 4. Again, the situational versions of COPE given in the middle and at the end of the expedition were averaged. In general, strategies were reported as being used less frequently in the situational than the dispositional version. In coping with the social aspects of the expedition, subjects reported lessfocussing OIZand ventilating emotions, suppression of competing activities, and seeking social support for instrumental reasons than in the dispositional version. There were even more differences between the physical situational version and the dispositional version, with less frequent reported use of focussing on and ventilating emotions, seeking support for instrumental reasons, acceptance, active coping, behavioural disengagement, and seeking social support for emotional reasons. The next analysis of coping measures focussed solely on those relating specifically to coping with the stresses of the expedition and examined, in a three-way Analysis of Variance, the contrasts of (a) men and women, (b) coping with physical and social stress, and (c) the middle and the end of the expedition. The main effects only will be reported and are given in Table 5. None of the interaction terms was significant. By the end of the expedition, there was more seeking of social support for both instrumental and emotional reasons, and more restraint coping. No coping strategies were used less by the end of the expedition than in the middle. Women showed more seeking of social supportfor emotional reasons, more focus on and ventilation of emotions, more denial and more restraint coping. There were, in contrast, no forms of coping used more by men than by women. There were also different patterns of coping for physical and social stress. With physical stress there was more active coping and suppression of competing activities. With social stress, there was more seeking of social support for emotional reasons and behavioural disengagement. Next, the relationship was examined between coping measures and personality traits. The analysis focussed directly on leaders’ ratings of personality traits, as these were methodologically more
Table
3. Correlations
for each COPE
the physical
and social
scale between
the dispositional
scales of the situational
Physical Active
coping
Planning Seeking
social
support
for instrumental
Seeking
social
support
for emotional
Suppression
of competing
activities
Religion Positive
coping
Acceptance Focus on and venting
emotions
Denial Behavioural Humour
reasons
disengagement
Social
0.52**
0.52**
0.66**
0.56**
0.35**
0.41**
0.45**
0.43**
0.45**
0.52**
0.84**
0x2**
0.57**
reinterpretation
Restraint
reasons
version
versions
0.50**
0.64**
0.64**
0.65**
0.62**
0.27*
0.51**
0.46**
0.34**
0.43**
0.33**
0.59**
0.59**
and
FRASER N. WATTS et al.
652
Table 4. Means and f-tests comparing frequency of use of coping strategies in dispositional and situational versions of COPE Means Scale
SO&l situational
Physical situational
Disposition vs social
Disposition vs physical
12.59 12.14 10.32
0.0 I 0
12.07
I I .97 I I .79 IO.49
24.57**
6.77* 2.41 27.54**
9.93 9.88 6.15 12.14 IO.51 12.35 8.395 5.84 5.94 9.41
9.35 9.26 5.94 12.77 10.87 12.63 7.42 5.5 5.59 9.35
9 IO.11 6.02 12.88 10.68 12.73 7.84 5.54 5.23 9.39
2.19 7.45*+ 0.89 0.61 2.08 1.84 7.30** 0.92 I .08 0.04
6.66* 0.6 0.38 I .88 0.49 4.6-V 0.8 I.16 8.78** 0.06
Dispositional Il.91
Active coping Planning Seeking social support for instrumental reasons Seeking social support for emotional reasons Suppression of competing activities Religion Positive reinterpretation Restraint coping Acceptance Focus on and venting emotions Denial Behavioural disengagement Humour
F-Tests
I I .72
