Situation-related changes of causal structures and the stress model in Japanese college students

Structural equation modeling was used to examine changes in the structural relationships between personality traits, social contexts, cognitive appraisals, and coping strategies in four different stressful situations. Five hundred and sixty-three Japanese college students completed questionnaires related to four stressful situations, two less controllable (feeling sick condition; human relationship problem) and two more controllable (obtaining one’s goal; social evaluation). Different causal structures were found between the two situations that had lower levels of controllability and the two situations that had higher levels of controllability. The results confirm that personality determines a fundamental type of coping style, which is modified according to the social context. Our finding offers one explanation of how these factors associate across different situations.