Problem-focused coping strategies and the uncontrollability of thoughts: Mediating role of meta-cognition

Abstract

"Worry" is uncontrollable negative thinking, but, at the same time, it represents an active coping process. Research has demonstrated that the use of problem-focused coping strategies can enhance the uncontrollability of thoughts about stressors. In the present study, internal statements evaluating and regulating problem-solving processes were hypothesized to be the mechanism that links problem-focused coping strategies and the uncontrollability of thoughts. A questionnaire was completed by 177 students. The internal statements that mediated the relation between problem-focused coping strategies and uncontrollability were of 2 types, namely, those reflecting high motivation and adherence to problem-solving, and those reflecting a pessimistic view of the problem-solving process. Inspection of the nature of the internal statements suggested that persistence of thinking is important in the etiology of uncontrollable thinking ("worry").