Question

When Francesca, age 62, discovered that her retirement plan had suffered losses in the stock market, she realized she would not be able to retire within the next year as she had expected to do. Francesca began to spend a great deal of time ruminating about her situation, especially about how sad she was that this problem had arisen after she had worked so hard all of her life. Which of the following is an accurate description of Francesca's coping at this point?

a. She is using a problem-focused mechanism.
b. She is using an emotion-focused mechanism.
c. She is using a primary control strategy.
d. She is using no coping strategy.

Answer 1

Francesca's coping mechanism can be described as emotion-focused coping, where she is spending time ruminating and feeling sad about her situation instead of actively trying to address the problem. Emotion-focused coping focuses on managing the emotions associated with stress.

Step-by-step explanation:

Francesca's coping mechanism can be described as emotion-focused coping. Emotion-focused coping involves efforts to change or reduce the negative emotions associated with stress. In this case, Francesca is spending a great deal of time ruminating and feeling sad about her situation, which is a way of managing the emotions caused by the stress of her retirement plan losses. Emotion-focused coping strategies focus on treating the symptoms rather than addressing the actual problem.