independent of the coping questionnaire. An initial analysis included all four coping measures and both sets of leaders’ ratings. However, it was found that the four measures of each type of coping showed very similar correlations with personality traits. This increases confidence in the reliability of the findings. The number of correlations involved is too large to be presented in detail, so the four measures of each type of coping were summed to provide a single, reliable index, and these were correlated with the sum of the two sets of leaders’ ratings. The resulting matrix of correlations is given in Table 6. One of the striking facts is that many of the correlations are negative. For example, expeditioners perceived as lacking emotional stability were using, as their coping mechanisms, behavioural disengagement, denial, focus on and ventilation of emotions and seeking social supportfor emotional reasons. A similar profile of coping measures is found in those perceived as being poor at personal relations. Looking at coping methods, those that showed most significantly negative correlations with personality traits were denial, seeking social supportfor emotional reasons, focus on and ventilation of emotions and behavioural disengagement. An interesting coping approach, which had a mixed impact, was humour. Use of humour in coping was associated with good ratings of ascendancy and sociability, but with poor ratings on cautiousness and personal relations. The only other coping approaches to show any positive correlations with leaders’ ratings of personal qualities were positive reinterpretation, restraint coping, and religion. The ability of the coping measures to predict change in the leaders’ ratings was also examined, and a comparable matrix of correlations, based on change in leaders’ ratings, is given in Table 7. There
Table 5. Means and main effects in analysis of variance of coping scales Time
Sex
Scale
Mid
After
Active coping
12.14 I I .86 10.28
12.37 12.06 10.73
9.02 9.54 6.17 12.91 10.61 12.63 7.59 5.7 5.55 9.23
Planning Seeking social support of
instrumental reasons Seeking social support of emotional reasons Suppression of competing activities Religion Positive reinterpretation Restraint coping Acceptance Focus on and venting emotions Denial Behavioural disengagement Humour
strew
Women
Men
F
Phvsical
Social
2.53 I .78 7.18**
12.45 11.84 I I .os
12.14 12.03 IO.2
0.38 0.28 I .75
12.56 12.16 10.42
II.95 I I .76 10.59
9.94** 2.85 3.04
9.5
3.17
10.78
8.41
17.10**
9.07
9.45
5.64*
9.79 5.87 12.84 10.87 12.63 7.78 5.46 5.34 9.5
0.99 I .08 0.03 3.98* 0.09 0. I3 0.9 0.18 I .94
9.87 6.38 13.32 I I .42 12.85 8.81 6.02 5.72 9.25
9.55 5.81 12.64 10.37 12.5 7.05 5.33 5.3 9.42
0.99 0.43 2.33 4.56* 0. I5 4.99* 3.7 I I .28 0.05
IO.07 6.06 12.94 IO.65 12.7 7.85 5.58 5.25 9.4
9.26 5.98 12.82 10.83 12.56 7.53 5.57 5.64 9.32
20.25** 14
F
F
6.26 I .72 0.61 0.21 0.01 4.49* 0.04
Personality and coping strategies on a stressful expedition Table 6. Correlations
Coping
scale
Active coping Planning Seeking social support for instrumental reasons Seeking social support for emotional reasons Suppression of competing activities Religion Positive reinterpretation Restraint coping Acceptance Focus on and venting emotions Denial Behavioural disengagement Humour
Ascendancy
between coping measures
Responsibility
-0.12 - 0.04
-
-0.21
-0.19
- 0.2
Emotional stability
-
653
and leaders’ ratings of personality
Sociability
-
Cautiousness
traits
Original thinking
Personal relations
Vigour
0.05 - 0.02
0.30* 0.21
0.07 0.16
0.14 0.14
- 0.03 0.05
- 0.22
-0.15
0.16
0.04
0.06
- 0.26*
- 0.27*
- 0.24*
- 0.02
0.14
0.03
0.09
- 0.27*
- 0.24* - 0.01 -0.15 - 0.21 -0.19
- 0.1 - 0.02 - 0.08 -0.14 - 0.01
-0.18 0.15 0.07 - 0.08 0.06
- 0.18 0.16 0.01 - 0.1 I - 0.25*
0.0 I 0.09 0.22 0.25* 0.2
-0.12 0. I 0.02 0.05 - 0.07
- 0.06 0.25* 0.27* 0.06 0.08
-0.16 0.04 -0.13 - 0.2 - 0.08
- 0.04 - 0.03
-0.11 -0.11
- 0.27* - 0.29*
- 0.04 0.06
- 0.03 - 0.24*
0.03 - 0.07
- 0.30’ - 0.35**
-0.17 - 0.05
-0.16 0.35**
-0.11 -0.12
-0.41** - 0.06
- 0.05 0.25*
-0.19 - 0.30*
- 0.01 - 0.09
- 0.23* - 0.24*
-0.13 0.1 I
0.04 0.15
0.1 0.09
were only three personality traits on which change was significantly correlated with coping to any significant extent. Gains in ascendancy are associated with focus on and ventilation of emotions and behavioural disengagement. Gains in cautiousness were associated with active coping, seeking social support for both instrumental and emotional reasons, planning and suppression of competing activities. Finally, gains in vigour were associated with not using active coping, seeking social support for instrumental reasons, and with positive reinterpretation.
