Testing personality-coping diatheses for negative and positive affect: a longitudinal evaluation

Abstract

The current study examined how trait-consistent coping and trait-inconsistent coping were predictive of negative and positive affect. It was hypothesized that coping behaviors (e.g., social support) that were consistent with dimensions of the Five-Factor Model (FFM) of Personality (e.g., Extraversion) would be associated with positive affect, whereas traits that were inconsistent would be associated with negative affect. Longitudinal data from 673 military recruits revealed that dimensions of the FFM moderated the relationship between coping and affect. Individuals either high on Neuroticism, high on Agreeableness, or low on Conscientiousness who used more avoidance coping experienced more negative affect. Individuals high in Extraversion who used more approach coping and individuals low in Agreeableness who used more avoidance coping experienced more positive affect. The results are discussed with respect to the behavioral concordance model (BCM) (Coté & Moskowitz, 1998) and the differential coping choice-effectiveness model (Bolger & Zuckerman, 1995).