Main description:

"Like a Bridge over Troubled Waters" The surge of current interest in the interface between clinical and social psychology is well illustrated by the publication of a number of general texts and journals in this area, and the growing emphasis in graduate programs on providing training in both disciplines. Although the bene fits of an integrated clinical-social approach have been recognized for a number of years, the recent work in this area has advanced from the oretical extrapolations of social psychological models to clinical issues to theory and research that is based on social principles and conducted in clinical domains. It is becoming increasingly common to find social psy chologists pursuing research with clinical populations and clinical psy chologists investigating variables that have traditionally been in the realm of social psychology. A major area of interface between the two disciplines is in research and theory concerned with how individuals respond to negative events. In addition to the trend toward an integrated clinical-social approach, the growing body of literature in this area reflects the explosion of cur rent interest in the area of health psychology; work by clinical and social psychologists on the topics of stress and coping has been one of the major facets of this burgeoning field. The purpose of the present volume is to provide a common forum for recent advances in the clinical and social literature on responses to negative life outcomes.

Contents:

I. Introductory Theoretical Viewpoint.- 1: The Effects of Theoretical Perspective on the Analysis of Coping with Negative Life Events.- II. Effort Expenditure Perspectives.- 2: Help-Seeking as a Coping Mechanism.- 3: Coping Difficulty, Energy Mobilization, and Appraisals of a Stressor: Introduction of a Theory and a Comparison of Perspectives.- 4: Effort Expenditure Following Failure.- 5: Depression, Self-Focused Attention, and Self-Regulatory Perseveration.- III. Control/Mastery Perspectives.- 6: Coping with Traumatic Events: The Role of Denial in Light of People's Assumptive Worlds.- 7: Daily Life Events and Mood.- 8: Coping After A Relationship Ends.- IV. Social Comparison Perspectives.- 9: Social Comparison and Illusions of Invulnerability to Negative Life Events.- 10: Downward Comparison as a Coping Mechanism.- V. Image Maintenance Perspectives.- 11: Threats to Identity: Self-Identification and Social Stress.- 12: Coping With the Prospect of Disapproval: Strategies and Sequelae.- 13: The Role of Similarity/Difference Information in Excuse-Making.- VI. Overview Perspective.- 14: Stress and Coping.- Author Index.