DISCUSSION
The pattern of correlations between questionnaire measures and leaders’ ratings of the eight personality traits had not been predicted, but it is of interest. For those traits where correlations are found, the pattern is that the second questionnaire measure was correlated with the leaders’ ratings, whereas the first questionnaire measure was not. This suggests that expeditioners’ self-perceptions, as reflected in their completion of the questionnaire, were affected by the expedition. It seems that their self-perceptions were influenced by their behaviour as manifest on the expedition, and converged with the ratings of leaders’ which were based on that behaviour. It is not known, of course, whether the impact of the expedition on self-perception was temporary, or relatively permanent.
Table 7. Correlations
Coping
scale
Active coping Planning Seeking social support for instrumental reasons Seeking social support for emotional reasons Suppression of competing activities Religion Positive reinterpretation Restraint coping Acceptance Focus on and venting emotions Denial Behavioural disengagement Humour
between coping measures
and leaders’ change
Ascendancy
Responsibility
Emotional stability
Sociability
0.01 - 0.07
- 0.05 0.06
-0.16 - 0.08
0.04 0.08
0.35** 0.24*
0.13
- 0.03
- 0.02
0.18
0.17
- 0.05
0.05
0.07 0.05 - 0. I6 0.03 - 0.01
0.2 - 0.09 -0.13 - 0.05 0.04
0.28* 0.15 0.26* 0.19
Original thinking
Personal relations
Vigour
-0.11 -0.19
- 0.22 0.01
- 0.26* -0.16
0.34**
-0.17
-0.17
- 0.24*
0.1 I
0.27*
- 0.03
- 0.04
-0.14
- 0.01 - 0.13 -0.14 - 0.08 - 0.06
- 0.01 -0.14 0.12 0.11 0.15
0.25* 0.09 0.23 0.16 0.09
-0.11 0.2 - 0.25* - 0.05 0.03
- 0.08 - 0.14 -0.16 -0.13 - 0.22
-0.18 0.02 - 0.23’ - 0.08 - 0.23
0.1 0.16
0.23 0.17
- 0.05 - 0.2
- 0.07 -0.14
0.1 I 0.06
-
0.05 0.01
0.07 0.09
0.08 0.04
0.12 0.06
0.03 - 0.09
- 0.08 -0.12
0.07 0.15
- 0.06 -0.15
0.18 0.15
Cautiousness
654
FRASERN. WATTS et al.
