COPING AND JUNG PERSONALITY-TYPES

The presented study analyzed the subjective aspects of coping with stressful life situations as defined by Antonovsky's SOC concept. Subjects (n=203) were given the Life Orientation Questionnaire (Antonovsky, 1987) and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (Myers, Caulley, 1990). Using the continual score in the MBTI the subjects were divided into combinations of the ST (practical and matter of fact), SF (sympathetic and friendly), TJ (logical decision maker) and FJ (benevolent administrator) types as well as the INTP (introverted thinking with intuition) and ISFJ (introverted sensing with feeling) types. Differences between the combinations preferring the T and F functions were statistically analyzed. It was found that the prevalence of the T function influences significantly not only the overall sense for SOC coherence but also the subjective assessment of comprehensibility and manageability in coping with stressful life situations. The explanation for this could lie in the characteristic peculiarities of both functions, mainly in the tendency to more rational and pragmatic behavior on the part of the T function types, or in the greater emotional-social dependence on the part of the F function representatives.