Applicability of the Goodness-of-Fit Hypothesis to Coping with Daily Hassles

Abstract

This study examined the applicability of Lazarus and Folkman's (1984) goodness-of-fit hypothesis to the relationship between college students' daily hassles and psychological symptomology. Specifically, the model predicts that, given a daily hassle which one may change, it is more functional to alter the source of the daily hassle than it is to let the stressor go unchecked and simply try to manage the negative emotions produced by the event. Conversely, given a stressor one cannot alter it is more functional to regulate the emotions produced by the event than to engage in repeated futile attempts to change an uncontrollable stressor. It was predicted that subjects who tended to violate these principles across multiple daily hassles would be characterized by the highest psychological symptomology. Although the 69 college students' frequency of daily hassles was positively associated with psychological symptomology and students tended to match the method of coping with the appraised controllability of their daily hassles, no support for the goodness-of-fit hypothesis was found.