Control-Oriented Coping Buffers Stress Responses In Evacuees From A Technological Accident

Little is known about how control-oriented coping affects the stress responses in victims of technological catastrophes. In this study, control-oriented coping and immediate stress responses were studied in 40 evacuees (during a nearly 3-week evacuation) from a technological accident and concurrently in 50 participants from a demographically similar comparison site. Control-oriented coping was significantly and negatively associated with psychological, behavioral, and physiological stress responses in evacuees, but not comparison-site participants. This is the first investigation we are aware of relating control-oriented coping to immediate stress responses in the acute phase of exposure to evacuation from a technological accident.