Personal and situational predictors of proactive coping with difficult life situations: cross-cultural differences

Abstract

Background The characteristics and predictors of proactive coping still remain insufficiently studied topics in psychology. At the same time, the study of a person’s perception and assessment of possible future-related difficulties becomes more and more relevant in the context of accelerating social changes. The objective of the research is to identify culturally specific and culturally universal patterns in the choice of proactive coping strategies, depending on the interaction of personal and situational determinants. Design. The research was conducted in the form of an online survey involving students from Moscow (N = 311) and from Tashkent (N = 272) as respondents. Participants in the study consistently completed questionnaires to assess the preferences of various strategies of proactive coping, the level of general self-efficacy, the degree of tolerance to uncertainty, and the current experience of positive / negative affect. Results. In the course of the study it was revealed that the previously adapted Russian-language version of the methodology of proactive coping strategies by E. Greenglass has cultural invariance. Comparison of respondents from Russia and Uzbekistan in terms of the severity of proactive coping strategies showed that Moscow respondents prefer strategies of seeking information and emotional support to a greater extent than Tashkent ones. Testing the model of interaction of situational and personal variables showed that it is the interaction of emotional state and self-efficacy that determines the preference for strategies of proactive, reflexive, preventive coping and strategic planning strategies both in Russia and in Uzbekistan. The interaction of tolerance to uncertainty with emotional state positively predicts only the preference for a proactive coping strategy in both samples and negatively predicts the choice of a strategic planning strategy among respondents from Uzbekistan. Conclusion. The obtained results demonstrated more cultural versatility than cultural specificity in favoring different strategies for proactive coping. Two directions of further research are possible: conducting a meaningful analysis of the image of difficult situations from the point of view of both cultural specificity and cross-cultural invariance. The second direction is expanding the spectrum of the studied determinants of proactive coping, including possible social values and personal value orientations.