What is repressive coping style?
What is repressive coping style?
Coping style refers to the way through which an individual confronts or deals with stressful situations. Coping is of two main types active and avoidant. Active coping strategies involve the awareness of the stressor and try to reduce the negative consequences of the stressor. Avoidant coping strategies on the other hand try to avoid and ignore the stressor that results in the adoption of behavior that facilitates the denial of the problem (for example, drinking, isolation, etc,). Repressive coping style is a type of avoidant coping.
Repressive coping style refers to an individual's tendency to inhibit negative effects to prevent their self-image from being threatened. The repressive coping style relies on the use of two specific coping strategies: a) intentionally ignoring and not paying attention to, and b) engaging in an active effort to generate a positive mood to void negative affect.
Individuals using repressive coping styles maintain an artificial positive view by downplaying the negatives. They are hypersensitive to positive and negative cues. Rather than being overly positive, the repressors avoid or ignore negative information that is relevant to them. They tend to avoid negative affect.
Repressive coping style has short-term benefits but long-term consequences. It is indicated by a combination of low anxiety scores and high social desirability bias.
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