Stress, coping, and hope.
Open accessAbstract
Hope is discussed in many literatures and from many perspectives. In this essay hope is discussed from the vantage of psychology and stress and coping theory. Hope and psychological stress share a number of formal properties: both are contextual, meaning-based, and dynamic, and both affect well-being in difficult circumstances. Two assumptions underlie this essay: (1) hope is essential for people who are coping with serious and prolonged psychological stress; and (2) hope is not a perpetually self-renewing resource; it has peaks and valleys and is at times absent altogether. The relationship between hope and coping is dynamic and reciprocal; each in turn supports and is supported by the other. This relationship is illustrated with two adaptive tasks common across situations that threaten physical or psychological well-being-managing uncertainty and coping with a changing reality. The essay describes ways in which coping fosters hope when it is at low ebb as well as ways in which hope fosters and sustains coping over the long term.
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Hope and coping with life adversities mutually reinforce each other, and hope helps the individual persevere in coping efforts.
“Folkman (2010) proposes that hope and coping with life adversities mutually reinforce each other, and that hope helps the individual to persevere in coping efforts.”
From Media for Coping During COVID-19 Social Distancing: Stress, Anxiety, and Psychological Well-Being (2020) · cites this paper as Folkman (2010)
Coping self-efficacy is a theoretically important proxy for coping.
“coping self-efficacy is a theoretically important proxy for coping”
From An online stress management workbook for breast cancer (2014) · cites this paper as Folkman, 2010
Lazarus and Folkman's theory of stress, appraisal and coping states that feeling stressed results from appraising a situation as requiring more personal resources than one possesses.
“Lazarus and Folkman’s theory of stress, appraisal and coping (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984; Folkman, 2010) states that feeling stressed results from appraising a situation as requiring more personal resources than one possesses.”
From An online stress management workbook for breast cancer (2014) · cites this paper as Folkman, 2010
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- Authors
- Folkman, S.
- Affiliations
- University of California, San Francisco (US)
- Corresponding author
- Folkman, Susan
- Venue
- Psycho-Oncology
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2010-08-26
- Volume
- 19
- Issue
- 9
- Pages
- 901-908
- ISSN
- 1057-9249 (ISSN-L)
- 1099-1611
- OpenAlex
- W2073856760
- Cited by
- 496
- References
- 42
- Citations by year
- 2026: 30 · 2025: 26 · 2024: 32 · 2023: 40 · 2022: 55 · 2021: 54 · 2020: 36 · 2019: 30 · 2018: 32 · 2017: 27 · 2016: 29 · 2015: 34 · 2014: 22 · 2013: 24 · 2012: 12
- FWCI
- 23.45
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Psycho-Oncology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Optimism, Hope, and Well-being
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Oncology › Cancer survivorship and care
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Resilience and Mental Health
- Keywords
- hope, psychological stress, coping, meaning in life, well-being, uncertainty management, changing reality, cancer patients
- MeSH terms
- Adaptation, Psychological, Attitude to Health, Humans, Neoplasms, Stress, Psychological, Uncertainty
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