If these unpredicted findings about self-perception are substantiated, they suggest a rather precise hypothesis about one aspect of the benefit to be derived from such expeditions. Rather than necessarily leading to a development of personal characteristics among the expeditioners, it may be that, under the challenging circumstances of the expedition, they see more clearly what are their personal strengths and limitations, and that their self-perceptions are influenced accordingly. There are, of course, no indications from the present data whether this phenomenon is to be found ort1.v after challenging experiences. It may be the case that, after a few weeks spent in any unusual environment, self-perceptions come to reflect the behaviour manifested in that situation. An outstanding puzzle is why three of the personality traits show no correlation between questionnaire measures and leaders’ ratings. It is possible that these were difficult traits to rate, or that the trait definitions on which leaders’ ratings were based did not correspond well with the actual questions in the GPP-I, even though the trait definitions were drawn from the GPP-I manual. The GPP-I in the present study shows little evidence of personality change, except for an increase in vigour. This is in contrast to the previous studies of Watts et al. ( 1992) and Watts et al. (1993a), both of which studied change in the GPP-I scales associated with a BSES expedition. The reasons for this discrepancy can only be a matter of speculation. However, a procedural change made in this study may be relevant. In the previous studies, expeditioners completed the ‘before’ questionnaire some weeks before they set out, and again some weeks after they had returned. In the present study, the GPP-I was completed on the air journeys at the beginning and end of the expedition. The state changes (associated with the journey presumably of excitement on the way out and fatigue on the way back) may have obscured any personality change associated with the expedition. The other possibility is, of course, that there were critical differences in the nature of the expedition experience, a hypothesis that is difficult to evaluate on the basis of the available data. The leaders’ ratings show stronger evidence of personality change. It has to be recognized that the leaders wished to believe that such changes were taking place, and this may have biased their ratings. However, they did not report changes on all the traits studied. Those in which changes were perceived (ascendancy, original thinking, responsibility, and vigour) are those most related to the task requirements of the expedition. Socio-emotional aspects of personality (emotional stability. sociability and personal relations) were not perceived as showing any change. The GPP-I data in the previous studies of Watts et al. (1992) and Watts et al. (1993) had suggested a more balanced profile of personal changes associated with BSES expeditions. It is possible that, in as far as changes did take place, this represented adaptation to the unusual demands of the expedition, rather than sustained personality change. Nevertheless, the leaders’ ratings are at least consistent with the hypothesis that the expedition was associated with positive developments in personal qualities. It should, of course, not be assumed that this would be true of participants on all expeditions. Positive changes are no doubt more likely to be found in young expeditioners who volunteered for the experience because they relished the challenge it would present. The fact that some groups showed more change than others is difficult to interpret. The groups had different experiences, though no data are available that allows these to be quantified. It should also be noted that leaders’ ratings for the different groups were completed by different people, and the group differences could just as well be attributable to differences between raters as to differences in the experiences of the groups. The study also provides significant data on coping processes, as measured by COPE, one of the more comprehensive of recently developed questionnaire measures of coping strategies. The study provided a good opportunity to examine the relationship between dispositional coping (i.e. strategies that people report using in general) and situational coping (i.e. that strategies that people report using in particular cases). Like Carver et al. (1989) we found significant correlations between the two and a particularly high correlation for turning to religion. The present data are perhaps more powerful than those of Carver er al. because situational coping was assessed concurrently with the stress, rather than retrospectively. Our study also goes further than that of Carver et al. in contrasting the ratings given for each coping strategy in dispositional and situational coping. Such differences as were significant were all in the same direction, i.e. coping strategies were used less in actually coping with a particular stress than Ss said they were used in general. This raises the methodological concern that what people report about coping strategies on general questionnaires may give a misleading indication of what they do in
Personality
and coping
strategies
on a stressful
expedition
655
