(PS2-C59) The Combined Influence of Emotional and Social Functioning on Coping

The capacity to cope with or manage stress is influenced by affective and social processes. For example, individuals who regulate emotion well and have supportive relationships often cope with stress more effectively than individuals with deficits in one or both of these areas. It is also generally recognized that the relationship between emotional and social functioning is reciprocal. Still, research on coping has largely investigated these processes independently. The current study sought to (1) identify naturally occurring groups of individuals based on indicators of emotional and social functioning utilizing a Latent-Profile Analysis, (2) examine whether profile membership is differentially associated with depression, and (3) examine whether the association between stress and depression varies as a function of profile membership.

Three hundred and ninety-nine undergraduates at a public, southeastern university (Mage = 20.31; 46.8% Female; 78.6% White) completed self-report measures on perceived stress, depressive symptoms, family and peer relationships, emotion regulation strategies, and emotional intelligence. Results from the Latent-Profile Analysis, using emotion regulation, emotional intelligence, and family and peer functioning as LPA indicators, supported a three-profile solution. One profile (~30% of sample) was characterized by high social and emotional functioning. Individuals in this profile were high on family and peer support, low on conflict with family and peers, high on emotional intelligence, and high on use of cognitive reappraisal. A second profile (~20% of the sample) characterized individuals low on social and emotional functioning. Individuals in this profile were high on family and peer conflict, low on family and peer support, low on emotional intelligence, and high on use of expressive suppression. The final profile (~50% of the sample) captured individuals with average emotional and social functioning.

Perceived stress (b= .654, t(397) = 17.78, p < .01) was positively associated with depression. Individuals in the low functioning profile (b= .702, t(397) = 6.60, p < .01) and in the average functioning profile (b= .389, t(397) = 3.95, p = .01), relative to the positive profile, reported higher levels of depressive symptoms. Profile membership moderated the association between perceived stress and depressive symptoms. Simple slopes analysis revealed the association between stress and depressive symptoms was attenuated for individuals in the high functioning profile (b= .462, t(397) = 5.523, p < .01) relative to individuals in the low functioning profile (b= .718, t(397) = 12.354, p < .01). Results suggest affective and social processes may act together to impact stress coping and subsequent mental health. Interventions (e.g. CBT) that appreciate the additive, interactive, and reciprocal impacts of affective and social processes on stress coping may prove more effective than those that focus on only one process in isolation. Our findings could have implications for working with individuals or groups who endure higher levels of stress, such as those who are marginalized or oppressed.