Hierarchical coping: A conceptual framework for understanding coping within the context of chronic illness and disability

A considerable amount of interest in the construct coping has occurred over the past several decades (Billings &Moos, 1981; Byrne, 1964; Carver, Scheier, &Weintraub, 1989; Krohne, 1996; Lazarus &Folkman, 1984; Mullen &Suls, 1982; Pearlin &Schooler, 1978; Roth &Cohen, 1986). Emerging from the literature is a broad and complex conceptualization of coping, which generally refers to an array of dispositions, strategies, or efforts that people draw on or utilize, when faced with life stressors, in order to increase a sense of well-being and to avoid being harmed by stressful demands. Definitions of the construct encompass a range of personal dispositions, including stable and enduring traits, habitual styles or behavioral patterns, as well as situation-specific cognitive and behavioral efforts that are applied in a given circumstance. The most frequentlycited hypothesis is that coping - in any form - albeit a disposition, style, or effort, is a mediator or moderator of stress and well-being, which explains, in part, the persistent and theoretically- troubling, weak association between stress and well-being.