The relationship of ambivalent coping to depression symptoms and adjustment

Objective: To assess the influence of mental distancing and venting emotions on depressive symptoms and health-related quality of life (HRQOL). Participants: Seventy-six individuals hospitalized with acute burn injuries. Design: Prospective longitudinal study. Measures: Beck Depression Inventory (A. T. Beck, E. Ward, M: Mendelson, J. Mock, & J. Erbaugh, 1961), COPE (C. S. Carver, M. F. Scheier, & J. K. Weintraub, 1989), and Short Form-36 Health Survey (J. E. Ware, K. K. Snow, M. Kosinski, & B. Gandek, 1993). Results: Ambivalent coping at baseline (i.e., using both mental distancing and venting emotions, relative to using only 1 or neither) led to more symptoms of depression at follow-up, even when baseline symptoms were controlled. Ambivalent coping was related to postburn psychosocial HRQOL, and baseline symptoms of depression only slightly attenuated this relationship. Conclusions: Ambivalent coping appears to result from vacillation between motives. Decreasing inconsistent coping or reducing antithetical motivation may reduce depression and improve adjustment.