practice. The most marked difference was that there was much less seeking of social support for instrumental reasons on the expedition than people said generally occurred. It is not known whether there are some strategies which are consistently used less in specific contexts than people claim to use in general. That would require the investigation of situational coping in a broad sample of different contexts. It is clear from the assessment of situational coping in the present study that the pattern of coping strategies people use is not invariant. The greater use of social support as a coping mechanism (for both emotional and instrumental reasons) by the end of the expedition than in the middle may simply reflect the fact the expeditioners were getting to know each other increasingly well. In contrast, the greater use of restraint coping over time may reflect genuine learning about how best to cope with difficulties. The findings regarding differences in coping strategies for the physical and social aspects of the expedition support those of Watts et al. (1993b) that these two kinds of stress are handled differently. It makes intuitive sense that physical stresses should be handled by strategies such as active coping and suppression of competing activities. The two strategies particularly used in coping with social stress, seeking social support and behavioural disengagement, seem to represent alternative and contrasting ways of handling social stress. The present findings confirm that the distinction between physical and social stress is likely to repay further attention in coping research. Though women reported fuller use of several forms of coping than men, there were none that men reported more than women. This was in accord with the findings of Carver er al. Indeed the sex differences in coping found here are very similar to those they obtained. In future research, it might be fruitful to explore relationships between the different coping profiles of men and women and their different patterns of socialization. The way women are socialized may facilitate the development of particular coping strategies. The fact that coping mechanisms show largely negative relationships with leaders’ personality ratings suggest that perceived limitations in personal qualities such as emotional stability were in part functional, i.e. they arose out of a need to cope with the considerable stresses of the expedition in certain ways. If this is correct, it suggests that the personal limitations perceived by the leaders were tendencies that were likely to become manifest under particular conditions, rather than invariant trait-like characteristics. It also suggests that, if expeditioners had learned to use different coping mechanisms, they would have been perceived as having different personal qualities. The benefits of the expedition may indeed have been greater had the experience ,been combined with explicit help and advice in coping techniques. Change in personality traits, as rated by the leaders, was associated with particular patterns of coping. However, the hypothesis derived from the previous research of Watts et al. (1993b) that negative coping strategies (such as denial and behavioural disengagement) would be good predictors of who did not benefit from the expedition failed to be supported. Indeed, one of the coping approaches which showed the most negative association with personality change was, surprisingly, positive reinterpretation. The capacity of coping to predict personality change was also confined to certain traits. Of the four traits that showed significant overall change, changes in ascendancy were predictable from coping, and changes in vigour were at least negatively predicted from the lack of use of certain coping strategies. However, changes in responsibility and original thinking showed no significant associations with coping measures. Expeditions provide a rich opportunity for studying coping processes. They present a broad range of stresses, which are experienced by a substantial sample of Ss at the same time. In particular, they offer a good opportunity for studying situational rather than dispositional coping. The present results suggest a number of specific conclusions about stress that it would be worthwhile to test in future research on expeditions.
REFERENCES Carver, C. S., Scheier, M. F. & Weintraub, J. K. (1989). Assessing coping strategies: A theoretically based approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56, 267-283. Gordon, L. V. (1978). Gordon personal profile invenrory. New York: Psychological Corporation. Leon, G. R., Kanfer, R., Hoffman, R. G. & Dupre, L. (1991). Interrelationships of personality and coping in a challenging extreme situation. Journal of Research in Personality, 25, 357-371.
FRASER N. WA-R-Set
656
al.
Leon, G. R., McNally, C. & Ben -Porath, Y. S. (1989). Personality characteristics, mood and coping patterns in a successful North Pole Exoedition team. Journal of Research in Personaliw. 23. 162-l 79. McCormick, 1. A.: Taylor, A. J.. Rivolier,“J. & Gazes, G. (1985). .A psychometric study of stress and coping during the International Biomedical Expedition to the Antarctic (IBEA). Journal of Human Stress, II, 150-156. Parker, J. D. A. & Endler, N. S. (1992). Coping with coping assessment: a critical review. European Journal c#Personality, 6, 321-344. Scheier, M. F., Weintraub, J. K. & Carver, C. S. (1986). Coping with stress: Divergent strategies of optimists and pessimists. Personaliv
and Social Psychology,
51, 1251-I
264.
Watts, F. N., Apps, J. & East, M. P. (1993a). Personality and Individual
Differences,
change produced
by expedition
stress: A controlled
study. Personality
15, 603-605.
Watts, F. N., Webster, S. M., Morley, C. J. & Cohen, J. (1992). Expedition stress and personality change. British Journal of Psychology, 83, 331-34 1. Watts, F. N., Webster, S. M., Morley, C. J. &Cohen, J. (I 993b). Cognitive strategies in coping with expedition stress. European Journal of Personality, 7, 255-266.