Exploring Coping Effectiveness and Optimism among Municipal Employees

Abstract

The aim of the study was to examine the relationship between coping, optimism, psychological and physical well-being. The effectiveness of the different coping strategies and the role of optimism were investigated by analyzing how they predicted psychological and physical well-being. Altogether 136 municipal employees participated in a questionnaire study. The results showed that the most adaptive or effective coping strategy concerning psychological and physical well-being was acceptance, which can be classified as engagement coping. Ineffective strategies regarding psychological well-being included disengagement coping strategies such as sub- stance use, behavioral disengagement and self-blame. An ineffective strategy regarding physiological well-being was denial, which can be classified as a disengagement strategy. Optimism correlated significantly with both psychological and physical well-being. However, when all the variables in the model were included in the regression analysis, optimism explained additional variance in physical well-being but not in psychological well-being.