| Psychological stress demonstrates devastating impacts on psychological health. Divorce is also a source of stress that results in deterioration of psychological well-being. Coping behaviors subsequent to stress are influenced by locus of control (LOC), whereby an individual tends to demonstrate internal or external control beliefs, determining specific coping behavior. Gender differences in stress levels, divorce outcomes, as well as coping behaviors have also been found in the literature. Accordingly, the problem addressed in this study was that psychological stress, LOC, and gender demonstrated important relationships with coping in divorced adults; however, they are not well understood. The purpose of this quantitative, correlational, survey study was to determine to what extent LOC, psychological stress, and gender predicted coping behaviors in divorced adults. Participants included male and female, recently divorced adults (within 2-years), ages 18 years and older. The results of this study did not demonstrate statistical significance among gender and any of the other variables; however, statistical significance was found among: psychological stress and LOC, psychological stress and avoidance-focused coping (with moderate practical significance), LOC and problem-focused coping (modest practical significance), LOC and emotion-focused coping (modest practical significance), and LOC and avoidance-focused coping (modest practical significance). The results failed to provide evidence of statistical significance concerning the predictive value of psychological stress, LOC, and gender for problem-focused coping and/or emotion-focused coping. The results of this study did not provide collective statistically significant evidence of the predictive value of psychological stress, LOC, and gender for avoidance-focused coping. However, findings included that recently divorced men and women, regardless of gender, with higher levels of psychological stress as well as higher levels of external LOC tended to use more avoidance-focused coping, with psychological stress as a statistically significant predictor of avoidance-focused coping. Recommendations include further research using a longer divorce span than 2-years, delineated age groups, use of the Original COPE rather than the Brief COPE, replicating this research using an equal number of males and females, and experimental research to expand the propensity for LOC to provide the ability for more functional coping behaviors. |
