1 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.0 Overview Over ... - DSpace@UM

presence or absence of perceived stress (Antonovsky,1979; Henry & Stephen, 1977;Roskies & Lazarus, 1980; Folkman, 1984).Three main concerns of person-environment relationship focusing on copingare(Lazarus & Folkman, 1984:142):a) to examine what the person actually rather than usually does.b) To examine the specific situation that the person is coping with; andc) To examine the changes in the individual’s coping thoughts and actions as astressful encounter unfolds, that is, to see coping as a function of continuousappraisals and reappraisals of the shifting or constantly changing personenvironmentrelationship.Smith and Lazarus (1993) identified two categories of appraisal that influence emotions,namely, Primary appraisal which assesses the personal relevance of a situation(motivational relevance and motivational congruence) while Secondary appraisal, whichevaluates coping options and outcomes; including accountability (who/what isresponsible for the situation), future expectancy (likelihood of change), problem-focussedcoping potential (options for influencing the situation), and emotion-focussed copingpotential (ability to emotionally adapt to the situation).Two main categories of coping ways were identified by Lazarus and Folkman, namely,problem-focused and emotional-focused. The former relates to behaviour directed atsolving the problem, or the problematic situation (that is ovart behaviour designed tomodify the stressful situation). Examples are efforts directed at defining the problem,25